Ilya Sorokin
For the third time in eight days, the Flyers and New York Islanders face off. It was be the second time on Long Island. For the Flyers, a loss will be their 13th straight, setting a new franchise record for the longest winless streak.
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.
The Flyers look to avoid making that an eight-game losing streak as they take on another team struggling to find its footing this season. The New York Islanders are the opponent for the next two nights for a home-and-home, starting Monday night on the road for the Flyers.
In Sunday’s game, the Flyers did everything but score over the first 40 minutes. Then the Islanders started to make their push and ultimately took care of things in an overtime that they dominated. It spoiled an otherwise outstanding goaltending performance on the Flyers end and showcased the Islanders budding young star in goal once again.
It was only going to take one goal to settle things, as both teams skated through 60 minutes without a tally. But at 2:23 of the overtime, Nick Leddy got the bounce and scored the lone goal of the game, handing the Flyers a 1-0 overtime loss to the Islanders.
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.
The Flyers got one point by getting Thursday’s game against the Islanders to overtime, but suffered the same fate as their previous game in Long Island, falling in a shootout, 3-2.
The Flyers week continues with a meeting against the New York Islanders, a team that just made their splash at the trade deadline by acquiring Kyle Palmieri and Travis Zajac from the New Jersey Devils.
The Flyers are about to embark on another rough month, facing numerous contenders and not having a lot of time off between games. It all starts with Saturday night’s game against the New York Islanders.
Losses are losses at this stage of the season. Whether it’s 9-0, or 6-1, or 2-1 in overtime, they all hurt the same in the standings. It’s a missed opportunity at two points that you had when the night began. But in this game, when the Flyers did deliver the effort and executed better for almost the entire 60 minutes, two glaring mistakes cost them, and this time, they didn’t have the answers to make a couple of mistakes change the result.