Islanders top Flyers on Pulock's late goal

NEW YORK -- Ryan Pulock scored with 41 seconds remaining in the third period, and the New York Islanders recovered for a 5-3 win against the Philadelphia Flyers at Barclays Center on Tuesday.

Pulock scored with a slap shot near the right point to make it 4-3 after Sean Couturier tied it 3-3 on a rebound off the end boards after Claude Giroux's pass from the left circle went off Scott Mayfield's skate with 1:32 remaining.
"Well that one will age you," Islanders coach Barry Trotz said.
WATCH: [All Flyers vs. Islanders highlights]
Semyon Varlamov made 35 saves for New York (33-16-6), which is 5-1-2 in its past eight games and moved three points ahead of the Flyers for third place in the Metropolitan Division.
"That was huge," Pulock said. "Them getting kind of a late goal there to tie it up and then finding a way to not give them those points, it could be very big at the end here."
Forwards Josh Bailey, Jordan Eberle and Leo Komarov each had a goal and an assist for the Islanders, who were coming off a 5-3 win at the Washington Capitals on Monday.
"This was a great two days for us, a couple of character wins and high-intensity games," New York captain Anders Lee said. "It was a team effort, top to bottom."

Giroux and Scott Laughton each had two assists, and Brian Elliott made 20 saves for Philadelphia (31-19-7), which was coming off a 4-1 win against the Florida Panthers on Monday.
"We battled hard in the second and third period to come back," Couturier said. "We need to quickly forget this one and move on. This time of year, you can't sit and regret points you don't get. ... It's frustrating, it's tough, but there is a lot of important hockey left."
Bailey gave the Islanders a 1-0 lead at 7:45 of the first period with a one-timer that deflected off the stick of Flyers forward Tyler Pitlick past Elliott.
Matt Martin made it 2-0 when he finished a 2-on-1 with Komarov at 11:13.

Eberle scored on a rebound after Elliott made the initial save on Mathew Barzal's backhand to extend the lead to 3-0 at 15:36 of the first.
Travis Konecny made it 3-1 with a wrist shot from the left circle at 9:44 of the second, and Robert Hagg scored on a rebound after Varlamov made a save against Giroux to cut it to 3-2 at 11:56.

Konecny nearly tied it at the end of a Flyers power play, but his redirection of Jakub Voracek's pass from the right circle hit the goal post, and then Varlamov stopped a rebound chance by Couturier in the crease with his blocker with 8:26 remaining in regulation.
"It's a tough one to swallow right now. It was a great effort," Konency said. "... The bench was confident all game. We trusted the persistence that it would pay off in the end."
Komarov scored an empty-net goal with four seconds left for the 5-3 final.
"We didn't play a very good second period against a team that's fighting for their lives as well," Martin said. "Obviously, it was a huge game, so for [Pulock] to put that home in regulation, it was a big point at the end of the day."

Islanders center Casey Cizikas sustained a lower-body injury 3:23 into the first period when his left leg appeared to be cut by the skate of Flyers defenseman Ivan Provorov after a hit along the boards.
Trotz did not have an update on Cizikas' condition after the game.
"Other teams around the League have had major injuries and just keep the next-man-up mentality," said Trotz, who is already without forward Cal Clutterbuck (wrist) and defenseman Adam Pelech (Achilles). "That's what we've been doing."

They said it

"We knew it was a big game. We knew we were one point behind them. It's always tough against the Islanders. They are always fun games to play in. It just didn't go our way tonight." -- Flyers defenseman Robert Hagg
"There's no panic on our bench, I think we've seen that in the last little while. We've responded in the right times, and tonight we did again." -- Islanders coach Barry Trotz

Need to know

Flyers forward Joel Farabee had two shots in 15:38 of ice time after missing the previous three games because of the flu. … Philadelphia coach Alain Vigneault said defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere, who missed his third straight game, is experiencing some pain in his left knee caused by scar tissue that formed after he had surgery Jan. 14. He said he's hoping Gostisbehere will resume skating on Thursday. … Giroux has six points (two goals, four assists) during a three-game point streak. … Barzal had three assists. … Islanders forward Anthony Beauvillier's six-game point streak ended. … New York is 7-0-3 at Barclays Center this season and 12-0-3 in its past 15 regular-season games there since Jan. 12, 2019.

What's next

Flyers:At the Florida Panthers on Thursday (7 p.m. ET; NBCSN, SN360, SNE, SNP, NBCSP, NHL.TV)
Islanders:At the Nashville Predators on Thursday (8 p.m. ET; FS-TN, MSG+ 2, NHL.TV)