The Islanders got off to a quick start on Saturday, with Mayfield's point shot deflecting off a Flyers player and past Brian Elliott at 6:30, but after that it was all Flyers.
It started with defenseman Ivan Provorov rushing deep into the Isles zone and feeding Ryan Hartman in front at 15:20 of the first, while James van Riemsdyk made it 2-1 with 3.7 seconds to play in the period to put the Flyers up 2-1. Trotz called the goal in the last 30 seconds the product of a cardinal sin, with three Isles getting caught below the goal line at the other end.
The last-second goal stung and Sean Couturier did nothing to alleviate the pain, extending the lead to 3-1 just 1:34 into the middle frame. Nolan Patrick, who left last Sunday's contest with an upper-body injury, chipped an in-tight feed past Greiss to make it 4-1 at 5:35. In total, the Flyers scored four goals in a 10:15 span.
"We gave up a late goal in the first and an early goal in the second and now we're really chasing the game," Trotz said. "We're not as firm, not as tight. Once they got a lead they packed it in, in the neutral zone."
The Islanders had a chance to swing the momentum of Saturday's game, getting a 1:34 two-man advantage. Ryan Pulock blasted a shot that squeezed through Brian Elliott, but the Flyers caught a break with a quick whistle. Jordan Eberle hit the outside of the post as the Isles threw nearly everything at the net, but could not find the spark to ignite a comeback.
Instead, Travis Konecny beat Greiss off the rush at 17:26 to make it 5-1. The goal was the Flyers fifth on 14 shots. Christopher Gibson replaced Greiss for the start of the third, his second appearance of the season. Gibson stopped all 10 shots he saw in relief.
Nick Leddy scored his third goal of the season to make it 5-2 at 16:28, but that's as close as the Isles came.
"It's not something we're taking lightly," captain Anders Lee said. "It's a rough patch ... and we just have to find a way to regroup tomorrow. We have a huge one on Monday. This one was obviously awful, it stings, it sucks, but we have 14 or 15 games here to figure it out and it starts on Monday."
