POSTGAME 5: OT Loss in Rubber Match

In the rubber match of three straight games against the New York Islanders, the Philadelphia Flyers lost in overtime, 2-1, at the Wells Fargo Center on Monday night. The Flyers outworked the Islanders through most of the game, and carried a 37-15 shot on goal edge through regulation.

The Flyers largely dominated the first period but Isles nursed the game to the first intermission scoreless, thanks to clutch goaltending. The game remained scoreless until Oskar Lindblom (5th goal of the season) scored from right in front of the net with 7:57 remaining in the second period. Oliver Wahlstrom (8th) tied the game early in the third period on scrum around the Philadelphia net.
In overtime, Anthony Beauvillier (4th) won the game for his team, assisted by J.G. Pageau (2nd helper of the game).
Brian Elliott stopped 17 of 19 shots in a losing cause. Ilya Sorokin was outstanding in net for the Islanders, denying 36 of 37 shots including numerous tough opportunities.
Sean Couturier returned to the Flyers lineup from a one-game absence due to a hip ailment. Shayne Gostisbehere dressed after being a healthy scratch the previous three games. All three defense pairings from Saturday were tweaked, with Gostisbehere being paired with Ivan Provorov, Travis Sanheim with Justin Braun and Erik Gustafsson with Philippe Myers. Nate Prosser exited the lineup.
TURNING POINT
The Flyers' failed late third period power play came back to haunt them. New York had all three shots on goal generated in overtime. A Farabee turnover and a Beauvillier wraparound ended it at 3:41.
MELTZER'S TAKE
1) There Flyers came out buzzing with back-to-back strong forechecking shifts to start the game. Philly racked up a 9-0 shot edge until the Islanders generated their first shot on goal on a harmless offering on Elliott from the right side boards. The Flyers staged a strong first penalty kill after Travis Konecny was called for a retaliatory roughing penalty at 9:26 after his stick was held in the neutral zone by Brock Nelson. Overall, the Flyers racked up a12-4 shot on goal edge in the first period and a team 53.6 percent Corsi across 5-on-5 and the lone special teams situation (New York's power play). The Flyers also blocked five shots.
2) The Islanders generated nothing close to a high-danger scoring chance in the first period. The Flyers had two Grade A chances -- first by Travis Konecny near the net (plus a sharper-angle followup try) and then Nolan Patrick in all alone on the goalie. Sorokin made excellent saves on both to keep the game scoreless at the first intermission.
3) In the second period, both teams had some breakdowns but shots were only 3-2 Flyers through 10 mins and 4-3 Flyers through 11. Missed shots --both teams hit a post/crossbar and 2-on-1 and 3-on-1 opportunities for the Flyers fizzled out without a shot.
At 12:03 of the second period, Jakub Voracek and Claude Giroux won a puck battle behind the net. Giroux found time and space to center the puck to Lindblom and the Swedish winger knocked it home between the pads from the doorstep for a 1-0 Flyers lead.

5) A scramble around the Flyers net paid paid off on Wahlstrom tying the game at 1-1 at 4:06 of the third period. The goal came on New York's 3rd shot of the period and 13th of the game. New York remained on 13 shots until nearly the 15:00 mark of the third period when the Isles had a pair of scoring chances. WIth 1:49 left, Hayes had a rebound opportunity on a Konecny shot, but Nick Leddy took a hooking penalty. The Flyers were unable to capitalize and the game went to OT with an 11-second 4-on-3 for the Flyers.