The New York Islanders scored early and often. Nikolay Kulemin had a pair of goals, Johnny Boychuk added two assists, Jaroslav Halak made 24 saves and the New York Islanders dominated the Philadelphia Flyers 7-4 on Monday afternoon.
The Islanders stormed out of the gate. Michael Grabner scored his fourth of the season just 1:32 in to give the New York an early 1-0 lead. Grabner took a pass from Nikolay Kulemin, blew past the Flyers defense and roofed a shot over Rob Zepp.
Less than seven minutes later, the Islanders would go up 2-0. Kulemin slammed home a rebound at 8:06 for his 10th of the season. Johnny Boychuk and Grabner had the assists.
The Flyers would settle down and play much better over the final ten minutes of the first but Jaroslav Halak stopped all 14 shots to preserve the 2-0 lead at intermission. Both teams went 0-1 on the power play in the period.
The Islanders would expand their lead at 4:53 of the second. Kulemin got his second of the game shorthanded. He blocked a Matt Read shot at the point and went in on a breakaway. He made a move in tight and beat Zepp for the 3-0 lead.
Mark Streit would get the Flyers on the board at 9:07. Streit fired a shot home for his seventh of the season. Jake Voracek and Brayden Schenn picked up the assist on the power play goal.
Less than three minutes, New York would regain their three goal lead. Josh Bailey got his eigth of the season at 11:49. The goal was scored three seconds after the Flyers had killed a Sean Couturier penalty.
Michael Del Zotto would once again close the gap to two goals as he netted his third of the season at 15:12. Del Zotto was in the right spot to bang in a rebound to make it 4-2. Voracek and Schenn had the assists,
John Tavares would put New York back up by three with just seven seconds left in the period. He scored his team leading 21st goal of the year on the power play with an incredible back hand shot in tight.
The Flyers would not quit. Claude Girouox slammed home his 15th of the year just 49 seconds in to the third to make it 5-3. Giroux took a pass from Zac Rinaldo and deposited it in the empty net.
Just like earlier, every time the Flyers would get to within two, the Islanders answered. Nick Leddy scored his seventh of the year at 5:45 to put New York back up by three. Tavares and Bailey drew the assists.
Chris VandeVelde scored his fifth of the season at 17:36. It was his second consecutive game in which he has scored. Luke Schenn had the lone assist.
The Flyers immediately pulled the goalie down two. After some god pressure that did not result in a goal for Philadelphia, Anders Lee picked up the puck at center and fired it into the empty net for a 7-4 New York win.
The Islanders out shot the Flyers 40-29 for the game. Flyers starting goalie Rob Zepp was pulled after allowing the fourth Islander goal and was replaced by Ray Emery.
The Flyers are next in action tomorrow night against the Pittsburgh Penguins. Game time is 7:30
Bill Minchin is a contirbuting writer for Flyerdelphia. Follow Bill on Twitter @wtfd103074
