Flyers Claw Back, but Rally Falls Short Against Islanders

By Kevin Durso, Sports Talk Philly editor 

After 40 minutes, the game appeared to be in the bag for the New York Islanders. One of the worst periods of hockey the Flyers have played all season was going to have major repercussions on the standings.

A furious rally nearly changed all that. The Flyers erased a three-goal deficit in a matter of eight minutes and were in position to get at least one point out of the game. Just 28 seconds later, a mistake cost the Flyers again, and was the difference in a 5-4 loss to the Islanders on Tuesday night at Barclays Center.

The Islanders opened the scoring on the first power play of the game. John Tavares was left alone on the man advantage and got a shot between the legs of Petr Mrazek to open the scoring.

The Flyers tied the game in the final minute of the first. Off a rush, Oskar Lindblom fed a pass to Nolan Patrick who went across to Wayne Simmonds for the goal, his 24th of the season.

In the second, the Islanders completely outplayed the sleepy Flyers. In addition to outshooting the Flyers, 17-6, in the middle period, the Islanders tallied three times to break the game open.

Anthony Beauvillier fired a shot over Mrazek shortly after a power play ended for New York to make it 2-1. Tavares got another goal off a turnover by Simmonds in the neutral zone to make it 3-1. Late in the period on a delayed penalty call, Mathew Barzal sniped one from the right face-off circle to make it 4-1 New York.

In the third, the Flyers got their chance with an early power play and struck. Patrick replaced Simmonds on the top unit and was able to poke a rebound home with a diving attempt to cut the lead to two.

Four minutes later, the Flyers were back on the man advantage and again it was Patrick striking for the goal. This time, a great setup by Jake Voracek was deflected in front of the net by Patrick to cut the lead to one.

Just under five minutes later, the Flyers were pressing and got the equalizer. Sean Couturier was able to push a loose puck to Claude Giroux in the right circle and he fired home his 30th goal of the season to tie the game.

To that point, the Flyers had all the momentum and were dominating the period. One mistake put the game back in the Islanders favor.

Ivan Provorov got caught pinching at the blue line and that sent Beauvillier and Barzal the other way on a two-on-one. Beauvillier drew Shayne Gostisbehere and centered for an open Barzal on a breakaway and he went backhand on Mrazek to give the Islanders the lead right back just 28 seconds later.

The Flyers frantically tried to rally in the final minute, getting three close chances, but could not score and suffered the loss in regulation.

Mrazek made 32 saves in the loss. Thomas Greiss made 27 saves on 31 shots.

This was Nolan Patrick's first career three-point game. Giroux reached the 30-goal mark for the first time in his career and two more points brought him to 97 on the season. 

The regulation loss did not help the Flyers in the standings. With New Jersey and Columbus both getting wins, the Flyers fell to the second wildcard. Their magic number to clinch a playoff spot remains at three pending the outcome of Florida's game.

The Flyers return home for the final two games of the regular season. The first comes on Thursday night against the Carolina Hurricanes at 7 p.m.

Box Score

Scoring Summary

1st Period

• NYI John Tavares (35) PP (Mathew Barzal) 7:15
• PHI Wayne Simmonds (24) (Nolan Patrick, Oskar Lindblom) 19:07

2nd Period

• NYI Anthony Beauvillier (20) (Thomas Hickey, Ryan Pulock) 3:43
• NYI Tavares (36) (Josh Bailey) 11:06
• NYI Barzal (21) (Beauvillier, Jordan Eberle) 16:27

3rd Period

• PHI Patrick (12) PP (Shayne Gostisbehere, Claude Giroux) 4:07
• PHI Patrick (13) PP (Jake Voracek, Gostisbehere) 8:16
• PHI Giroux (30) (Sean Couturier, Andrew MacDonald) 13:04
• NYI Barzal (22) (Beauvillier, Eberle) 13:32

Game Statistics