The Flyers seemed poised to carry a very strong first period to intermission. That is, before they yielded goals at 17:08 and 18:03 as a 1-0 lead quickly turned into a 2-1 deficit.
On the first goal, Anthony Duclair (4th goal of the season) got open in the right slot off the rush to take a feed from Brock Nelson and score past Ivan Fedotov. The second assist went to Kyle Palmieri.
Fifty-five seconds later, the Flyers got caught on an ill-timed line change attempt that led directly to a Bo Horvat goal (17th). Mathew Barzal and Romanov drew the assists.
Subsequently, Johnson created a scoring chance for Morgan Frost. Sorokin made the save. First period shots on goal were 7-6 Flyers. In a physical frame, Philly was credited with 13 hits to 10 for New York, The Islanders won 11 of 15 faceoffs.
York returned for the start of the second period. At 8:26, Matvei Michkov stepped off the bench on a line change and received a stretch pass from Frost for a partial breakaway. Pressured from behind, Michkov wasn't able to get off the kind of shot he wanted.
The Flyers' fourth line generated a pair of good looks -- Rodrigo Abols for Garnet Hathaway and then Hathaway for Abols . The score remained 2-1 Islanders.
Foerster made a pair of strong backchecking plays to end threats for the Islanders. After the second, the Flyers went to a power play at 10:14 on a Brock Nelson slashing minor across Foerster's hand. Neither revised power play unit generated much pressure.
The Flyers coughed up another goal at 13:56 as Nelson (14th) scored on a transition rush that started from behind the New York net. Nelson's wrister was a very good shot but the chance from some distance did not look unstoppable for Fedotov at first blush. The entry for the Islanders coming through the neutral zone was also a bit too easy. The assists went to defensemen Adam Pelech and Ryan Pulock.
Second period shots on goal were 14-7 Islanders (20-14 New York overall), with most of the discrepancy coming over the latter half of the period. Through two periods, the Flyers had more shot attempts blocked (15) than ones that got to the net, plus they missed the net on 10 attempts.
Head coach John Tortorella put the line combinations in a blender during the third period. The Flyers had the puck for most of the period with New York primarily focused on taking away the middle of the ice. With 15:43 on the clock, RIchard took a feed from Frost and snapped a shot on net from the slot.
Rasmus Ristolainen was called for interference on Barzal at 7:13. The Islanders had a late scoring chance. With play back at 5-on-5 two shifts later, Michkov had a look from the slot off a Couturier setup. Sorokin made his 23rd save of the game.
The Flyers pulled Fedotov for a 6-on-4 attack with 3:09 left to play. No further scoring ensued. Third period shots were 15-8 in the Flyers favor.
Fedotov played reasonably well, but a save on Nelson's goal would have loomed large. He stopped 24 of 27 shots. Sorokin denied 28 of 29 shots. Arguably, his most important save was the breakaway chance for Michkov when the score was 2-1 Islanders in the second period.
Egor Zamula was a scratch for the Flyers due to an upper-body injury. Erik Johnson returned to the lineup for the first time since November 20.
FLYERS STARTING LINEUP