Takeaways: Islanders Fall Behind Early in 4-1 Loss to Flyers

The New York Islanders fell into an early hole on Friday, falling 4-1 to the Philadelphia Flyers at UBS Arena.

Owen Tippett, Alex Bump (1G, 1A) and Matvei Michkov (1G, 2A) built a 3-0 lead for the Flyers in the first 23 minutes, while Travis Sanheim (1G, 1A) rounded out the scoring for Philadelphia. JG Pageau recorded the lone tally for the Islanders.

Ilya Sorokin stopped 17 of 21 in the loss, while Dan Vladar stopped 20 of 21 in the win.

The loss was the Islanders third straight in regulation, marking their second three-game losing streak of the season and first since the opening three games of the season.

“It's tough time to lose three in a row,” Anders Lee said. “Our mistakes are killing us right now, and it's putting us behind in games. It's costing us points.”

With the loss, the Flyers (88 points) are now one point behind the Islanders (89 points) with a game in hand. The Islanders are still in third place in the Metropolitan Division, one point up on the Flyers and Columbus Blue Jackets (88 points), who also have a game in hand.

“That was not even close to being enough effort by us tonight in a big hockey game, against a team that's chasing us in the standings,” Bo Horvat said. “We have to be a heck of a lot better than we were tonight all the way through.”

TAKEAWAYS

The game was largely decided early in the first period on Friday night.

The Islanders started slow, getting outshot 12-2 – and out-attempted 24-5 – in the opening period and did not record a shot on goal until the 13:15 mark. The shot disparity showed up on the scoreboard, as the Flyers racked up two goals before the Islanders were credited with two shots on goal.

Tippett opened the scoring by finishing a two-on-one rush with Sanheim at the 13:54 mark. The Flyers winger started the rush by stripping Ryan Pulock of the puck at the Flyers’ blue line.  Bump doubled the lead 1:07 later, beating Sorokin high short side from the half wall.

“I’ll take part of the blame for the first period,” Head Coach Patrick Roy said. “I have a job to do to make sure our team is ready and play a strong game. We're together in this.”

The Islanders did clamp down defensively after the opening period, allowing just nine shots the rest of the way, but if there was an indication that Friday wasn’t the Islanders night, Michkov’s goal to make it 3-0 was it. The Russian poked a loose puck over the Islanders net, but was first to his rebound below the goal line and banked it off Sorokin before the goaltender could get back to his post. While it was an uncharacteristic goal for Sorokin, Roy said the Islanders allowed too many grade-A opportunities early and did not pin the loss on his netminder.

“He’s certainly not to be blamed,” Roy said. “We’re together in this and we all have to play better hockey.”

To his credit, Vladar played a strong game for the Flyers, including a big save on a Ryan Pulock slap shot after swimming in his crease during some Islanders pressure. Brayden Schenn also had a near miss on a backdoor look on an Islanders power play, which went 0-for-3.

Pageau eventually broke through at the 15:37 mark of the second, as Mathew Barzal recovered a chip behind the net and fed Pageau out front. The assist was Barzal’s 50^th of the season, marking the third time he’d hit the mark in his career. Barzal is one of five Islanders all time to record three 50-assist seasons.

Despite a late second period push, the momentum didn’t carry into the third period, with Sanheim beating Sorokin with a wrister from the top of the circle at 9:16 of the third, effectively sealing the game.

HOLMSTROM RETURNS

A bright spot from Friday was Simon Holmstrom, who returned from a one-game absence on Friday, skating 20:09 on a line with Pageau and Ondrej Palat, though they took some shifts with Barzal that provided some energy.

Holmstrom recorded the secondary assist on Pageau’s goal. His 20:09 was fourth-most on the Islanders and was his third highest ice time in a game this season.

NEXT GAME:

The Islanders are back in action on Saturday night when they visit the Carolina Hurricanes. Puck drop is at 7 p.m.