POSTGAME 5: Seesaw Game Ends in Marathon Shootout Loss

The Philadelphia Flyers saw their winless streak grow to nine games after a 4-3 (1-0) defeat via a nine-round shootout at the hands of New York Islanders at the Wells Fargo Center on Tuesday. The Islanders swept the home-and-home set.

The Flyers entered the game with a 2-16-2 record when trailing first in a game. On this night, however, Philadelphia battled back from 1-0 and 2-1 deficits but couldn't protect a 3-2 lead in the third period. After nine unsuccessful shootout attempts by Flyers players and eight by New York players, Oliver Wahlstrom ended the contest in the bottom of the 9th.
Robin Salo (1st career NHL goal) gave the Islanders an early 1-0 lead in the first period. After a would-be Joel Farabee goal was wiped out on an offside challenge by the Islanders, a James van Riemsdyk power play rebound goal (10th) knotted the score at 1-1.
In the second period, Josh Bailey (3rd) scored a go-ahead goal at 13:28 but Travis Konecny (7th) answered right back just 26 seconds later. The Flyers controlled most of the play in the middle frame but the game went to the third period tied at 2-2.
At 4:05 of the third period, Claude Giroux (13th) put the Flyers ahead, 3-2. Casey Cizikas (2nd) forced overtime.
Carter Hart stopped 28 of 31 shots in regulation and overtime. He went 8-for-9 in the skills competition.
Semyon Varlamov denied 31 of 34 shots through 65 minutes. The netminder was a perfect 9-for-9 in the shootout.
Several hours prior to the game, the Flyers announced that center Kevin Hayes would miss 3-4 weeks after having fluid drained from his adductor region. The Flyers revised lineup was as follows:
86 Joel Farabee - 28 Claude Giroux - 89 Cam Atkinson
23 Oskar Lindblom - 21 Scott Laughton - 11 Travis Konecny
25 James van Riemsdyk - 48 Morgan Frost - 20 Gerry Mayhew
71 Max Willman - 82 Connor Bunnaman - 17 Zack MacEwen
9 Ivan Provorov -61 Justin Braun
6 Travis Sanheim - 45 Cam York
3 Keith Yandle - 70 Rasmus Ristolainen
79 Carter Hart
[35 Martin Jones]
The Islanders dressed the same lineup as in Monday's game, with the exception of Varlamov in net:
27 Anders Lee - 13 Mathew Barzal - 12 Josh Bailey
18 Anthony Beauvillier - 29 Brock Nelson - 26 Oliver Wahlstrom
20 Kieffer Bellows - 44 Jean-Gabriel Pageau - 11 Zach Parise
17 Matt Martin - 53 Casey Cizikas - 15 Cal Clutterbuck
3 Adam Pelech - 24 Scott Mayfield
33 Zdeno Chara - 8 Noah Dobson
2 Robin Salo - 4 Andy Greene
40 Semyon Varlamov
[30 Ilya Sorokin]
TURNING POINT
In overtime, Giroux controlled the opening faceoff. The Flyers held possession for 45-plus seconds until Konecny tried a shot off a nice toe-drag. Barzal recorded a shot at the other end. Farabee broke his stick on a one-timer attempt. Barzal and the Islanders then had a lengthy stretch of possession in the Philly zone. Brock Nelson was stopped on a wraparound.
With time ticking down near the final minute, the Islanders had an odd-man rush with Konecny caught up ice. They were unable to capitalize. The Flyers' Farabee was denied by Varlamov on a 2-on-1. Hart stopped another wraparound.
The action-packed OT ended with the Islanders getting six of eight shots. In the ensuing shootout.
1st Round: Konecny was stopped on a wrist shot moving right to left. Beauvillier was unable to score on a similar sequence.
2nd Round: Giroux attempted a slap shot. Hart waited out Barzal and then stopped his backhander.
3rd Round: Atkinson had Varlamov beaten but fired over the net. Nelson cut in from the left circle and was unable to score through the five-hole.
4th Round: Farabee ran out of space and lost the puck going back to his foregand. Bailey had room but put a backhander over the net.
5th Round: Laughton was stopped on a backhander. Bellows wristed a shot wide.
6th Round: Frost made several moves and then fired wide. Dobson was denied five-hole.
7th Round: van Riemsdyk fired wide of the left post. Parise was picked by Hart's glove.
8th Round: Mayhew wristed a low shot that did not find the mark. Pageau cut in from the right side, Hart made a blocker save,
9th Round: Provorov was stopped by Varlamov's glove. Wahlstrom made several moves and then fired home a shot to end the game.
MELTZER'S TAKE
1) Just 2:08 into the first period, Salo pinched in a stride to take a pass from Mathew Barzal and fire a snap shot over Hart for a quick 1-0 Islanders lead. The secondary assist went to Zach Parise.
The Islanders went to the power play at 4:14. Joel Farabee was called for hooking Noah Dobson on a forechecking attempt. Hart turned aside a couple of shots from up high.
The Islanders had four of the game's first five shots through nine minutes.
At the 11:00 mark, Farabee drove to the net and potted the rebound of an Ivan Provorov point shot that was tipped in front. The Islanders challenged the play for offside. The challenge was successful.
On a Flyers' rush, van Riemsdyk shot from the right side, looking for a rebound. He succeeded but Morgan Frost couldn't quite get to the puck.
Max Willman drew a holding penalty on New York's Salo at 13:43. The Flyers went on their first power play. At 14:39, York's point shot bounced off the end boards, and back out in front through Varlamov's legs, where van Riemsdyk knocked the rebound between the pads to tie the game. Giroux picked up the secondary assist.

Some good forechecking work by the Giroux line generated possession and led to an Atkinson attempt from the right circle that Varlamov denied. With 53.2 seconds, J.G. Pageau worked his way past Ivan Provorov but was stopped by Hart.
The Islanders iced the puck with 8.6 seconds left in the first period. Giroux won a right circle draw cleanly but Farabee's quick shot was turned aside.
2) First period shots on goal were 12-9 in the Flyers' favor. All-situation shot attempts were an even 50-50 split (18-18). Both teams had five scoring chances, but the Flyers held a 4-2 high-danger edge. The Flyers had a 10-4 credited hits edge, led by four for Rasmus Ristolainen. The Islanders won 13 of 21 faceoffs, led by Brock Nelson going 3-for-3.
3) The Flyers went back to the power play at 1:37 of the second period. Brock Nelson was called for a boarding minor on Konecny. Both PP units had successful entries and the Flyers also won four faceoffs.
The Flyers had six of the middle frame's first seven shots. At one juncture, the Giroux line had the Islanders running around their defensive zone but made one pass too many.
The Islanders got a mismatch on the ice with the Barzal line out against Connor Bunnaman's line. It resulted in New York's first sustained offensive zone possession time. The Flyers' nevertheless had 8 of 11 shots in the period through a TV timeout at 12:08.
The Islanders grabbed a 2-1 lead at 13:28 after winning a couple of puck battles in the Flyers' zone. Bailey got to the slot ahead of the checking of Travis Sanheim, took a feed from Anthony Beauvillier and scored. Adam Pelech collected the secondary assist. On the very next shift at 13:54, the Flyers re-tied the game. Laughton won a battle behind the Islanders' net. The puck went off Varlamov and toward the crease, where Lindblom poked at it and got just enough to put it to the area where Konecny was oncoming. Konecny then finished it off. After a 20-game drought, Konecny has scored goals in back-to-back games.

With 49.9 seconds left, Lindblom tipped a puck in the crease that got past Varlamov. However, the puck died along -- but never over -- the goal line.
4) The Flyers were the better team for most of the second period. The Islanders were fortunate the game went to the third period tied. Shots were 14-7 Flyers. Philadelphia had a 65.7 percent all-situation team Corsi, and a 11-2 overall scoring chance edge (5-2 advantage in high-danger chances. Through 40 minutes, the Flyers held a 24-15 advantage in credited hits, with Ristolainen adding five in the second period to the four he registered in the first period. The Flyers won 13 of 23 faceoffs in the second period.
5) At the 33-second mark of the 3rd period, the Flyers broke out on a 3-on-1. Lindblom was denied by Varlamov's glove. However, Zdeno Chara was called for a slashing penalty. The Flyers were unable to cash in.
At 4:05, the Flyers took their first lead of the game. On the rush, Giroux took a pass from Atkinson and beat Varlamov over the glove from the right hash marks. Farabee collected the secondary assist.

Zack MacEwen delivered a hit in the neutral zone on Scott Mayfield and found Chara coming at him. MacEwen gamely dropped the gloves with the gargantuan ageless veteran, and got rag-dolled. Time of the fight was 8:32,
Hart stopped Barzal from the left slot the rebounding carom of a puck off the end boards. The goalie held for a stoppage at 10:25.
The Flyers had four of the third period's first five shots. Philly iced the puck with 8:54 on the clock but won the draw and cleared the defensive zone.
Farabee went off slowly, favoring his left shoulder after a clean hit by Dobson. Farabee sat on the bench.
Frost started a near tic-tac-toe sequence. Gerry Mayhew ran out of real estate as he went to the net.
Atkinson erased a New York scoring chance with a clutch shot block. The puck went out of play at 14:18, with the next faceoff in the Flyers' zone. Shots on goal were now 4-4. Farabee returned to the ice for the next shift. Most of the play was in the Islanders' defensive zone.
New York re-tied the game at 15;32. Cizikas drove the net, took a centering pass from Mayfield.Secondary assist went to Clutterbuck. Cizikas, who broke a 40-game goal drought on Monday, has now scored in b2b games.
Travis Sanheim was called for a stick slash at 16:14. The Islanders went to the power play. The Flyers struggled to clear the puck from the defensive zone but got shot blocks from Justin Braun and Farabee, plus a big save by Hart. With 12 seconds left in the penalty, Hart snared a point shot from Salo.
Third period shots were 9-5 in New York's favor (32-25 Flyers through regulation).