Flyers defeat Islanders in first game since Giroux trade

The Philadelphia Flyers won their first game since trading captain Claude Giroux, 2-1 against the New York Islanders at Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia on Sunday.

The forward was
traded to the Florida Panthers
on Saturday after playing his 1,000th game with Philadelphia against the Nashville Predators on Thursday. Forward Owen Tippett, who was acquired in the trade, had two shots on goal in his Flyers debut.
"There's a bit of an opportunity here for guys to step into, I don't want to say a new era, that sounds a little bit corny here, but that's kind of what it is," Philadelphia coach Mike Yeo said. "We're going to need some of these guys to take another step in their career, and they're certainly ready for that, for sure. I don't mean that as a slight to what they've done in the past.
"It's just we're asking more of them now. They're not the followers anymore. Now, they're the leaders."
Kevin Hayes scored twice, and Joel Farabee and Travis Konecny each had two assists for the Flyers (20-31-11), who had lost four of their past five games. Carter Hart made 26 saves.

Casey Cizikas scored, and Ilya Sorokin made 35 saves for the Islanders (26-25-9), who had their six-game point streak end (5-0-1).
"Can't afford that [loss] anytime, but we understand where the schedule is. We just have to mentally get through that," New York coach Barry Trotz said. "I thought, for the most part, we did. … We could be sitting here being in overtime or whatever. We didn't have enough juice."
Cizikas gave the Islanders a 1-0 lead at 12:50 of the first period. He intercepted a clearing attempt from Patrick Brown at the point before scoring with a slap shot that deflected off Brown's stick.
"I was just focusing on getting it past that first guy," Cizikas said. "It's not a comfortable spot being there for a forward. You don't want to get that blocked. I just focused on getting it through that first guy. If you do that, anything can happen."

Hayes tied it 1-1 at 4:22 of the second period after Farabee tipped the puck away from Sebastian Aho below the goal line. The puck went to Konecny, who sent a pass to Hayes for a shot glove side from the right face-off circle.
"I think just with [Giroux] leaving, I think there's a lot of opportunity out there for other guys," Farabee said. "Obviously, we're not where we want to be in this season, but we've got something to prove, I think, to ourselves and to our teammates for next year and games to follow. I think just with the absence of 'G,' I think some other guys have to step up. It's kind of a little bit of a new era almost, in a sense, I feel."

Hayes gave Philadelphia a 2-1 lead with a power-play goal at 14:55. Farabee lunged to tip the puck out of the slot to Hayes, who scored on a wrist shot from the right circle for his fourth goal in four games after going 10 games without one.
Hayes has missed significant time this season with various injuries, playing in only 28 games.
"I feel better every game," Hayes said. "I thought Joel played great tonight. I thought our team came out with a lot of jump. [The Islanders are] a team that likes to grind down low and get behind our 'D'. I thought we did a good job getting back to the house and getting out of our zone as quick as possible."
Islanders forward Anders Lee had a seven-game point streak end (nine goals, two assists).
"It was kind of an ugly game a little bit," Lee said. "It was a little bouncy, a little choppy. There wasn't a ton of flow. We were just trying to get our legs and try to get it and gun it at times. It wasn't one of those games where it was coming easy."
NOTES: Flyers defenseman Justin Braun was a healthy scratch as part of asset management ahead of the 2022 NHL Trade Deadline on Monday at 3 p.m. ET. Defenseman Nick Seeler had two shots on goal and two hits in 13:34 of ice time in Braun's place. … Islanders forward Cal Clutterbuck and defenseman Andy Greene did not play. Trotz said they were held out for maintenance after playing five games in nine days, and not in preparation for the trade deadline.