Laughton Scores in OT to Give Flyers Win Over Islanders

By Kevin Durso, Sports Talk Philly editor 

For the first 20 minutes, the Flyers came out with the effort and energy that has been expected of them. For the final 40 minutes of regulation, they were in survival mode.

Still, they managed to get the game to overtime and with the play at 3-on-3, managed to get another win early in the season. Scott Laughton scored at 3:16 of overtime to give the Flyers a 3-2 win over the Islanders on Saturday night at Wells Fargo Center.

The Flyers came out strong from the beginning and it didn't take long for them to earn their first goal of the game. After winning a neutral-zone battle, Scott Laughton got the puck to Jake Voracek entering the zone. Voracek executed a give-and-go with Claude Giroux, going to the net for the tip to make it 1-0 at 3:38.

As the period approached the 14-minute mark, another pretty passing play put the Flyers ahead by two. Kevin Hayes helped keep the puck in the zone to Ivan Provorov. With space, Provorov carried for a moment, then dished back to James van Riemsdyk. Again, it was a quick give-and-go, as van Riemsdyk dished to Hayes and quickly got the puck back at the top of the right circle before feeding Hayes at the side of the net for another tap-in goal to make it 2-0.

The Flyers only managed six shots in the opening period, but held the Islanders to just six for the period. Prior to a late power play, the Islanders had just three shots in the first 16:29. 

In the second, the Islanders got back to what they had done well in the playoffs last year, skating better, dictating the play with strong forechecking and winning battles. It helped them climb right back into the game in less than five minutes.

First, at 7:31, the Islanders got on the board as Jordan Eberle was able to beat Carter Hart from in front on a one-timer from Adam Pelech.

Less than five minutes later at 11:46, Scott Mayfield was left alone at the right circle after a prolonged shift and fired a shot past Hart to even things at two.

The Islanders out-shot the Flyers, 10-4, in the middle period to take a 16-10 lead in shots through 40 minutes.

The Islanders once again took it to the Flyers early in the third and carried the play for the majority of the period. Thanks to Hart, the game remained tied at two through 60 minutes and required overtime. Shots through regulation were 27-14 Islanders.

For most of the overtime, there wasn't much open ice for quality opportunities, but with 1:44 remaining in the overtime, Laughton created some space and got the chance needed. Laughton delayed and got Semyon Varlamov down. He fired under the arm of Varlamov to score the game-winner and give the Flyers their third straight win.

Hart made 26 saves in the win. Varlamov made 14 saves in the loss.

These two teams are right back on the ice on Sunday night at 7 p.m.

Box Score

Scoring Summary

1st Period

• PHI Jake Voracek (2) (Claude Giroux, Scott Laughton) 3:38
• PHI Kevin Hayes (4) (James van Riemsdyk, Ivan Provorov) 13:55

2nd Period

• NYI Jordan Eberle (3) (Adam Pelech, Brock Nelson) 7:31
• NYI Scott Mayfield (1) (Nick Leddy, Mathew Barzal) 11:46

3rd Period

• No Scoring

Overtime

• PHI Scott Laughton (1) (Shayne Gostisbehere) 3:16

Game Statistics