Flyers lose to Islanders in shootout in second of back-to-back, lose 9th straight
Photo by Heather Barry/ Heather Barry Images
It took many dreadful rounds of a shootout, but the Flyers have lost their ninth straight game with a loss to the New York Islanders in front of 16,362 at the Wells Fargo Center Tuesday night.
Period 1
Casey Cizikas began the night at the Wells Fargo Center with a faceoff win for his Islanders.
New York got the first shot on goal of the night, and it went in the net. Matthew Barzal made a nice play and Robin Salo sniped one past Flyers goaltender Carter Hart for his actual first NHL goal, as he was robbed of his first Monday night. 2:08 in, and the Islanders led 1-0.
Flyers headed to an early penalty kill as Joel Farabee was called for a hook in the offensive zone at 4:14. Flyers interim head coach Mike Yeo was not happy. Just like all Flyers fans, who decided to waste their night and watch this barn burner. Thankfully, the Flyers killed the penalty with ease.
9:00 into the game, and the Flyers only had one shot on goal. It was a little flip shot dribbler by Scott Laughton like a minute in. That was it. And it’s been one of the Flyers’ biggest problems this season and especially it this eight game losing streak.
Joel Farabee got to the greasy area in front at 11:12, and was able to bang in a rebound of a shot by Ivan Provorov to tie this game at 1. It was nice work by Farabee. Although, the Islanders did challenging the Flyers were offside coming into the zone. To the fans at the Wells Fargo Center displeasure, the call was overturned. It was offsides, so the referees did get the call right.
Robin Salo took down Max Willman like a football player at 13:42 and headed off for holding. I thought Wild Card weekend ended Monday night? Please laugh.
Anyway, back to hockey. Remember the goal that was taken by the Flyers? Well, they got it back at 14:39. Jame van Rymsdyk scored the equalizer on the power play (!). Cam York’s shot from the point bounced off the boards behind the net and van Riemsdyk tucked it five-hole.
The period ended with a score of 1-1. The Flyers were actually convincingly the better team the final half of the first period. At the halfway point of the period, the Flyers had one shot on goal. They finished with a 12-9 lead in the period. This was one of the best periods the Flyers have played in a long time.
Period 2
Claude Giroux won the opening draw to begin the second period.
The Flyers went on their second power play of the game as Brock Nelson headed to the sin bin for boarding. Flyers had a chance to build some momentum off that solid finish to the first period with an early period power play. But in usual Flyers fashion they didn’t do anything.
Farabee and Keith Yandle had a wide open net to shoot at and just flat out missed at 7:05. Maybe one pass too many, but Yandle put it on the tape of Farabee and he couldn’t direct it on goal and pushed it through the crease. One of them needed to finish there.
Flyers carried play in the first half of the second period, something they haven’t done much of this season. They have a minus-18 goal differential in the second period this season, getting outscored 46-28. Looks like they decided to play so far Tuesday night in the second period.
The Islanders took the lead back at 13:28. A nice pass from behind the net by Anthony Beauvillier finds Josh Bailey in close. Sure looks like almost every Flyer on the ice lost a puck battle in the 15 or so seconds that preceded it. So, it was 2-1 for, 26 seconds. The Flyers get it back. Travis Konecny got a rebound with New York goaltender Semyon Varlamov out of position. Oskar Lindblom kept the puck alive, and we were tied back at two. It’s a response the Flyers have long been looking for when the opposing team scores, a goal.
This is the first time Konecny has scored goals in consecutive games since the very start of the season when he scored against the Vancouver Canucks (season opener on 10/15), Seattle Kraken (10/18), and Boston Bruins (10/20).
Flyers nearly took the lead with under a minute to go in the second. Laughton got one to sneak by Varlamov, but he made a diving save as the puck went through his legs and he stopped it at goal line. Very impressive save.
The Flyers actually did carry over their strong end-of-first play into the second. This is the best they’ve looked in a while, but they still can’t grab a lead against the Islanders. Controlling play for the most part, though as they lead 29-16 in the shots column. In the score column, however, the two rivals were tied at two after 40 minutes of play.
Period 3
Cizikas kicked off the final period with a faceoff win for New York.
Zdeno Chara headed to the sin bin for slashing 33 seconds into the third. The Islanders killed the penalty. Seemed like it was still 5-on-5.
But, it all worked out! Because Giroux gave the Flyers their first lead of the game. Giroux takes on the two-on-one, scoring on Varlamov. What a ripper by Giroux. His future will get discussed extensively in the coming weeks, but the captain still has plenty left in the tank. Including a great pass by Cam Atkinson. Great goal.
Zdeno Chara and Zack MacEwen drop the gloves after a big hit by MacEwen on Scott Mayfield that knocked his helmet off. The much-taller Chara destoryed MacEwen. Gotta say, I didn’t see it coming. Clearly there’s no one he’s going to back down against. By the end Chara was basically just doing the thing you do to your kid brother where you use your reach to hold his head away as he’s swinging wildly.
The Fly guys were looking good. Had the lead with 4:28 left, and just like that the game was tied back at three. A great pass by Scott Mayfield and Casey Cizikas beats Justin Braun to the front of the net to knock it past Hart. How much worse could it get? How about a slashing penalty to Travis Sanhiem to put New York on the power play 3:46. Justin Braun, who had already injured his ankle in this game as a puck plunked off his leg, continued to put his body on the line during the power play. He got one block, was in pain, but then stopped another three seconds later. Man’s a gamer. The Flyers killed the Isles’ power play.
And just like that, regulation ended. Overtime was coming up in South Philadelphia as the clubs were tied at three.
Overtime
Jean-Gabriel Pageau kicked off the 3-on-3 overtime with a face off win for New York.
Two games ago, Konecny was passing to Nick Seeler on a 2-on-1 when he could’ve gotten an easy goal. Now, he’s trying to dangle around Adam Pelech and snipe one. He made a pretty move but the shot was blocked in front. Talk about boosting your confidence.
It was all Islanders in the OT. Looked like Nelson scored on the wraparound, but Hart made an unbelievable save, then stopped Scott Mayfield twice in short order. Hart is so good in OT.
End-to-end action for both sides. Hart came up big again on a wraparound by Beauvillier. Varlamov with robbery on a 2-on-1.
And now, we headed to the shootout.
Shootout
Round 1:
PHI: Konecny can’t beat Varlamov glove-side.
NYI: Beauvillier is denied blocker-side as Hart waits him out.
Round 2:
PHI: Giroux tries the slapper but Varlamov closes up in time.
NYI: Barzal tries to deke like 429 times but Hart doesn’t bite.
Round 3:
PHI: Atkinson after a false start gets Varlamov down but runs out of room and shoots wide.NYI: Nelson stopped by Hart.
NYI: is denied five-hole.
Round 4:
PHI: Farabee with a nice move but loses it when he cuts back across.
NYI: Bailey goes high on the backhand.
Round 5:
PHI: Laughton slides it five-hole but Varlamov closes it up.
NYI: Bellows goes wide blocker-side.
Round 6:
PHI: Frost goes wide glove-side.
NYI: Dobson is denied right down the middle.
This couldn’t get any worse, right?
Round 7:
PHI: van Rymsdyk cut in front but goes wide.
NYI: Parise denied with the glove.
Round 8:
PHI: Mayhew (yeah, this got so bad he went in) goes wide blocker-side.
NYI: Pageau blockered away by Hart.
Round 9:
PHI: Provorov has it knocked down with the glove.
NYI: Wahlstrom scores high-glove.
After nine rounds of the longest shootout of the season so far, the Flyers have nine straight losses.
