The Philadelphia Flyers torturous season keeps grinding as they extended their 8-game losing streak tonight as they fell 4-1 against the New York Islanders. The Flyers have now won only 5 games in their last 25 and tonight’s loss stings even more, considering the Islanders are trailing them in the standings with a commanding amount of games in hand. Ilya Sorokin made 26 saves and Brock Nelson collected 2 points as the Islanders found no qualms in defeating the Flyers.
FIRST PERIOD
With the Flyers only winning 5 of their last 24 games, losing ground and points to the Islanders, who have 7 games in hand on them, would be like rubbing salt in their wounds. Early starts have been a crutch for the Flyers for as long as we could remember and the last few games they have failed to register their first shot on goal until the 10 minute mark at the earliest.
With an early power play drawn by Joel Farabee 27 seconds in, the Flyers had a golden opportunity to get that monkey off their back and start the game with shots and a goal. However, like most of their power plays of late, lack of pressure, no high danger chances, and no shots in general were the common theme.
The Flyers were given a second power play near the midway mark of the first period, but once again weren’t able to generate any chances and had issues with their entries to start. The Islanders had their best chance while shorthanded after Jean-Gabriel Pageau forced a turnover off the stick of Morgan Frost. He had a mini odd-man rush with Zach Parise, whose wrist shot off the wing was held onto by Martin Jones.
The Islanders were the better of the two teams in the first period and that was indicative of the shot totals as they edged the Flyers 13-8. They had the better chances, including a last ditch effort by the fourth line with less than 30 seconds remaining in the period. However, the ice played a factor as the puck was bouncing all over the place and several shots never made it close to the net; on that sequence as well as the period in general.
SECOND PERIOD
A much better start to the second period for the Flyers yielded several scoring chances but Ilya Sorokin stood tall and thwarted them all. In the first five minutes of play, Scott Laughton was robbed on the opening shift of the period and then hit the post on a slow 2 on 1 shorthanded rush. On the same 4 on 5, Cam Atkinson had three shots, including two rebounds that Sorokin had no problems with.
The Islanders had some chances of their own early in the period with Mathew Barzal trying to take advantage of Rasmus Ristolainen, who had lost his stick. It was a broken 3 on 2 but Martin Jones still had to make a few saves as the puck was bouncing and the ice remained choppy.
The power play woes continued as the Flyers were awarded another one midway through the period. Looking to take the lead and open the scoring, the Flyers yet again found a way to make their man advantage a disadvantage as the Islanders had two chances to the Flyers’ one; which was a one-timed slap-shot from Claude Giroux with no traffic in front of Sorokin.
Coming off a third successful penalty kill and having had several scoring chances down a man, the Islanders finally broke the deadlock and scored their first goal in 96:36, dating back to Thursday against New Jersey. With the penalty coming to a close, Andy Greene’s clearance bounced off of Ivan Provorov’s skates and right to the Islanders breaking out of the zone. Josh Bailey stole the puck, dropped it to Brock Nelson who then ripped a snapshot from afar as he used Rasmus Ristolainen as a screen.
Less than 3 minutes later, the Islanders doubled their lead with a goal from Casey Cizikas. The fourth line for the Islanders was buzzing again and it all started from a point shot with traffic in front of the net. Cal Clutterbuck picked up the rebound, found Robin Salo at the point who held onto the puck, and he waited out Cam Atkinson and then fired a seemingly simple shot to the net that was eventually deflected in by Cizikas.
There was mayhem in front of the net in terms of screens and Martin Jones saw absolutely nothing as the puck found a way into the back of the net.
The Flyers, looking for a spark or a momentum change of any kind, received it in the form of a Travis Konecny goal. It broke his 20-game goal-less drought and gave him 100 for his career, but it all started from a good defensive zone battle along the boards. As the Flyers broke out of the zone, Travis Sanheim dropped a pass to a trailing Konecny who just shot the puck hoping for a rebound from the blue line. Instead it bounced off of defenseman Noah Dobson shoulder and past a startled Sorokin.
Shortly after and with a minute remaining in the period, the Flyers found themselves on a breakaway, but Joel Farabee’s attempt to tie the game was thwarted by Sorokin’s blocker. It was a better period for the Orange and Black in terms of shots (13-7) but the Islanders came through with 2 goals to the Flyers’ 1.
THIRD PERIOD
The Flyers, who entered the third period with a record of 1-15-3 when trailing after 2, didn’t make things any easier for themselves after a bad turnover by Sanheim behind his own net. Ivan Provorov was able to win the puck back but rimmed it around the boards to Brock Nelson. He ended up making a move around Provorov and got tripped up before getting a shot on net. With a delayed penalty, Anthony Beauvillier found himself in the crease with the puck and an open net and made no mistake as the Islanders took a daunting 3-1 lead.
It feels like I’m just copying and pasting the same sentences over and over again once the Flyers get a power play opportunity. Down by 2 with half the period left, the Flyers had the extra attacker on for well over a minute and weren’t able to gain the zone and once they did, they fired one shot towards the net that was blocked. That was all before the power play even started. Once again, the Islanders swallowed everything the Flyers tried to do and out-chanced them down a skater.
With the net empty, the Flyers’ best chance came off a one timer from Joel Farabee that was easily tracked by Sorokin. The ensuing rebound was grabbed by Clutterbuck, who cleared it out right to Matt Martin’s stick and he iced the game with an empty netter and gave the Islanders a much deserved 4-1 win.
For the Flyers it was another bad start that had them behind the 8-ball again and when they had a chance to tie the game, they failed to capitalize on their chances and opportunities; especially with the man advantage. Going 0-4 is one thing but they barely created any chances and that has a lot to do with their terrible zone entries and not being able to set up in the offensive zone once.
Ilya Sorokin stopped 26 shots, Anthony Beauvillier tacked on a goal, Casey Cizikas and Matt Martin scored their first goals of the season, and Brock Nelson stepped up again against the Flyers with the opening goal and adding an assist. For the Flyers, Martin Jones did as well as he could but stopped 27 of 30 shots with Travis Konecny scoring the lone goal, breaking out of his 20 game slump and collecting the 100 goal milestone.
UP NEXT…
Up next for the Flyers are the same New York Islanders tomorrow night at the Wells Fargo Center. Carter Hart is expected to get the nod in goal for Philadelphia.
