POSTGAME 5: Flyers Drop 4-1 Decision to Islanders

The Philadelphia Flyers saw their winless streak grow to eight games after a 4-1 defeat by the New York Islanders at UBS Arena on Monday night. The scene will shift to the Wells Fargo Center on Tuesday for the back half of the home-and-home set.

The game was scoreless in the first period and remained 0-0 past the midpoint of regulation. The Islanders then struck for tallies by Brock Nelson (team-high 11th of the season) and Casey Cizakas (1st) spaced 2:44 apart. Later, a fluke puck-luck goal by Travis Konecny (6th) of the season cut the deficit to 3-2.
In the third period, Anthony Beauvillier (6th) extended the New York lead to 3-1. Matt Martin (1st) tacked on an empty net goal. Both Martin and Cizikas saw goal droughts of 40-plus games come to an end.
Martin Jones stopped 27 of 30 shots in a losing cause. Ilya Sorokin was beaten only on the fluky Konecny goal and won the game with 26 saves on 27 shots.
The Flyers went 0-for-4 on the power play and looked very poor in doing so. They were 1-for-1 on the penalty kill and actually generated more scoring chances (two) shorthanded than on the power play.
TURNING POINT
The Flyers' power play was a negative momentum favor in this game. Later the recurring issue of giving up closely spaced goals reared its head again in the second period. Philadelphia was widely outplayed in the third period, and the Beauvillier insurance goal was poorly defended.
MELTZER'S TAKE
1) The Flyers gained possession and entry on the game's opening shift. Travis Konecny fed Oskar Lindblom for a shot in the left circle. One shift later, Scott Mayfied hooked down Joel Farabee behind the New York net at the 27-second mark to give the Flyers the game's first power play. The second power play unit had three straight failed entry attempts. After five-on-play resumed, the Flyers iced the puck. Later, Scott Laughton fired a rising shot from the left circle that went off Sorokin's shoulder and then off the right post.
The Flyers owned the game's first three shots on goal. The Islanders had the next four. The Flyers iced the puck again at 7:27.
The Flyers went back to the power play at 7:42 after Oliver Walhstrom hooked Gerry Mayhew at the Islanders' blueline off a neutral zone faceoff. The first unit had trouble getting the puck in the attack zone with possession. With the second unit out, the Islanders had a shorthanded counterattack chance after Morgan Frost lost the puck.
Despite the Flyers' having two power plays -- in which they were outshot 2-1 by the Islanders -- New York had six of the game's first 10 shots. At 14:01, Joel Farabee turned the puck over trying to chip it up the boards in the defensive zone. Jones snared a Mayfield slapshot from the point.
The Flyers fourth line fumbled the puck around the defensive zone turning a non-dangerous situation into a dangerous one. Eventually, Mathew Barzal got a prime scoring chance with the Flyers hemmed it.
With 2:33 left in the first period, Jones kicked the puck to safety with Zach Parise stationed nearby and ready to pounce. The Islanders then had some extended puck possession as time ticked down and expired.
2) Passing was sloppy on both sides in the first period. Additionally, pucks were hard to control, often hopping up and bouncing. Shots on goal in the scoreless period were 13-8 in New York's favor with the Isles getting seven of the final eight. The Islanders had 21 of the period's 35 all-situation shot attempts (60 percent Corsi). New York also held a 4-1 edge in high-danger scoring chances.
Rasmus Ristolainen had three of the seven hits the Flyers were credited with in the period, and Anders Lee had three of six for the Islanders. Ristolainen had active battles near the Philadelphia net with both Lee and Matt Martin,
3) A stretch pass in the opening minute of the second period sprung Travis Konecny and Laughton on a 2-on-1. Konecny fed a pass across. Sorokin made an excellent save to deny Laughton from the left slot. At 2:28, Konecny sped up the right wing. He elected to shoot this time. Again, Sorokin made the stop.
New York got their first power play at 3: after Connor Bunnaman was called for slashing Casey Cizikas across the hand in the Philadelphia zone. Laughton broke through the defense to create a shorthanded chance. Shortly thereafter, Atkinson led a shorthanded 2-on-1 with Lindblom. Sorokin stopped every shot in the three-attempt volley by Atkinson.
The trailing referee called the Islanders' Josh Bailey for high-sticking Ivan Provorov behind the play at 9:24. Giroux fired a one-timer on net midway through the advantage.
With play back at 5-on-5, Nelson broke the scoreless deadlock at 11:44. Provorov couldn't control the puck in the neutral zone and was chipped past him by Andy Greene. After receiving the puck from Josh Bailey, Nelson cut toward the left hash mark and used Ristolainen as a screen to fired a rising shot past Jones.
At 14:28, the Islanders stuck again. Cal Clutterbuck won a battle down low. The puck went out to Salo at the point, who moved laterally across the blueline. From the center point, he fired a shot that traveled into layers of traffic and was deflected by Cizikas into the net.
Puck luck was on the Flyers' side at 17:12. An attempted flip pass by Konecny from the right wing went off the shoulder of Islanders' defenseman Noah Dobson, and then dropped into the net behind a startled Sorokin. Sanheim received the lone assist. The goal, the 100th of Konecny's NHL career, ended a 20-game goal drought for the player.

With time ticking down to the final minute of the period, Farabee was sprung for a breakaway opportunity with a chance to tie the game. Sorokin made the save.
4) Possession-wise the second period was better for the Flyers. Philly held a 13-7 shot on goal edge and 12-8 scoring chance (3-2 high danger) advantage in the middle frame but left the ice trailing by a goal.
5) The third period got off to a more cautious start than the second. Zack MacEwen was guilty of an unforced icing but the Flyers' Bunnaman won the ensuing faceoff and exited the defensive zone with a chance to change lines.
The Islanders took a 3-1 lead at 4:44 of the third period. They gained possession in the Flyers' zone on a chip-and-chase play against the Giroux line and the defense pairing of Ivan Provorov and Travis Sanheim. On a delayed penalty on the Flyers, Philadelphia was guilty of too much puck-watching Beauvillier made the Flyers pay. The assists went to Wahlstrom and Nelson.
Philadelphia struggled to generate any sort of forechecking pressure or pace as the period moved along.
Konecny landed a big hit on Kieffer Bellows inside the Flyers blueline.
The Flyers went to their fourth power play -- after a lengthy delayed call -- at 11:54. Jones made an excellent pad save on J.G. Pageau's shorthanded bid.
The Flyers pulled Jones for a 6-on-5. After JVR hit the post from the left slot on a pass-out from Atkinson, the Islanders' Martin scored an empty net goal. Clutterbuck got the lone assist.
Third period shots were 11-5 in the Islanders' favor.