MELTZER'S TAKE
* The Flyers spent the first three-plus minutes of the game largely hemmed in their own end because of an unusually aggressive Islanders forecheck and several turnovers. New York went right at the Nate Thompson line with Brock Nelson and Mathew Barzal's line. It paid off as Nelson won a battle and Greene scored on a point shot through layers of traffic that beat Hart to the glove side at 6:06.
* Kevin Hayes had a breakaway chance off a great lead pass from Travis Konecny but was unable to score on a backhand try. Later, Greene came up with blocks on what initially looked like good scoring chances for Claude Giroux and Konecny. Otherwise, the period was all Islanders, and the Flyers needed 14 saves in the period by Hart -- including an excellent glove save against Nelson -- to keep the deficit to one.
* The Flyers staged a strong PK on the carryover Grant penalty and went on to dominate puck possession for the decided majority of the second period. They attacked with better pace, kept their feet moving and got some effective keeps and pinches from the D. Much of the Flyers territorial edge was confined to the perimeter and low-to-high plays but Philadelphia got the puck to the inside several times. Most notably, Varlamov was equal to chances from the slot by Giroux (set up after a long forecheck by the Thompson line) and another by Scott Laughton.
* The Flyers dug themselves a deep hole at 2:54 of the third period. They had both defensemen (Travis Sanheim and Phil Myers) behind the net, as well as center Couturier -- whose assignment in that situation was to guard the house -- and it ended up for a wide open point blank chance for Pageau off a pass out from Leo Komarov. He didn't miss.
* Vigneault gambled by pulling Hart for an extra attacker with a little less than eight minutes left in the game. It backfired as Toews scored a long-distance empty-net goal at 12:21.
STATISTICALLY SPEAKING
* The Islanders outshot the Flyers by a 14-4 margin in the first period, while the Flyers outshot the Islanders 15-7 in the second period... Shots ended up even at 29-29.
* In all 10 Flyers postseason games, the team that has scored first has won the game.
* Ivan Provorov led the Flyers in ice time at 22:18, his fewest minutes of the playoffs, while Travis Konecny led the team in shots (4).
* The game featured a total of 63 hits (Flyers: 29 | Islanders: 34)... Philippe Myers and Nicolas Aube-Kubel led the Flyers with four hits each, while Ross Johnston led the Islanders with 10.
* Game 2 is Wednesday, August 26 (3pm, NBCSN & 97.5 The Fanatic).
