FINAL: 5-4 OT ISLANDERS

STARTING LINEUPS:

PHILADELPHIA FLYERS

Forwards

GIROUX – COUTURIER – VORACEK

MARTEL – PATRICK – SIMMONDS

RAFFL – FILPPULA – KONECNY

LEIER – LAUGHTON – WEAL

Defensemen

PROVOROV – HAGG

MORIN – GOSTISBEHERE

SANHEIM – MANNING

Goalie

ELLIOTT

(NEUVIRTH)

Top Scorer

JAKUB VORACEK (27 POINTS)

NEW YORK ISLANDERS

Forwards

LEE – TAVARES – BAILEY

LADD – BARZEL – EBERLE

NELSON – BEAUVILLIER – HO-SANG

CHIMERA – CIZIKAS – CLUTTERBUCK

Defensemen

LEDDY – BOYCHUCK

DE HAAN – PELECH

SEIDENBERG – MAYFIELD

Goalie

GREISS

(HALAK)

Top Scorer

JOSH BAILEY (26 POINTS)

FIRST PERIOD

Giroux, Couturier and Voracek start the first period with Hagg and Provorov manning the blue line.
Simmonds is called for a High Sticking penalty 1:56 into the period.
Flyers kill off the penalty and get a little momentum going right after.
Simmonds line is rolling early. Danick Martel seems to have given them life.
Philadelphia with some relentless pressure with 12:30 left in the period. The puck pops out to Sanheim at the point and he marches in on Greiss. Big shot but he can’t find twine. Still 0-0.
Islanders get some of their own offense rolling and narrowly miss a huge opportunity on a sprawling Elliott with 10:30 left to play.
Simmonds-Patrick-Martel line continues their stellar play as we pass the halfway mark of the period. Barely miss the net of a great chance. They’ll get one tonight if they keep up this pressure.
Back and forth hockey, a lot of grade A chances on both sides of the puck but the goalies have been up to the task.
Patrick is held on a breakaway and is granted a penalty shot with 3 minutes to go in the period. He makes a quality move but barely misses the net. Seemed to have a bit of room inside of the post but couldn’t handle the pressure from Greiss. The game remains scoreless.
Shots stand at 9-6 with 2 minutes to play in the first. Flyers have played well so far.
Barzal scores on a bouncing puck after some confusion on whether or not it crossed the line. Filppula almost managed to bat it out of the net. 1-0 Islanders with 14 seconds remaining.

SCORING

(19:43) NYI; G: BARZAL, A: LADD, MAYFIELD

PENALTIES

(1:56) PHI; SIMMONDS – HIGH-STICKING

SHOTS

FLYERS 10

ISLANDERS 7

SECOND PERIOD

After tremendous pressure through the first 4 minutes of the period, Giroux slams home a BOMB after a strong play from Hagg to keep the puck in the zone. Flyers are rolling.
Simmonds pots a goal on the rebound from a Gostisbehere slapshot. The Martel line has worked their butts off tonight and definitely deserved that one. Just over 13 minutes left to play.
Just over a minute later, Clutterbuck deflects one past Elliott and ties it at 2.
Anders Lee puts the puck past Elliott from beyond the blue line but the goal is waved off for offsides. That was a close one.
With 9 minutes left in the period, the Martel line almost pots another one. The puck never made it to Simmonds stick. They’ve been unbelievable.
Weal feeds Laughton with a beautiful saucer pass on a 2-on-1. Laughton can’t control the puck and misses a great opportunity.
After a hard faught possession, Voracek gets the puck to Gostisbehere at the point who walks in a fires a ripper past Greiss. There was a delayed penalty on the play. 3-2.
Couturier scores before the last goal can even be announced. Greiss mishandled the puck and the Flyers capitalized. They look like they’re having fun for the first time in weeks. 4-2 Flyers.
1st line gets another golden opportunity but falls victim to too much passing. Too common an issue for them. 4 minutes remain.
Patrick is called for hooking with 2:18 left. The Islanders get a lot of pressure on the PP but Elliott and the new look PK (which now features Couturier on the PK1 and Giroux on the PK2) stand tall.

SCORING

(3:49) PHI; G: GIROUX, A: HAGG

(6:28) PHI; G: SIMMONDS, A GOSTISBEHERE, PATRICK

(7:56) NYI; G: CLUTTERBUCK, A: SEIDENBERG, MAYFIELD

(12:11) PHI; G: GOSTISBEHERE, A: VORACEK, COUTURIER

(12:30) PHI; G: COUTURIER, A: GIROUX

PENALTIES

(17:42) PHI; PATRICK – HOOKING

SHOTS

FLYERS – 7 (17)

ISLANDERS – 11 (18)

THIRD PERIOD

Just 1:20 into the third, Ladd and Konecny are called for roughing. Ladd did most of the pushing and pulling in their scuffle but it’s 4-on-4 regardless.
1:12 later, Voracek is called for a Hooking penalty, and is hooked himself right after, no call. 4-on-3 for New York.
Eberle scores in a flurry of chaos. He jams home the bouncing puck and the crowd isn’t happy about it. A questionable string of calls have really put Philly on their heels. 4-3 with 4 minutes left in the third.
New York has all the momentum after their goal.
Barzal is called for High Sticking on Konecny, whom has become Public Enemy No. 1 tonight. 13:04 remaining.
Linesman gets hit up high with a puck. After some time, he’s back up and decides hes able to stay in the game.
Ladd scores and the Islanders have taken full control of this hockey game. 7:49 to go.
Flyers weather the storm and make it out of the period and into Overtime. Gostisibehere has a great opportunity in the final seconds but missed the net.

SCORING

(4:12) NYI; G: EBERLE, A: BAILEY, PELECH

(12:11) NYI; G: LADD, A: EBERLE, BARZAL

PENALTIES

(1:20) NYI; LADD – ROUGHING

(1:20) PHI; KONECNY – ROUGHING

(2:42) PHI; VORACEK – HOOKING

(6:56) NYI; BARZAL – HIGH-STICKING

SHOTS

FLYERS – 12 (29)

ISLANDERS – 16 (34)

OVERTIME

Couturier Voracek and Provorov start the OT.
The Flyers come out swinging but can’t squeak one by Greiss. He’s been solid for the most part.
The Islanders flip the momentum and pin the puck in the Philadelphia zone, relentless pressure.
Nick Leddy skates in front of the net completely uncontested and fires one past Elliott with ease. 5-4 OT loss for the Flyers.

SCORING

(2:44) NYI; G: LEDDY, A: HO-SANG, TAVARES

PENALTIES

NONE

SHOTS

FLYERS – 1 (30)

ISLANDERS – 3 (37)

TAKEAWAYS

Well this game, much like the Flyers’ 2017-18 season, was a roller coaster. They came out firing in the first but a bad bounce put them behind early. They had a hell of a second period, in which they looked like the team we all know they’re capable of being. Then the third period hit and exactly what we all feared would happen, happened. Credit it to bad calls, the Flyers’ complete incapability to play a full 60 minutes (in this case, probably a bit of both) or just blame the hockey gods like true fans do, whatever it was, its another game gone to waste.

Some positives:

Danick Martel played out of his mind. If he plays like that every night he shouldn’t find himself in a Phantoms jersey any time soon.
Secondary scoring! Finally!
Wayne Simmonds snapped his goalless draught, hopefully that opens the flood gates to a long, successful season for the Wayne Train.
Top line is still producing.
They escaped with a point, making that two on the home-and-home with the Islanders. Thank goodness for the NHL’s questionable scoring system.