Postgame 5: Flyers Defeat Isles, 5-3

The Philadelphia Flyers defeated the New York Islanders, 5-3, at UBS Arena in Elmont on Thursday evening. Five different Flyers players scored goals, while Travis Konecny collected three assists.

In a contentious first period, the Flyers went to intermission with a 1-0 deficit. They also lost center Ryan Poehling to an injury and had a scary moment for leading scorer Konecny.

Over the first two minutes of the opening period Maxim Tsyplakov took the puck to the net and, at 1:29, Mathew Barzal fed Anders Lee after a Flyers turnover. Samuel Ersson made both saves.

At 2:48 Farabee was tripped by Dennis Cholowski. The Flyers generated a deflection on net from Morgan Frost and a shot from the left circle by Travis Konecny. New York killed off the minor.

Cam York was called for tripping Kyle Palmieri on a neutral zone forecheck at 7:22. Tsyplakov made head contact on Ryan Poehling on a play near the Islanders net. Poehling was shaken up and needed assistance to leave the ice. Tsyplakov did not receive any penalty.

For the rest of the period, the Flyers went after Tsyplakov whenever possible. Head coach John Tortorella barked repeatedly at the officials as subsequent calls did not go the Flyers' way.

At the 9:21 mark, with one second left on the penalty, Bo Horvat (14th goal of the season) scored a back-door power play goal to break a 15-game drought. The lone assist went to Brock Nelson. During the sequence, Isles' captain Lee appeared to get away with a slashing penalty on Konecny's hand.

At 10:30, Farabee was penalized for a glancing slash on Tsyplakov as the Islanders received their second power play. The Flyers killed it off. Travis Sanheim pinched on a set play off a clean offensive zone faceoff win for a scoring chance from the left slot at 14:16.

Konency crashed shoulder-first into the end boards and went off for observation. Shortly thereafter, word came that Poehling would not return to the game. Konecny, thankfully, returned for his next shift.

Owen Tippett came close to a goal in the late stages of the first period but hit the post. Ersson made a tough save in the final half-minute to keep the deficit at 1-0. Shots on goal were tied at 8-8.

Philadelphia turned the tide in the middle stanza. A three-goal outburst and an 11-6 shot on goal edge (19-14 Flyers through two periods) put Philly in the driver's seat heading into the final 20 minutes.

The Flyers drew even at 5:15 of the second period. Making a patient play on the left wing, Joel Farabee fed Sean Couturier (11th goal of the season) at the front of the net. The Flyers' captain finished it off to tie the game at 1-1. The secondary assist went to Matvei Michkov.

One minute later, Frost beat Cholowski off the rush through the middle of the ice and went in on Sorokin. The goalie made the save but a slashing minor was whistled against Cholowski. The Flyers went on their second power play at 5:15. As with their first 5-on-4, Philly had plenty of time in the offensive zone but no payoff.

With play back at 5-on-5, Rasmus Ristolainen was penalized for a neutral zone interference minor at 8:21. The Flyers proceeded to strike shorthanded and take a 2-1 lead. Ersson made a save and Sanheim passed ahead to start a 2-on-1 rush for Konecny and Hathaway. After a perfect pass across, Hathaway hammered home a shot (SHG, 6th) past Ilya Sorokin.

The Flyers opened a 3-1 lead with a gorgeous tic-tac-toe goal off the rush at 13:41. Going tape-to-tape-to-tape, Konecny passed to Frost. Frost fed Tippett, who made a return feed on the backhand for a slam dunk (11th goal of the season) for Frost.

The third period saw the Islanders make a very heavy push. The Flyers, hemmed in their own end of the ice for most of the final 20 minutes, were outshot by a 16-5 margin. Ultimately, the team traded off two goals apiece in seesaw fashion.

Thirty seconds into the final frame, after a Tyson Foerster turnover at the attacking blueline, the Islanders scored on a 2-on-1. Mathew Barzal (5th) finished it off low the the far side from the bottom of the right circle. Noah Dobson earned the only assist.

At 3:14, a slash by Cholowski broke Frost's stick. The Flyers power play coughed up the puck repeatedly and allowed two prime shorthanded scoring chances.

Two seconds after the power play expired, Philly earned a much-needed insurance goal. Couturier won a right circle faceoff to Farabee. Pinching into the slot, Cam York (4th) wired a wrister into the net for a 4-2 lead at 5:16.

At 11:30, Michkov sent Farabee one-on-one against Sorokin with a chance to open a three-goal lead. Sorokin made the save.

After a very lengthy delayed call in which the Flyers nearly gave up a goal and had dead tired players on the ice, the whistle finally blew for a stoppage at 16:24. Scott Laughton went off for cross-checking Tsyplakov.

The Islanders pulled Sorokin for a 6-on-4 attack immediately after winning the first faceoff. Eventually, a Horvat shot was heading wide but went in off Lee and into the net for a power play goal (20th) at 17:14. The secondary assist went to Palmieri.

Trailing by a single goal the Islanders pulled Sorokin again at their first opportunity. Cates knocked a puck to safety in the defensive zone. Later, Konecny fed Cates (ENG, 10th) for an empty net goal to seal the 5-3 win at 18:48. The lone assist went to Konecny.

Ersson finished with 27 saves on 30 shots. In a losing cause, Samsonov stopped 19 of 23 shots.

Special teams nearly cost the Flyers the game, but for the vital shorthanded goal in the second period. Overall, the Flyers were a net negative on special teams. They went 0-for-4 on the power play. They were just 2-for-4 on the penalty kill but Hathaway's shorthanded goal effectively balanced off the Horvat goal.

FLYERS STARTING LINEUP

71 Tyson Foerster - 27 Noah Cates - 10 Bobby Brink
74 Owen Tippett - 48 Morgan Frost - 11 Travis Konecny
86 Joel Farabee - 14 Sean Couturier - 39 Matvei Michkov
21 Scott Laughton - 25 Ryan Poehling - 19 Garnet Hathaway

6 Travis Sanheim - 8 Cam York
5 Egor Zamula - 55 Rasmus Ristolainen

24 Nick Seeler - 9 Jamie Drysdale

82 Ivan Fedotov

[33 Samuel Ersson]

PP1: Drysdale,Tippett, Frost, Konecny, Michkov
PP2: Ristolainen, Foerster, Cates, Brink, Sanheim

Scratches: 77 Erik Johnson (healthy), 44 Nicolas Deslauriers (IR), 35 Aleksei Kolosov (healthy), 15 Olle Lycksell (healthy).

TURNING POINT

The Flyers had an emotionally frustrating first period and then regrouped effectively by the time the puck dropped for the second period. The biggest turning point came on the Hathaway shorthanded goal but the momentum steadily built throughout the period.

POSTGAME 5 ("5 Things" Revisited)

1. Four in a row for Ersson? The Flyers' No.1 goaltender played three solid games after his most recent return from a recurring lower body injury. In Elmont on Thursday, Ersson made a number of key saves at vital times.

2. Brink now off the schneid: Flyers' winger Bobby Brink ended a 20-game goal drought on Tuesday. In Elmont, he had one shot attempt and was -1 in 12:26 of ice time.

3. Be ready for a grinding game: Thursday's game was grueling with the Flyers playing short a forward (Poehling) for nearly the entire game. In terms of playing style, it was a grind-it-out game early. The Flyers were able to control the tempo in the second period. In a hairy third period, Philly clung to the lead and ultimately prevailed. It wasn't exactly how they planned, but the team is now 3-0-1 in its last four games and has gotten back to the hockey .500 mark.

4. Will TK show the way? Flyers leading scorer Konecny had a scary moment in the first period when he crashed shoulder-first -- nearly head first -- into the end boards. He stayed in the game but still appeared to be in discomfort. Nevertheless, "TK" gritted it out and went on to make a major impact in the game.

5. Behind enemy lines -- Anders Lee: New York's veteran captain was involved in New York's first scoring chance, first goal (he actually got away with a penalty) and a lengthy offensive zone shift midway through the third period. Finally, Lee scored the goal that briefly cut the Flyers' lead to 4-3.