Islanders 4-Goal 1st Leads to Another Lopsided Flyers Loss

By Kevin Durso, Sports Talk Philly editor 

The Flyers strong start in Thursday's game was nearly ruined by the final 10 minutes of play, as they let the Islanders come all the way back from a three-goal deficit in the third period. The Flyers got the win, and while the process was certainly better, it needed to carry over to the next game.

Within the first five minutes of the game, it was already clear it didn't. Within 10 minutes, the Islanders opened up a three-goal lead of their own, and added a fourth goal with under five minutes to play. That was all they needed, as a late first-period goal by the Flyers was all they could get in a 6-1 defeat to the Islanders on Saturday night.

From the start, the Islanders were off and running. Their opportunity arose when they got a power play and made quick work of it. Just 28 seconds into the man advantage, a blocked shot by Oskar Lindblom rolled to Jean-Gabriel Pageau with a wide-open net to make it 1-0 at 6:11.

Less than two minutes later, the Flyers were stuck in a netmouth scramble and lost the battle, as Jordan Eberle was able to get to a loose puck and bury it to make it 2-0 at 8:01.

Just over two minutes after that, a turnover by Nate Prosser at the blue line sent Casey Cizikas the other way, and he snapped a shot past Carter Hart to make it 3-0 at 10:03. Following that goal, Alain Vigneault took his timeout. It didn't have the same effect as last time.

Just over five minutes after that, more sloppy defensive play allowed Cizikas to be left alone at the side of the net for another goal, making it 4-0 at 15:25.

Following the fourth Islander goal of the period, Lindblom dropped the gloves with Oliver Wahlstrom, trying to provide any sort of spark.

With 2:08 remaining in the period, the Flyers got on the board as Joel Farabee finished on a two-on-one to make it 4-1. Despite that, the Flyers finished the period trailing by three and trailing in shots, 13-10.

Early in the second, the Flyers got their first of two power plays in the period. On both, the Flyers were held off the board and the margin remained at three.

The Islanders continued to push the play for most of the period, forcing more turnovers and sloppy defensive play from the Flyers. Hart had a better period, making saves on all seven shots for the Islanders.

Through two periods, the Flyers had a 21-20 lead in shots.

Most of the third was pretty uneventful until another turnover led to another Islanders goal that put the game completely away. Prosser was the culprit again, giving the puck away and it led to a goal by Anthony Beauvillier to make it 5-1 at 9:45 of the third.

The Islanders capped off the scoring with 4:14 remaining after Hart turned the puck over to Josh Bailey and he scored into an empty net to make it 6-1.

Ilya Sorokin finished with 23 saves in the win. Hart made 22 saves on 28 shots in the loss.

In addition to Cizikas' two-goal game, Bailey had a goal and an assist while Wahlstrom and Thomas Hickey each had two assists.

The Flyers and Islanders meet one more time in this three-game series on Monday night, as the series shifts to Philadelphia. Game time is 7 p.m.

Box Score

Scoring Summary

1st Period

• NYI Jean-Gabriel Pageau (10) PP (Oliver Wahlstrom, Josh Bailey) 6:11
• NYI Jordan Eberle (10) (Mathew Barzal, Thomas Hickey) 8:01
• NYI Casey Cizikas (5) (Unassisted) 10:03
• NYI Cizikas (6) (Hickey, Wahlstrom) 15:25
• PHI Joel Farabee (13) (Scott Laughton) 17:52

2nd Period

• No Scoring

3rd Period

• NYI Anthony Beauvillier (3) (Brock Nelson) 9:45
• NYI Bailey (4) (Unassisted) 15:46

Game Statistics