The Philadelphia Flyers took on the New York Islanders Monday night at the Xfinity Mobile Arena in what would be a huge game standings-wise. Sam Ersson got the start in net. Rasmus Ristolainen returned from injury and jumped in on defense. Nikita Grebenkin was also inserted into the lineup. Garnet Hathaway and Noah Juulsen became healthy scratches. A very lifeless performance by the Flyers led to them getting shut out four-zero. Islanders goaltender Ilya Sorokin continued to dominate the Flyers. The orange and black fell to 24-18-9 on the season.
The Flyers got the game’s first power play at the 3:12 mark of the first period as Maxim Tysplakov was called for hooking. Owen Tippett rang a puck off the crossbar, and the Flyers had a few more scoring chances from in tight. They also did a great job keeping the puck in the offensive zone. Three shots total were recorded on net.
The Islanders got their first power play at the 11:03 mark of the first as Noah Cates got called for holding. The Flyers did a nice job of getting into shooting lanes to block shots and were able to clear the puck down the ice a few times. The Islanders didn’t record any shots on net.
Marc Gatcomb was called for holding at the 14:14 mark of the first period, which gave the Flyers their second power play. Sorokin made some saves on Matvei Michkov and Tippett, and that’s it for the Flyers. However, Jean-Gabriel Pageau scored a shorthanded goal to give the Islanders a 1-0 lead. Ersson misplayed a pop fly from Adam Pelech, and the puck went straight to Casey Cizikas. Cizikas made a backwards pass to Pageau, who finished with a wrist shot past Ersson’s glove from the low slot. Cizikas and Pelech tallied assists.
The Flyers went on their third power play at the 2:30 mark of the second period as Adam Boqvist got called for high-sticking. Tippett was called for cross-checking and Scott Mayfield for slashing at the 3:59 mark, but the Flyers stayed on the power play. Sorokin ended up making saves on Tippett and Cam York, and that’s about it. The Islanders did their job of clearing the puck when given the opportunity.
Matthew Barzal gave the Islanders a 2-0 lead at the 5:41 mark of the second. He redirected Isaiah George’s shot from the blue line under the blocker of Ersson. George and Anthony Duclair picked up assists.
The Islanders got their second power play at the 11:09 mark of the second period as York was called for tripping. They capitalized on this opportunity courtesy of Tony DeAngelo. He took a cross-ice pass from Barzal and put a slapshot past the blocker of Ersson from the top of the left circle. Barzal and Duclair were given assists.
Tippett got called for high-sticking at the 6:59 mark of the third period. This gave the Islanders their third power play. Ersson made some huge saves on Anders Lee and Jonathan Drouin. Ristolainen also did a great job of taking the puck down himself to waste time off the clock.
Pageau scored his second goal of the game at the 13:38 mark of the third to give the Islanders a 4-0 lead. Tysplakov, from the boards, found Pageau in the slot, and he put a wrist shot over the glove of Ersson. Assists were given to Tysplakov and Lee.
Flyers went zero for three on the power play and killed off two of the three Islanders’ man advantages.
Ersson saved 19 of 23 shots, giving him an .826 save percentage.
Goal Summary
1st Period:
Pageau (9) (Shorthanded) Assists: Cizikas (8), Pelech (5)
2nd Period:
Barzal (12) Assists: George (1), Duclair (12)
DeAngelo (4) (Power Play) Assists: Barzal (31), Duclair (13)
3rd Period:
Pageau (10) Assists: Tsyplakov (1), Lee (18)
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