POSTGAME 5: OT Magic Overcomes Isles (Again)

Three overtime victories in the 2020 Eastern Conference Semifinals enabled the Flyers to force their series with the New York Islanders to go the full seven games. On Saturday night at the Wells Fargo Center, things were rather reminiscent of the playoff series last September: The Flyers played one strong period (the first in this case) and built a two-goal lead. The Islanders dominated the other 40 minutes in regulation and came back to tie the game while forechecking at will. Ultimately, the Flyers pulled out an overtime victory even if the process didn't match the results.
Give-and-go finishes by Jakub Voracek (2nd goal of the season) and Kevin Hayes (4th) sent the Flyers to the first intermission with a 2-0 lead. The Islanders struck back in the second period on goals by Jordan Eberle (3rd) and Scott Mayfield (1st). The ice was tilted against Philly again in a bend-but-don't-break third period. Finally Scott Laughton (1st) won the game off a counterrush in overtime.
Carter Hart earned the win in net,stopping 26 of 28 shots. Semyon Varlamov denied 14 of 17 Flyers shots.

Head coach Alain Vigneault scratched right winger Travis Konecny for this game. Samuel Morin made his season debut (and first-ever NHL game at left wing rather than defense), playing 5:31 over nine shifts.

TURNING POINT
The Islanders dominated the final 40 minutes of regulation but, for the Flyers, overtimes against the Isles seem to be very agreeable. Laughton had a good scoring chance on the first shift of OT but was stopped by Varlamov. Finally, a good defensive stick at the blueline by Shayne Gostisbehere started a counterattack, and Laughton raced the other way. Laughton moved over the middle to his left, waited out Varlamov and beat him to the open short side to end the game at 3:16 of sudden death.

MELTZER'S TAKE
1) Connor Bunnaman's line produced a strong opening shift of the game. At 3:38, Voracek and Claude Giroux executed a gorgeous give-and-go, finished off by Voracek on a perfect feed from the Flyers' captain. Scott Laughton got the secondary assist. The Flyers had four of the game's first five shots and the lone power play through a TV timeout at 10:44.
Overall, the Flyers demonstrated strong support and dogged puck pursuit , including a solid kill on a Michael Raff tripping penalty. At one juncture of the period, Joel Farabee and Scott Laughton blocked back-to-back shot attempts by New York and then Justin Braun blocked another right after the Islanders got back in the attack zone.

2) At 13:55, an Islanders turnover in their own zone proved costly. Ivan Provorov got the puck to Hayes and Hayes worked a give-and-go with James van Riemsdyk. Hayes drove to the net, took a return pass from JVR to the left of the net and buried it in the back of the net. First period shots ended up 6-6 (unblocked shot attempts were 14-9 Islanders). Hits were 14-7 Islanders, but the Flyers won 7 of 10 faceoffs.

3) The Flyers got virtually nothing going offensively in the second period' only four shots and only a single extended attacking shift. Overall, the Islanders forechecked at will. Philly defended well early but then had a couple breakdowns of puck management and coverage leading to goals by Jordan Eberle and Scott Mayfield. The Mayfield goal looked stoppable for Hart but it was Sam Morin's responsibility to cover the D on that side. A Flyers kill on a NAK penalty was a stabilizer in the latter part of the period but it was a disappointing followup to a solid start.
4) Second period shots were 10-4 Islanders (16-10 Isles overall), shot attempts were 19-10 Isles (37-26 Islanders overall), hits were 10-7 Isles (24-14 Isles overall), Team Corst was 63.6% Islanders (58% Islanders overall), scoring chances were 8-2 in the Islanders favor and the Flyers failed to generate a single high-danger chance on Varlamov.
5) Hart made an excellent save on Anders Lee in close as well as one on Leo Komarov among his 11 third period saves. Once the game got to 3-on-3 overtime and a point was in the bank, the Flyers went all out to get the second one and had three of the four shots in the extra frame. Overall, the Islanders out shot (45-38 in attempts), outchanced (28-17 across all game situations), outhit (31-24), and out-possessed the Flyers (59.1% team Corsi to 40.9%). In the end, though, the Flyers came away with the victory.