Casey Cizikas
The Flyers return to the ice on Wednesday night for the second game of the preseason on the road against the New York Islanders.
The only Flyer who needed to find the back of the net was Kevin Hayes. Hayes scored twice in the second period, including a power-play goal with 5:05 remaining. That proved to be the game-winner through the third period, as the Flyers claimed a 2-1 win over the Islanders.
On one night, the Flyers made it a game late in the second, then had an early third-period goal dash their hopes. The next, they carried the play and took a lead into the late stages of the third before finding a way to lose another game.
The Islanders were able to get the game tied and force overtime late in the third. Eventually in the shootout, both teams went nine rounds before the winning goal was scored, giving the Islanders a 4-3 win over the Flyers to extend the losing streak to nine games.
The Flyers had two power plays in the first period and couldn’t generate more than one shot on goal. The Islanders weren’t cashing in either, but eventually took advantage of a few of their opportunities, getting a 4-1 victory to hand the Flyers their eighth straight loss.
Thursday night was a really good game from the Flyers if you are strictly looking for positive building blocks moving forward. There were two very notable areas that stepped up and helped get the game to overtime and put them in a position to win. But if you were strictly looking for two points and a chance to stay in the playoff race even just for a little longer, it was another night where even a solid effort came up short.
In Saturday’s game, it took just over six minutes for the Flyers to allow a goal. After another 10 minutes, the Islanders had four on the board and the game was as good as over. Two more third-period turnovers padded the score further, resulting in a 6-1 defeat for the Flyers. There’s an awful lot to unpack in another result like that.
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.
Ivan Provorov scored the goal that forced a deciding Game 7 at 15:03 of the second overtime, giving the Flyers a 5-4 double-overtime win over the Islanders in Game 6.
The Flyers are one of eight teams remaining, and they get to go against an old foe behind the bench, one who has been in the division for years, but this time with a new team. Here are five storylines to watch in the upcoming series between the Flyers and Islanders.