After a weekend that saw the Flyers slightly regress in their pursuit of a playoff spot, they headed to Brooklyn on Monday with the goal of narrowing the three-point gap between them and the second wild card spot.
As if the importance of the matchup wasn't significant enough, it happened to come against a skidding New York Islanders squad that's fighting to maintain a playoff spot. They managed to out-duel the Islanders, however, and came away with a 3-1 win. Brandon Manning scored his first-career NHL goal — a feat that took him all of 66 games to accomplish — while Sam Gagner scored his eight goal of the season to give the Flyers (35-24-12) an insurance tally at 4:22 of the third period.
The Flyers were mightily outworked to start the game, yet managed to keep it scoreless after the first 20 minutes. Nick Cousins was able to provide them a 1-0 lead at 2:24 of the second period (putting home a low shot that Jakub Voracek threw towards the net), but Kyle Okposo tied it up for the Islanders (38-24-9) just 1:30 later with his 20th of the season.
Manning's goal came on an impressive snipe from the left faceoff circle at 13:01 of the second stanza, just after he had serveda cross-checking minor. In an odd and unusual circumstance, Andrew MacDonald and Mark Streit (both former Islanders, no less) earned assists. It's not often that three defensemen earn points on a goal, especially for a player's first-career marker.
As the Islanders pulled Thomas Greiss for an extra attacker, Claude Giroux tallied his 19th of the season in the empty net. The goal snapped a six-game goalless streak for the Flyers' captain.
Steve Mason and Greiss each made 23 saves– though Mason faced 24 shots and Greiss faced 26. Neither team was able to capitalize on the powerplay, as the Flyers missed the boat on four opportunities and the Isles missed out on three.
The win was the Flyers' first at Barclays Center, and first on the road against the Islanders since Oct. 26, 2013. It's the fourth arena that the Flyers have beaten the Islanders in.
The Orange and Black now find themselves back within one point behind Detroit for the Eastern Conference's second wild-card spot, and three points behind the Islanders for the first. They next take the ice on Tuesday, as they travel for another Metropolitan Division matchup against Columbus.
Rob Riches is a contributor to Flyerdelphia and Sports Talk Philly. Follow him on Twitter @Riches61
