Flyers Rally Back, Fall to Islanders in Shootout

By Kevin Durso, Sports Talk Philly editor 

For two periods, the Flyers were playing a solid game, just not getting the bounces and they had one mistake made hurt them. In the third, their goaltender and their captain were the two players trying to will them to a win.

It almost worked out that way. A pair of goals by Claude Giroux erased a two-goal deficit and Carter Hart was having an outstanding game. Unfortunately, the Islanders got the extra point in the shootout, defeating the Flyers, 3-2, on Saturday night.

The Flyers came out with a good start, keeping gaps controlled and locking down on the neutral zone. Early in the game, Sam Morin set the tone by dropping the gloves with Ross Johnston and landed a couple good shots to take him down.

Once the two fighters were back out of the box, Morin took a penalty just past the halfway point of the period for interference. That allowed the Islanders to get the chance to strike first and they did.

A nice pass at the side of the net by Matt Martin got the puck across to Anthony Beauvillier with a wide-open net to put the Islanders in front at 12:01.

The Flyers had to survive another Islanders power play seconds later, then got their opportunity to get back into the game with a 5-on-3 for 1:04. They weren't able to score, generating very few chances as the period drew to a close.

Through 20 minutes, shots were 10-3 Flyers.

The Flyers again had a strong second period from a shots standpoint, taking 11 to the Islanders seven in the period. The Flyers also got the only power play of the period, but once again couldn't generate much and let it go by the wayside.

With just 4:20 remaining in the period, a mistake by the Flyers led to another goal. A failed clear off the stick of James van Riemsdyk that was knocked down by Joel Farabee was kept in by Beauvillier. He then executed a give-and-go with Mathew Barzal, getting to the slot for the one-timer to score his second goal of the game.

In the third period, the Flyers had to get through an early penalty kill before finally creating a chance that got them on the board. A nice play along the wall by Travis Konecny led to a set-up of Giroux, who fired a backhander past Ilya Sorokin to make it 2-1 at 6:38.

Shortly after Giroux got the Flyers on the board, Hart made a great save on Barzal as Ivan Provorov took a penalty. Following a successful kill, the Flyers were able to tie things up less than four minutes after their first goal. Giroux was at it again, getting a great look from the slot and firing it home to tie the game at two.

A few excellent saves by Hart late in regulation forced overtime, giving the Flyers a chance at the second point. After a scoreless five minutes, where the Flyers went the last 15 seconds on the penalty kill, the game went to a shootout.

There were three scoreless rounds to start, and the Flyers nearly had the game won on Giroux's shootout attempt in the third round on a nice move answered by a better save from Sorokin. Barzal scored in the fourth round, and Jake Voracek was not able to beat Sorokin to keep the game going.

Sorokin made 30 saves in the win. Hart finished with 22 saves in the defeat.

The Flyers are back on the ice on Monday night to take on the Boston Bruins at 7 p.m.

Box Score

Scoring Summary

1st Period

• NYI Anthony Beauvillier (7) PP (Matt Martin, Jordan Eberle) 12:01

2nd Period

• NYI Beauvillier (8) (Mathew Barzal) 15:40

3rd Period

• PHI Claude Giroux (10) (Travis Konecny, Jake Voracek) 
• PHI Giroux (11) (Voracek, Konecny) 10:32

Overtime

• No Scoring

Shootout

• NYI Jordan Eberle – Save
• PHI Sean Couturier – Miss
• NYI Anthony Beauvillier – Save
• PHI Nolan Patrick – Miss
• NYI Oliver Wahlstrom – Save
• PHI Claude Giroux – Save
• NYI Mathew Barzal – Goal
• PHI Jake Voracek – Save

Game Statistics