In their final tune up ahead of the regular season, the Philadelphia Flyers faced off against the New York Islanders again, but with another shorthanded roster as regulars in Cam Atkinson, Ivan Provorov, Travis Konecny, and Carter Hart remained out of the lineup. Troy Grosenick, who was in line for the start tonight, was replaced in the 11th hour for Samuel Ersson, who came into the game with a .929 SV% in his previous three preseason appearances.
With their preseason coming to an end a week before their regular season opener, it was the last chance for certain players to impress the coaching staff and management team with more roster cuts in the coming days.
The Flyers looked a lot better in this game compared to their previous matchups, but were unable to seal the deal in the third period when they took an abbreviated lead after Owen Tippett and Tanner Laczynski scored two goals in a span of 3 minutes and 48 seconds. Noah Dobson scored the game-winning power play goal with only 7.4 seconds left as Troy Grosenick was on the hook for all four goals allowed.
FIRST PERIOD
The first real play of the game occurred when Travis Sanheim was assessed a minor penalty 71 seconds into the game, but the Flyers made relative ease of their penalty killing situation as they limited the Islanders to a couple weak opportunities. After a little bit of a lull, the Flyers’ first scoring opportunity came seven and a half minutes in off the stick of James van Riemsdyk. The veteran left-winger was streaking towards the net as he was fed a behind-the-back pass by Hayden Hodgson.
After the van Riemsdyk opportunity, it somewhat opened the floodgates as the Flyers got chances from Ronnie Attard coming off the rush and Nick Seeler from the point. Attard smartly shot the puck towards Ilya Sorokin’s blocker as he was looking for a rebound with several players streaking towards the crease. Seeler’s opportunity was from the point with a myriad of bodies screening Sorokin. Both shots were dealt with by the Islanders’ presumed number one goaltender.
The third line for the Flyers in Jackson Cates, Scott Laughton, and Wade Allison joined in on the fun as well with a few scoring chances of their own, but once again Sorokin was able to shut it all down. The Islanders weren’t able to get much going for most of the period but they definitely started to get their legs going in the final five minutes.
Their first slew of chances came from Jean-Gabriel Pageau and Kieffer Bellows, hacking away around the blue paint. Ersson, who has impressed mightily so far, was able to stand tall and make the stops with relative ease. That was followed up by a Josh Bailey breakaway in the final minute that was thwarted as he tried going five-hole on the Swede, only for the Islanders to have one more odd-man advantage with Pageau and Bailey leading the way again. Pageau dropped a pass to Bailey who fired a slap-shot at the point, trying to create a rebound for Pageau to finish it off, but Ersson was able to keep both chances out.
SECOND PERIOD
1:34 minutes into the second period, play was halted after former Flyers prospect Cole Bardreau went down after a collision with Hayden Hodgson. Matt Martin tried dropping the gloves with the aforementioned Hodgson but nothing came out of it. 13 seconds later, the Flyers were called for another penalty, a Nick Seeler high-sticking minor, but Ronnie Attard also dropped the gloves with enforcer Ross Johnston. In a spirited yet lopsided tilt, Johnston was obviously victorious but it was a courageous effort to lift his team nevertheless for Attard.
22 seconds into the penalty kill, Scott Laughton pounced on a neutral zone turnover by Anthony Beauvillier, went in all alone on Sorokin, and gave the Flyers a 1-0 lead while shorthanded.
Using his patented fake-shot move, he was able to get Sorokin to open his five-hole for an easy finish. On the next shift, the Islanders were inches away from tying the game but the shot hit iron.
Trying to double the lead for the Flyers, Owen Tippett was jumpstarted by a Travis Sanheim outlet pass but both his breakaway opportunity and rebound chance were stopped by Sorokin. Noah Cates tried the exact same move on Sorokin the following shift off an Islanders turnover but once again, the Flyers were thwarted.
Midway through the game, the Flyers relieved Ersson, who finished his four preseason appearances with 57 saves on 60 shots, including 15 tonight, for Troy Grosenick. With the Islanders swarming after the goalie change, the Flyers’ Kevin Hayes was called for a cross-checking minor, giving the Islanders their third power play opportunity of the night.
With the penalty expiring, the Islanders were able to secure a loose puck to tie the game. Louis Belpedio blocked the point shot off the stick of Pageau, screened Grosenick in the process, and as the puck was stuck under his skate, Josh Bailey was able to hack away and get it through the legs of Grosenick.
With 1:47 left in the period, Otto Koivula was assessed a double minor high-sticking penalty, giving the Flyers their first power play opportunity of the game. However, nine seconds into the man advantage, Casey Cizikas funnelled his way past Cam York and slid the puck through Grosenick’s five-hole to give the Islanders a 2-1 lead.
The Islanders won the faceoff, Bailey cleared the puck, with Cizikas following the bounce as Cam York was out-maneuvered with relative ease. It was not the way the Flyers wanted to start out their power play, nor the way the Flyers wanted to end the period.
THIRD PERIOD
The Flyers started the third period with 2:13 of power play time but couldn’t create much of anything. Not much happened in the first five minutes either until Owen Tippett was finally able to get over his bad puck luck and finished off a one-time opportunity from Kevin Hayes to tie the game.
Scott Laughton made a fancy bank pass with his back facing his defender. Hayes scooped up the puck, joined Tippett on an odd-man rush, and fed the latter with a perfect pass as he one-timed it past a sliding Sorokin. The goal was eerily identical to Hayes’ one-time goal off the feed of Tippett against the Washington Capitals last week.
Nearing the midway mark of the third period, the Flyers were able to take advantage of Grant Hutton’s misplay at the blue-line and took a 3-2 lead. It was the Flyers’ first three-goal game of the preseason, and the miscue at the blue-line allowed Tanner Laczynski to jump on the loose puck and finish off a great breakaway opportunity past Sorokin.
Not being able to hold onto the lead has seemingly followed the Flyers into the new season apparently, as the Islanders were able to tie things up pretty quickly after Anders Lee was able to deflect a Brock Nelson slap-shot past Grosenick to make it 3-3.
To make matters worse, Wade Allison was called for hooking minor 1:29 later. The Islanders were swarming and looking to take the lead, but fortunately the puck never found its way in the back of the net but they did have some good chances.
With a burst of life after the penalty kill, the Flyers enjoyed their best shift of the period, considering the scoring opportunities, as Hayes, Seeler, and Cates were all credited with shots. At the end of regulation, the game was tied 3-3, the Flyers outshot the Islanders 31-30, and outhit them 35-30 as well.
OVERTIME
Tippett and Hayes continued to work their magic together in the overtime period as they were credited with the first scoring opportunity two and a half minutes in. Tippett, who has been using his body and size more, tried dragging the puck past the defender and towards Sorokin, but the Russian netminder was able to keep the puck out.
With 2:06 remaining in overtime, Jackson Cates was called for a hooking minor as Anders Lee was very close to finishing things off with a power-forward-type move of his own.
The Islanders had several chances on the 4-on-3 power play and finally with 7.3 seconds left in overtime, Noah Dobson finished off a one-timer off the pass from Josh Bailey, who had just hit the post on the previous play.
UP NEXT
The Flyers will host the New Jersey Devils on Thursday, October 13th at Wells Fargo Center for the first game of the regular season. Training camp will continue on with more roster cuts to come before the season begins.
Music City Hockey Trip
Take a three day vacation to Nashville with Philly Sports Trips this October! The package includes direct flights, a three night stay at the Cambria Hotel Nashville Downtown, an all-inclusive tailgate, and tickets to the Flyers Predators game. $100 cash for anyone who shows proof they went to the Flyers game on the trip.
