PHILADELPHIA, PA - MARCH 23: Brian Elliott #37 of the Philadelphia Flyers looks on during warm-ups against the New York Islanders on March 23, 2019 at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Len Redkoles/NHLI via Getty Images)
The Flyers played the New York Islanders in a back-to-back on Saturday and Sunday, and it just so happens they won both games in overtime.
On Saturday, while Philippe Myers was back in the lineup and Samuel Morin made his season debut, Travis Konecny was a healthy scratch.
Myers’ injury couldn’t get any worse, according to trainers, so Myers was back in the lineup. Konecny, the teams leading goal scorer, sat out.
Head coach Alain Vigneault was sending a message to Konecny and the team saying , “This is a good time for him to get a reset.”
On Sunday night, Konecny was back in the lineup.
The Flyers had Carter Hart in net for Saturday’s game and Brian Elliott in net for the Sunday’s game.
They were heavily outshot throughout the first game, with the final shots on goal total being 28 Islanders, 17 Flyers. Hart made 26 saves. In the second game, the Flyers were also outshot, this time 36 to 29.
In the first period of Saturday’s game, the Flyers scored two goals. Those would be the only two goals that the team had until overtime. The goal scorers for the Flyers were Jake Voracek and Kevin Hayes. Scott Laughton scored the game-winning goal in overtime.
The Flyers let up two goals on Saturday during the second period but held the Islanders scoreless in the first and third periods. However, they were scoreless themselves in the second and third periods.
The Islanders mixed up their lines and brought in three new forwards going into the Sunday night game. The Flyers also had a couple of lineup changes. Konecny was back in and Morin was out, as well as, defenseman Erik Gustafsson was out and Robert Hägg was in.
Sunday night, the refs seemed to be whistle-happy and called a lot of penalties. In the whole series, the penalties were 10 to 5 Islanders.
Flyers forward, Joel Farabee, had his first hat trick in the Sunday night game, getting the Flyers first three goals.
The Flyers were doing a good job in this second game on the forecheck and working defensively, but Eliott also made some insane saves which helped the Flyers out a lot.
Unfortunately, the powerplay both nights wasn’t great in this particular back to back, and it was almost reminiscent of the playoffs powerplay this past season. They looked better than that, at least, generating some chances this time. But nothing was going in for them on the man advantage.
However, the Flyers did manage to pot one during the man-advantage and it was when it really counted, during the overtime session in Sunday’s game. Kevin Hayes scored the overtime game-winning goal in the second game on a powerplay for the Flyers.
Overall, the Flyers started out strong in both games, but let up halfway through and in the third, which led to them going into overtime. However, they were able to come back and win it both nights in overtime. Hart and Elliott also came up huge for the team in both games.
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