Laughton lifts Flyers to OT win against Islanders

PHILADELPHIA --Scott Laughton scored 3:16 into overtime to give the Philadelphia Flyers their third straight win, 3-2 against the New York Islanders at Wells Fargo Center on Saturday.

Shayne Gostisbehere forced a turnover in the Flyers zone and sent it up to Laughton, who crossed in the slot with Claude Giroux and scored his first goal of the season.
"It was a 2-on-2 play," Laughton said. "[Giroux] came behind me and it's either a drop or you keep it and try and get the defenders switching. I just tried to hold on to it and find an angle at the net."
Jakub Voracek and Kevin Hayes scored for the Flyers (6-2-1). Carter Hart made 26 saves.
Jordan Eberle and Scott Mayfield scored for the Islanders (3-4-1), who have lost their past four games. Semyon Varlamov made 14 saves.

The teams play here again Sunday (7 p.m. ET; ESPN+, SN360, SNE, SNO, SNP, NBCSP, MSG+, NHL.TV).
"I really liked our second and third (periods)," New York coach Barry Trotz said. "They had 11 shots with about eight minutes to go in the third period, so we did a pretty good job for the last two periods. We probably deserved a better fate, but we were pretty loose with pucks early and we had to dig ourselves out of a hole. [But] I liked the way we responded. … We showed the character that it's going to take for us to maybe put some games together and collect some points here."

Voracek gave the Flyers a 1-0 lead at 3:38 of the first period when he scored off a centering pass by Giroux. The goal extended Voracek's point streak to six games (two goals, six assists). Hayes finished a give-and-go with James van Riemsdyk to make it 2-0 at 13:55.
"I thought the first 10 minutes or so was the game we play, quick-upping pucks, making it hard on their defensemen, making them turn, and then it got away from us] a little bit," Laughton said.
Eberle scored from in front to make it 2-1 at 7:31 of the second period, and Mayfield tied it 2-2 with a shot through traffic from the right circle at 11:46.
"There's a lot of character in this locker room," Eberle said. "We have a lot of leadership and a lot of guys who care about each other. The message [after the first period] was just no one's going to do it, it's up to us to turn this thing around. … It's still pretty bittersweet to lose that extra point. It's got to be us to get us out."
The Islanders outshot the Flyers 25-8 after Hayes' goal for the final 46:05 of regulation, including 11-4 in the third period.
"In the second and third period, they were the better team," Philadelphia coach Alain Vigneault said. "Give them credit. Their execution in those two areas, plus the fact that they forced us into penalties, and they were the better team on the ice. But we were able to, at the end of the day, bend not break and found a way to win."
**NOTES:** New York was 0-for-4 on the power play. … Islanders forward Matt Martin had eight hits and three shots on goal in his 700th NHL game. ... Forward Josh Bailey played his 873rd NHL game to pass forward
[Clark Gillies
for fourth in Islanders history. … Flyers forward Travis Konecny, who is tied with van Riemsdyk for the Philadelphia lead with five goals, was scratched but is expected to play Sunday. … With an assist on Laughton's goal, Gostisbehere, a defenseman, scored his 200th NHL point. … Defenseman Philippe Myers was second on the Flyers with 23:17 of ice time after missing four games because of a rib injury; defenseman Ivan Provorov led with 24:53. ... Samuel Morin had one shot on goal and three hits in 5:31 for Philadelphia in his first NHL game since Oct. 27, 2019. It was his first NHL game as a forward after he played five seasons as a defenseman.