Hart, Defense Struggles as Islanders Down Flyers

By Kevin Durso, Sports Talk Philly editor 

Riding the wave of a five-goal third period and dramatic win at home on Saturday night, the Flyers wasted no time getting the first goal of Sunday's game on Long Island. But from there, they were outmatch and out-skated, making numerous mistakes that led to goals for the Islanders.

The Flyers could not recover from three first-period goals and another quick pair of goals to start the second, falling to the Islanders, 5-3, on Sunday night to snap a three-game winning streak.

The Flyers came out fast with a goal just 1:07 into the game. Travis Sanheim created a turnover and centered for Jake Voracek for the tip-in to make it 1-0 early.

From there, the Islanders were opportunistic on Flyers turnovers and miscues. Anders Lee jumped on a rebound to tie the game at 3:17. Derick Brassard scored on a transitional rush to make it 2-1 at 4:22. Off a turnover by Sanheim, Ross Johnston took a centering feed and scored to make it 3-1 at 11:46.

The Flyers did get the margin back to one with a deflection goal by Travis Konecny with 3:22 left in the first.

Early in the second, the Flyers quickly let the game unravel. Following another sloppy shift in their own zone, Ryan Pulock fired from the point and beat Carter Hart to make it 4-2 at 4:13. Just 1:25 later, Mathew Barzal got a breakaway, catching Shayne Gostisbehere pinching and sped past Sam Morin before beating Hart through the five-hole.

That ultimately ended Hart's night, though he wasn't pulled until the next media timeout. He finished with nine saves on 14 shots. 

From there, Brian Elliott was one of the best players on the ice. He finished with 19 saves over the remainder of the game.

Claude Giroux scored with 2:56 left in the third period to cut the lead to two, but that was as close as the Flyers would get.

Semyon Varlamov finished the game with 28 saves on 31 shots.

The Flyers are back on the ice on Tuesday night when they continue this stretch of games against Metro division opponents, facing the Pittsburgh Penguins at 7 p.m.

Box Score

Scoring Summary

1st Period

• PHI Jake Voracek (4) (Travis Sanheim) 1:07
• NYI Anders Lee (4) (Johnny Boychuk, Mathew Barzal) 3:17
• NYI Derick Brassard (3) (Brock Nelson) 4:22
• NYI Ross Johnston (1) (Cole Bardreau) 11:46
• PHI Travis Konecny (6) (Justin Braun, Kevin Hayes) 16:38

2nd Period

• NYI Ryan Pulock (1) (Cal Clutterbuck, Adam Pelech) 4:13
• NYI Barzal (5) (Lee, Devon Toews) 5:38

3rd Period

• PHI Claude Giroux (2) (James van Riemsdyk) 17:04

Game Statistics