Monday may have been April Fools Day, but Flyers head coach John Tortorella wasn’t joking with the decision made at the start of the second period. An 18-second span in the first period turned the game on its head, and led Tortorella to make a risky move. As the second period started, Ivan Fedotov was into the game for Sam Ersson for his NHL debut.
The period that followed was disappointing to say the least. After tying the game just 43 seconds into the period, the Flyers were out-shot, 17-3, in the middle frame and surrendered the lead again.
With seconds remaining before the Flyers suffered a crushing regulation loss, Morgan Frost delivered the tying goal to force overtime. But as quickly as Frost gave the Flyers a chance, he contributed to the back-breaking turnover that gave the New York Islanders the win. Brock Nelson scored at 1:24 of overtime to hand the Flyers their fifth straight loss, 4-3, on Monday night at Wells Fargo Center.
The Flyers got off to a good start and turned it into the game’s first goal at 4:57. Noah Cates won a puck battle in the neutral zone and moved into the offensive zone, firing a shot over the glove of Semyon Varlamov for his fourth goal of the season.
At the 12-minute mark, the game turned in a span of 18 seconds. Matt Martin scored his fourth goal of the season, getting a fluttering shot off of Egor Zamula through Ersson to tie the game at one. Just 18 seconds later, as Sean Couturier labored off the ice favoring his right shoulder, Bo Horvat finished off the rush for his 30th of the season to make it 2-1. Couturier did not return for the remainder of the game.
Through 20 minutes, shots were 11-6 Flyers.
Fedotov came on to make his NHL debut at the start of the second period. Ersson exited allowing two goals on six shots.
The Flyers started off the second by getting the equalizer just 43 seconds in. Travis Sanheim went coast to coast and buried a shot, making it a 2-2 game on his 10th goal of the season.
The rest of the period, the Flyers were on their heels, getting out-shot, 17-3. Fedotov made 16 saves during the middle frame, but the Islanders were able to grab the lead with 2:06 to play in the period.
Anders Lee deflected a shot by Alexander Romanov for his 19th goal of the season to make it 3-2 Islanders.
Through two periods, shots were 22-14 Islanders.
The Flyers put plenty of shot volume toward the Islanders net in the third, returning the favor with a 19-3 shot advantage. The last one found the net, as Frost put home a rebound to tie the game with 9.6 seconds remaining in regulation.
But the Flyers saw things turn south in overtime again. After possessing the puck for the duration of overtime, a turnover in front of the net on an exchange between Frost and Jamie Drysdale allowed Kyle Palmieri to take possession and feed Nelson for his 30th goal of the season for the win.
Varlamov made 30 saves on 33 shots in the win. Fedotov made 19 saves on 21 shots in the overtime loss.
The Flyers get back in action on Friday night to take on the Buffalo Sabres at 7 p.m.
Box Score
| 1 | 2 | 3 | OT | T | |
| Islanders | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 4 |
| Flyers | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3 |
Scoring Summary
1st Period
- PHI Noah Cates (4) (Unassisted) 4:57
- NYI Matt Martin (4) (Kyle MacLean, Mike Reilly) 12:03
- NYI Bo Horvat (30) (Mathew Barzal, Casey Cizikas) 12:21
2nd Period
- PHI Travis Sanheim (10) (Unassisted) 0:43
- NYI Anders Lee (19) (Alexander Romanov) 17:54
3rd Period
- PHI Morgan Frost (13) (Jamie Drysdale, Travis Konecny) 19:50
Overtime
- NYI Brock Nelson (30) (Kyle Palmieri) 1:24
Game Statistics
| Islanders | Flyers | |
| Shots | 27 | 33 |
| Power Play | 0/2 | 0/2 |
| Hits | 36 | 27 |
| Faceoff % | 53% | 47% |
| Giveaways | 11 | 8 |
| Takeaways | 6 | 8 |
| Blocked Shots | 26 | 21 |
| Penalty Minutes | 4 | 4 |
