Postgame RAV4: Flyers Come Back to Beat Islanders

The Philadelphia Flyers earned a resilient 4-3 (2-1) shootout win against the New York Islanders at Xfinity Mobile Arena on Saturday afternoon. The Flyers trailed by scores of 2-0 and 3-2 but battled back to scratch out one point and then prevail in the shootout.

Simon Holmstrom (SHG, 2nd) sent New York to the first intermission with a 1-0 lead. In the second period, Anthony Duclair (2nd) extended the lead to two goals before Christian Dvorak (2nd) finished off a gorgeous setup from Trevor Zegras to narrow the gap to 2-1.

Dvorak set up Zegras (1st) to tie the game in the third period. However, a deflection goal by Maxim Tsyplakov (1st) put New York ahead, 3-2. A few minutes later, Zegras scored again (PPG, 2nd) in a scramble at the net for a 3-3 tie.

Zegras and Matvei Michkov scored in the shootout. Simon Holmstrom was the lone Islander to convert his attempt into a goal.

Samuel Ersson earned his first win of the season. He stopped 23 of 26 shots in regulation and overtime before going 2-for-3 in the shootout. Ilya Sorokin also made 23 regulation/overtime saves but was 1-for-3 in the shootout.

The Flyers went 1-for-3 on the power play. They were 2-for-2 on the penalty kill.

FIRST PERIOD SYNOPSIS

The two teams traded off prime chances in the opening two minutes of the game. Ersson was tested right away by Casey Cizikas off a cross-seam feed.

Travis Sanheim got the game's first penalty (holding Anthony Duclair) at 5:52. Ersson came up with a save on Mathew Barzal.

With all three forwards caught in deep, Nikita Grebenkin lost the puck. New York broke out 4-on-2. The Flyers dodged the bullet.

The Flyers went to the power play at 9:12. Emil Heineman was called for interference on a defensive zone faceoff. The Flyers coughed up a shorthanded Simon Holmstrom goal high to the blocker side at 9:50. The lone assist went to Jean-Gabriel Pageau. The sequence started with Drysdale passing up an open shot and the Flyers turning over a Matvei Michkov pass to Owen Tippett.

At 11:19, with play back at 5-on-5, Sorokin denied Travis Konecny on the rebound of a Jamie Drysdale wrist shot.

Garnet Hathaway concluded a very physical forechecking shift by accepting Scott Mayfield's invitation to drop the gloves at 16:40. Moments earlier, Hathaway rocked Cizikas with a big hit. Mayfield was bloodied in the ensuing fight.

With 1:49 left in the period, Sorokin fought off a Tyson Foerster shot from the mid center slot.

Shots: Flyers 8 - Islanders 4

Faceoffs: Flyers 8- Islanders 12

Notables

* There were a combined 28 credited hits in the frame: 18 by the Flyers (led by four from Hathaway) and 10 for New York.

* Noah Cates had five faceoffs against Mathew Barzal. The Islander won all five draws.

SECOND PERIOD SYNOPSIS

The Cates line had an outstanding forechecking and cycling shift early in the second period. The Islanders were hemmed in their own zone for an extended period of time.

Philly went to the power play at 3:26. Tony DeAngelo cross-checked Michkov behind the New York net. Adam Pelech hit the post on a shorthanded blast. The Flyers' second unit generated a much better shift than PP1 but couldn't capitalize.

New York took a 2-0 lead at 6:15. An attempted wrap around the defensive boards hit the referee and came out near the net. The Flyers never got the puck back again. Finally, Duclair had a slam-dunk at the post to Ersson's left. The assists went to Marshall Warren and Anders Lee.

The Flyers cut the deficit to 2-1 at 10:29. With Dvorak cutting to the net, Trevor Zegras made a gorgeous and perfectly timed pass. Dvorak then backhanded the puck into the net. Michkov drew the secondary assist for his initial cross-ice pass to Zegras.

Dvorak took a slashing minor in the defensive zone at 13:30. New York had a lot of attack zone time but the PK did a good job at boxing out near the net. New York continued to keep the Flyers in deep after 5-on-5 play resumed. Finally, at the end of a long shift, Tippett had a chance in transition.

Shots:8 (16 overall) - Islanders 13 (17 overall)

Faceoffs: Flyers 4 (12 overall) - Islanders 7 (19 overall)

Notables

* Barzal won all four of his faceoffs in this period to go 9-for-9 through two periods.

* Through two periods, the Flyers unofficially had eight high-danger scoring chances to four for the Islanders. However, New York was more effective in finishing off their opportunities with the exception of the beautiful Zegras-to-Dvorak connection on Philly's goal.

THIRD PERIOD SYNOPSIS

The Dvorak line generated a furious scramble around the New York net in the opening 90 seconds of the third period. At 1:54, the Flyers got the game tied. Dvorak stickhandled in deep and dropped a pass to Dvorak for his first goal as a Flyers. Drysdale got the secondary assist.

Grebenkin got into an after-the-whistle scrum behind the Islanders' net at 2:18. Things steadily escalated from there between the competing fourth lines. Mayfield and Hathaway were involved again.

The calls: roughing minors to Grebenkin and Hathaway from the Flyers, Mayfield and Matthew Schaefer for New York. Fighting majors went to Rodigo Abols and Kyle MacLean.

New York reclaimed a 3-2 lead at 4:21. Tsyplakov deflected a Warren shot into the net. DeAngelo got the secondary assist.

Mayfield returned to the box at 6:19, this time for high-sticking. The Flyers second unit came through at 7:32 as Zegras scored near the net. The assists went to Bobby Brink and Cates. (Note: The goal was initially credited to Cates for a second-effort play in the crease but it was ruled that Zegras sent the puck over the line beforehand).

At 8:33, Ersson made a spectacular lateral save on Jonathan Drouin. The game remained tied at 3-3.

Shots: Flyers 10 (26 overall) - Islanders 5 (22 overall)

Faceoffs: Flyers 12 (24 overall) - Islanders 9 (28 overall)

Notables

* A resilient and scrappy period from the Flyers to secure a regulation point.

* Sanheim and York both logged 25-plus minutes in regulation.

OVERTIME/SHOOTOUT SYNOPSIS

Drouin fed Bo Horvat at point blank range at 1:06. Ersson made another 10-bell save to keep the game going. At 1:33, Ersson denied Ryan Pulock on a more routine play.

Shootout Round 1: Brink tried to pull Sorokin off angle but the goalie stayed with him and made the save. Horvat attempted a five-hole shot but was stopped.

Shootout Round 2: Zegras scored through the five hole with a deceptive release. Holmstrom pulled off an east-west move and scored.

Shootout Round 3: Michkov scored a five-hole goal. Ersson denied Duclair with the left pad to end the game.

Flyers Starting Lineup

Owen Tippett – Sean Couturier – Travis Konecny
Trevor Zegras – Christian Dvorak– Matvei Michkov
Tyaso Foerster – Noah Cates – Bobby Brink
Nikita Grebenkin – Rodrigo Abols – Garnet Hathaway

Cam York– Travis Sanheim
Nick Seeler – Jamie Drysdale
Adam Ginning – Noah Juulsen

Samuel Ersson
[Dan Vladar]

Postgame RAV4 (RAV4 Things Revisited)

1. Defensive Structure.

The Flyers needed some crucial saves from Ersson along the way. Overall, after the first period, the Flyers mostly cleaned up some of the issues from Thursday's Ottawa game. Ersson came up huge on a crucial third period and overtime plays. It wasn't quite a textbook win, but it was a resilient one.

2, Penalties: Keeping feet moving.

Dvorak's second period penalty was a stick infraction. Overall, though, the Flyers played a physical and feisty game but only played shorthanded twice.

3. Flyers power play.

The Cates unit outplayed the Couturier unit on all three Philadelphia power plays. They also started the third power play and found a way to get the game tied on a dirty-but-good goal in a scramble at the net.

4. Winning key faceoffs.

New York had the better of the faceoffs for two periods. The Flyers stepped up thereafter.