Flyers Tie Game Late, Fall on Pulock’s Last-Minute Goal

By Kevin Durso, Sports Talk Philly editor 

The Flyers trip to Barclays Center started a lot like their trip to Nassau Coliseum earlier in the season. They dug themselves a huge hole, falling behind 3-0 in the first period.

Two quick goals in the second set the stage for a crazy finish. The Flyers could not find the tying goal for over 18 minutes before they got the goalie pulled and finally tied things up with 1:32 to play, erasing the deficit.

Then they got caught on the ice on the very next shift and surrendered a goal that would take at least one potential point off the board. Ryan Pulock's goal with 38.9 seconds remaining sank the Flyers after an impressive comeback, helping the Islanders claim a 5-3 win over the Flyers on Tuesday night.

The Islanders got things started at the 7:45 of the first and kept the pressure on for the rest of the period. Josh Bailey opened the scoring off a Flyers turnover, scoring off a deflection off of Tyler Pitlick in the slot and beating Brian Elliott. 

Less than four minutes later, the Islanders got a two-on-one with a forward back and executed with Matt Martin getting the finish. 

Just over four minutes later, Mathew Barzal worked some magic with some great stickhandling and a backhander from the slot that left a rebound at the side of the net for Jordan Eberle, who made it 3-0 at 15:36.

Shots through the first period were 10-9 Flyers.

In the second, the Flyers stepped up their push but were not able to solve Semyon Varlamov until the 9:34 mark when Travis Konecny rifled one home to cut the lead to two.

Just over two minutes later, the Flyers got another goal off a rebound as Robert Hagg slammed home a low shot to the net by Claude Giroux. 

Shots were 24-18 Flyers through 40 minutes.

In the third, the Flyers again controlled the play as the period went on. They also had two power-play chances to tie the game and failed to score.

Finally, with the goalie pulled and 1:32 to play, the Flyers tied the game. A shot by Giroux toward the net deflected and hit off the end boards, going right to Sean Couturier, who banked it in to tie the game at three.

But on the next shift, the Flyers got caught in their zone and allowed Barzal to again work his magic with the puck. He got the puck out to Pulock at the point and he fired a shot high and hard to the top corner of the net to give the Islanders the lead back with 38.9 seconds remaining.

The Islanders iced it with an empty-net goal in the final seconds by Leo Komarov.

Elliott made 20 saves in the loss. Varlamov stopped 35 of 38 shots in the win.

Barzal had three assists while Eberle, Bailey and Komarov each had one goal and one assist. Scott Laughton and Giroux each had two assists.

The Flyers remain on the road, heading to Florida for a rematch against the Panthers on Thursday night at 7 p.m.

Box Score

Scoring Summary

1st Period

• NYI Josh Bailey (12) (Mathew Barzal) 7:45
• NYI Matt Martin (5) (Leo Komarov, Derick Brassard) 11:13
• NYI Jordan Eberle (10) (Barzal, Anders Lee) 15:36

2nd Period

• PHI Travis Konecny (19) (James van Riemsdyk, Scott Laughton) 9:34
• PHI Robert Hagg (2) (Claude Giroux, Laughton) 11:56

3rd Period

• PHI Sean Couturier (16) (Giroux, Ivan Provorov) 18:28
• NYI Ryan Pulock (7) (Barzal, Eberle) 19:19
• NYI Komarov (3) EN (Bailey) 19:56

Game Statistics