Flyers' point streak continues as they roll to 5-3 win over Islanders
Published in Hockey
ELMONT, N.Y. — The Flyers keep rolling.
With a 5-3 victory against the New York Islanders, the Flyers have earned a point in four straight games. It is their longest streak since they notched at least a point in five straight from Nov. 23-30.
But the win came after an emotional start. Ryan Poehling was injured halfway through the first period after taking a high hit by Maxim Tsyplakov and did not return.
Skating shorthanded, Poehling chased down the puck in the offensive zone and cut to the net to get a shot from the bottom of the left faceoff circle before he was sent flying.
Poehling stayed down on the ice holding his head as referees let play continue. They finally blew the whistle as Garnet Hathaway tried to get Tsyplakov to answer for his hit that seemed initially to be shoulder-to-shoulder but did have Poehling’s head as the point of contact.
As the Flyers forward was being helped off the ice by the Flyers’ trainer, Travis Konecny and Scott Laughton, the referees reviewed the hit for a five-minute major. In the end, they didn’t call anything and coach John Tortorella rightfully went ballistic.
Despite having the NHL’s worst power play, the Islanders ended up scoring with 1 second left on the penalty committed by Cam York. Bo Horvat buried a one-timer from the bottom of the right circle off a pass from Brock Nelson, who got the puck after Tyson Foerster made a diving block in the slot on a cross-crease pass attempt. On the play, Konecny had his hands raked by Anders Lee as he was going out to challenge Nelson — and there was no call.
The Flyers used the first intermission to regroup, Hathaway told NBCSP during the second intermission.
“It’s an emotional game so you’ve got to keep those in check,” he said. “There’s a lot. I can keep going, I can talk about how good a guy Poehls is and what he means to the room. It’s one that, the game keeps going so you have to come together, you have to sit down, take a second and breathe and talk about how you’re going to execute.”
And they did. The Flyers scored three times on New York goalie Ilya Sorokin.
Captain Sean Couturier got the Orange and Black on the board with a shot atop the crease off a pass from Joel Farabee, who returned to the lineup after being a healthy scratch for the past three games. Matvei Michkov started the play when he intercepted a pass by Islanders’ Anthony Duclair in the neutral zone and passed to Farabee, who patiently carried the puck down the left wing.
Hathaway made it 2-1 with a short-handed goal. Sam Ersson made the save on Horvat and Travis Sanheim cleared the puck up the wall to Konecny, who broke out with Hathaway. Konecny, who briefly went down the tunnel in the first period after falling awkwardly into the boards, sent a beauty of a saucer pass over to Hathaway for the one-timer.
The Flyers pretty passing continued with Morgan Frost completing a give-and-go with Owen Tippett. On a delayed offside for the Islanders, Konecny got the puck and chipped it to Frost, who tapped in the return from Tippett. Frost now has four goals in his past five games and is riding a five-game point streak (two assists).
New York’s Mat Barzal scored on a two-on-one 30 seconds into the third period but the Flyers responded when York sent a snapshot past Sorokin. The goal came off an offensive-zone faceoff win by Couturier and a heads-up pass by Farabee to the open defenseman.
The Islanders did notch a power-play goal off the body of Lee in front during a six-on-four with under 3 minutes left, but Ersson came up with big saves all night some through traffic, some following turnovers by his teammates. With the Flyers up 3-2 and on the power play, Ersson stopped Horvat down the middle and then made a save on a Casey Cizikas backhand shot after he walked off the wall.
With under 4 minutes to go, and the Islanders goalie pulled with a delayed call on Laughton, he made a save on a Noah Dobson shot. It did get through Ersson, but Sanheim reached over and tapped it away as two Islanders tried to jam it in near the goal line. He then stopped Tsyplakov from five feet out.
Breakaways
Olle Lycksell was a healthy scratch. … Noah Cates added an empty-netter to seal the win.
Up next
The Flyers practice in Newark, N.J., on Friday before a matinee against the New Jersey Devils on Saturday.
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