The Philadelphia Flyers’ unbeaten run has extended to 4 games after dispatching the New York Islanders by a score of 5-3.
Bo Horvat scored the game’s opening goal on a power play, however a few plays prior to the goal, Ryan Poehling was taken out of the game after receiving an elbow to the head from Maxim Tsyplakov. The referees conferred and ruled that it was not a major penalty, let alone a penalty of any kind.
Fortunately the Flyers hunkered down and scored 3 unanswered in the second period off the sticks of Sean Couturier, Garnet Hathaway, and Morgan Frost. The third period was back and forth with both teams scoring 2 goals apiece but with the Flyers holding on for the 5-3 win.
Samuel Ersson made 27 saves on 30 shots for his 5th win in 6 attempts, while Ilya Sorokin took the loss after allowing 4 goals on 23 shots. Travis Konecny recorded 3 assists, Sean Couturier scored a goal and added an assist, while Joel Farabee returned to the lineup with 2 assists.
After seeing their modest 2-game winning streak snapped on Tuesday night, the Flyers continued their treacherous Metropolitan Division laden end-of-January schedule against the Islanders for the first time this season and the first of three matchups in the next 2 weeks.
The Flyers made a couple of changes to their lineup from Tuesday night’s overtime loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets with Samuel Ersson getting back between the pipes in lieu of Ivan Fedotov and Joel Farabee returned from his 3-game exile in the press box with Olle Lycksell retreating. Ersson entered Thursday’s contest having won 4 of his last 5 games where he posted 2 shutouts and a .939 SV%.
As for the Islanders, it hasn’t been a season to remember as they came into Thursday’s slate of games with a 17-19-7 record, which had them in the basement of the Metropolitan Division, 2nd-last in the Eastern Conference, and 7th-last in the NHL. They had dropped their last game against Ottawa but won the previous 3 against the likes of Boston, Vegas, and Seattle.
Anders Lee paced the 29th-ranked offense in the league with 19 goals and 35 points in 43 games, Bo Horvat was right behind him with 13 goals and 30 points, and Kyle Palmieri rounded out the top-3 with 12 goals and 27 points. Mathew Barzal was having a quiet season with just 4 goals and 13 points across 22 games.
Ilya Sorokin earned his 31st start of the season as he looked to improve on his 13-13-4 record, 2.83 GAA, and .902 SV%. Prior to last game’s hiatus, Sorokin had started the previous 4 games and 16 of the last 17 contests.
FIRST PERIOD
2:48 into the game, the Philadelphia Flyers jumped onto a power play after Dennis Cholowski tripped up Joel Farabee behind the New York Islanders’ net. The league’s worst penalty kill, operating at 65.6% on the season and 56.5% on home ice entering the contest, did a relatively good job on their first attempt as they limited the Flyers to just two shots on goal.
The Islanders then jumped on their first power play of the night after Cam York was whistled for a high-sticking minor with 12:38 remaining. At the midway mark of the penalty kill, Ryan Poehling was absolutely steamrolled by Maxim Tsyplakov as the former tried making a move towards the net for an offensive chance. The rookie extended his elbow to Poehling’s head, which forced the latter to the dressing room after being helped by the trainers.
There was initially no penalty, but then after a scrum they ruled it as a major penalty so they could review it. However, the referees conferred and ruled that no penalty would be called, much to the chagrin of John Tortorella.
The Islanders’ 32nd-ranked power play (10.5%) that went 14 games without a tally found the back of the net near the end of man advantage off the stick of Bo Horvat. Travis Konecny lost control of the puck in the slot after a very obvious slash was missed against Anders Lee, which then allowed Brock Nelson to one-touch a pass to Horvat for the one-time finish.
Farabee, quite perturbed with Tsyplakov, earned a slashing minor against the rookie at the 9:30 mark. Fortunately for the Flyers, they were able to mitigate the extra attacker and kept the score at 1-0, however it certainly felt like that was just the beginning as they were very upset with both the referees and Tsyplakov.
Then with 2:37 remaining in the period, Konecny took a rough tumble into the boards after getting into a collision with Cholowski. The Flyers’ leading scorer went straight down the tunnel but returned for his next shift, which was something that could not be said about Poehling who was quickly ruled out for the remainder of the game with an upper-body injury.
The period came to a close with the Islanders up 1-0 on the scoreboard and 9-8 on the shot-clock.
SECOND PERIOD
5:15 into the middle frame, captain Sean Couturier finished off an in-tight opportunity in the blue paint after a great feed from Farabee set it up. Matvei Michkov brought the puck into the zone after a neutral zone draw before the two veterans connected for Couturier’s 8th of the season.
Shortly after, Owen Tippett was stoned by Ilya Sorokin on his high-danger opportunity before Morgan Frost was stopped by the blocker on a breakaway. However, he was slashed on his way in by Cholowski, sending the Flyers on their 2nd power play of the night at the 13;45 mark.
Right at the expiration of Cholowski’s minor, Rasmus Ristolainen received one of his own for interference. That didn’t stop the Flyers from chiming in with more offense as Garnet Hathaway buried a hard one-timer past Sorokin after a great feed from Konecny at the 9:29 mark. Travis Sanheim picked up the loose change in front of Ersson and backhanded a pass that jettisoned Konecny onto the odd-man rush.
About 4 minutes later, the Flyers doubled their lead after Frost finished off some nifty passing between himself, Tippett, and Konecny for his 8th of the season with 6:16 remaining. Jamie Drysdale dumped the puck forward to Konecny who passed it up to Frost who entered the zone with speed. Frost and Tippett played pitch and catch before the former buried the shot past a sliding Sorokin.
Less than a minute later, Scott Mayfield was called for a slashing minor against Hathaway. They created several dangerous opportunities with momentum completely shifted towards one side but Sorokin kept his ground to keep it a 2-goal game.
The period ended with the Flyers tallying three goals and taking a 3-1 lead into the intermission.
THIRD PERIOD
30 seconds into the final frame of regulation, Mathew Barzal scooped up the loose change just outside of his own zone and jetted down the wing on an odd-man rush before firing it far-side past Samuel Ersson for his 5th of the season. Tyson Foerster failed to dump the puck in deep after taking a big check, which jarred the puck loose, and allowed Barzal to use his speed to his advantage and cut the deficit to 1.
At the 3:14 mark of the period, Cholowski received his third minor penalty of the game for slashing. Despite the Islanders posting a historically bad penalty kill, the Flyers weren’t able to take advantage of the extra skater for the fourth time – for what was definitely their worst attempt of the night.
However, right after the power play and off an offensive zone faceoff win, the Flyers regained their two-goal lead after York wired a shot top-shelf past Sorokin with 14:44 remaining. Couturier won the draw, Farabee picked up the loose puck and found York moving towards the faceoff dot, which for whatever reason caught Sorokin completely off guard as he instantly scrambled.
With the Islanders pressing and the Flyers sagging, they came within inches of cutting the deficit back to 1 but the puck just squeaked out of the blue paint. With a delayed penalty coming up against Scott Laughton for a nonsensical cross-checking minor, the Islanders were humming for well over a minute with the extra attacker.
Nevertheless, they received a power play with 3:34 remaining and pulled the netminder for a 6-on-4 advantage. 51 seconds into the power play, the Islanders pulled back to within 1 after Kyle Palmieri’s point shot deflected off of Lee and into the back of the net with 2:44 remaining.
Noah Cates would then ice the game with an empty netter with 1:12 remaining from another assist off the stick of Konecny for his 10th of the season.
UP NEXT
The Flyers continue their Metropolitan Division stretch on Saturday when they visit the New Jersey Devils at Prudential Center (12:30pm; NBCSP/NHL Network).
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