POSTGAME 5: Frustration Continues in 4-3 Loss

The Philadelphia Flyers lost to the New York Islanders, 4-3, at UBS Arena on Tuesday evening. The Flyers led 2-0 in the first period and then had to battle back from a 3-2 deficit in the third period only to fall short.

With the defeat, the Flyers are winless in their last 13 games (0-10-3); an unwanted new franchise record.
A Claude Giroux goal (15th of the season) from the corner gave the Flyers a 1-0 lead jusst 57 seconds into the game. Justin Braun (3rd) benefited from a friendly bounce to make it 2-0. New York quickly narrowed the gap to 2-1 on a seeing-eye point shot by Noah Dobson (6th) a mere 47 seconds later. In the final 1:45 of the opening frame, Anders Lee (11th) converted an odd-man-rush feed from Mathew Barzal to send the game to intermission tied at 2-2.
New York dominated the second period. The Flyers were fortunate to get out of the stanza with only a Barzal power play goal (8th) at 5:42 to show for all the rubber the Islanders fired on net.
Ninety seconds into the third period, Gerry Mayhew (2nd) scored a goal off a great effort at 4-on-4 to forge a 3-3 tie. Zach Parise (3rd) restored a lead for the Islanders moments after a Flyers' penalty expired.
Martin Jones stopped 31 of 34 shots in a losing cause. Ilya Sorokin was shaky at times for New York but earned the win while seeing just 17 shots (14 saves).
Keith Yandle played in his 965th consecutive NHL regular season game, setting a new NHL Iron Man record.

The Flyers went 0-for-1 on the power play. They were 3-for-4 on the penalty kill but the Islanders game winner was scored a couple ticks after their final power play ended.
TURNING POINT
Gerry Mayhew was having a great game even before his clutch 4-on-4 goal early in the third period. Linemate Morgan Frost was having a good game in his own right but his forced passed in the offensive zone and delay of game penalty at the other end overshadowed it after the Islanders' Parise scored moments after the penalty expired.
MELTZER'S TAKE
1) The Islanders had a scoring chance right off the bat in the first period. But the Flyers scored first. At the 57-second mark, Giroux fired a harmless looking shot from the right corner. Sorokin wasn't ready for it, though, and the puck snuck in between the goalie's pads. The assists went to Oskar Lindblom and Travis Sanheim.

Zack MacEwen was called for goalie interference at 5:02 after a glancing collision skating past Sorokin behind the net. The Flyers killed the penalty in good shape.Shots were 4-2 New York through the next stoppage of play.
At 12:43, the Flyers made it 2-0. Justin Braun's shot from the right point deflected into the net off the skate of defenseman Andy Greene, who was jostling at netfront with James van Riemsdyk. The helpers went to Cam Atkinson and JVR. However, at 13:37, New York quickly cut the gap to 2-1, as Dobson's right point shot through traffic found the net. Zdeno Chara and J.G. Pageau received the assists.
Gerry Mayhew did an effective job using his speed in the first period. At one juncture, he fired a shot that produced a rebound but neither Max Willman nor Morgan Frost were able to get to the loose puck in front.
At 18:15, the Islanders forged a 2-2 tie. Josh Bailey poked a loose puck past a pinching Travis Sanheim, and New York broke out on a 2-on-1 with Mathew Barzal carrying the mail. MacEwen tried to get back on the back-check but wasn't able to catch up to the slippery Barzal. A cross-ice pass later, Lee hammered the puck home from the left slot.
2) First period shots were 9-8 Islanders (Flyes had 14 of 26 shot attempts at 5-on-5). High-danger chances were 5-2 in the Islanders' favor, however. The Flyers won 11 of 20 faceoffs (55 percent), led by Connor Bunnaman's 4-for-5.
3) At 1:30 of the second period, Frost went to the slot and knocked an aerial Lindblom rebound into the net with his glove. The play, of course, was immediately ruled as no goal.
Three minutes later, Konecny turned the puck over in the defensive slot but Casey Cizikas wasn't able to convert. On the next shift, Kieffer Bellows had a chance in close on a net-mouth scramble.
MacEwen went back to the box at 4:17 when he batted the puck over the glass from inside the Flyers' blueline. At 5:42, the Isles converted it into their third unanswered goal. Zach Parise threaded a pass from the right side below the dots past Ristolainen onto Barzal's stick. Barzal then elevated a shot over Jones for a 3-2 lead.
Mayhew made a good defensive play against Barzal in the Flyers zone about 8:30 into the second period. Later on that shift, the Islanders' fourth line manhandled Yandle and Cam York behind the Flyers net. Jones made a save on Cal Clutterbuck near the net.
The Islanders continued to pressure on the forecheck and the Flyers were hemmed in. With about 7:45 left in the period, Mayhew made an excellent solo effort to use his speed on a counterattack.
New York went back to the power play at 13:20 when Braun was called for a boarding minor against Parise on the Philadelphia end of the ice. Strong PKing work by Giroux highlighted the 4-on-5. There was a scary moment with 18 seconds left on the penalty when Parise was struck up high by a rising puck. Thankfully, he was OK. With four seconds remaining, Brock Nelson had a Grade A chance near the net. After 5-on-5 play resumed. Matt Martin snapped a shot on Jones.
At 16:10, after a Philadelphia turnover, a scorching one-timer by Wahlstrom narrowly missed the target. Later on the same shift, Wahlstrom fired a long range shot on net on a transition opportunity.
The line of Mayhew, Frost and Willman hemmed the Barzal line in the New York zone in the final two minutes but no Philadelphia shots ensued. In the waning half-minute of the period, the Islanders fourth line kept Giroux's line pinned in. The Islanders pressured right until the horn to end the period.
4) The Flyers, quite frankly, were fortunate to get out of lopsided middle period down only by one goal. New York dominated and Philly couldn't handle the puck pressure. Shots on goal were 14-4 Islanders. New York had a staggering 72.97 percent share of 5-on-5 shot attempts and a 74.42 percent share when power plays were included. Scoring chances were an eye-popping 20-7 Islanders, although high-danger chances were "only" 5-1 Islanders.
Emotionally, mentally and physically (sixth game in nine nights), the beleaguered Flyers looked like they were hanging by a thread. New York took advantage of their fragile opponent although the door was still open for a Flyers comeback on the scoreboard.
5) The third period started with two minutes of 4-on-4 play after coincidental minors on Konecny (unsportsmanlike conduct) and Socct Mayfield (cross-checking) at the end of the second period. At 1:30, Mayhew exploded off the boards in New York's zone and scored on a solo effort after cutting across the bottom of the circle and firing a shot past Sorokin. Laughton and Sanheim received assists.
Sanheim joined a rush for a 3-on-2 and fired a shot that Sorokin had to fight off.The Flyers won the next faceoff and applied pressure, eventually drawing their first power play of the game. Martin went to the box for hooking Lindblom driving to the net at 4:34. The Flyers failed on back-to-back entry attempts, yielded a shorthanded foray and finally changed PP units. With PP2 on the ice, Mayhew again used his speed to get a scoring chance off the rush after a pass from Frost.
New York had a surge after killing the penalty. The Giroux line got caught on a long shift and iced the puck. Giroux lost the ensuing draw but the Flyers eventually exited the zone and changed lines.
At 9: 46, Frost took a delay of game penalty after putting the puck over the glass from the defensive zone after a turnover in the offensive zone on an initially promising front end of the shift. Laughton came up with a clutch shot block and clear midway through the penalty. Laughton had a shorthanded rush late in the kill. The Islanders counter-attacked and scored on the rush the other way. Parise took a pass from Beauvillier and scored at 11:51.
New York pressured again in shifts following the Parise goal. Jones kept the Flyers within a goal.
Sorokin made an excellent save on Lindblom off a setup by Giroux with about 3 minutes left. The Flyers pulled Jones for an extra attacker with about 2:30 remaining. A lengthy puck scrum was eventually won by the Islanders. The Flyers did not come close to a goal.
Third period shots were 10-5 Islanders.