Observations from the Flyers’ 5-3 loss to the Islanders
The Flyers appeared to have salvaged a point with a great comeback before giving up two goals in the final minute.
NEW YORK - Sudden thoughts and second thoughts from Tuesday night’s Flyers’ loss to the Islanders.
What it means. The Islanders scored the game-winner with 38.9 seconds left and are now two-points ahead of the Flyers for third place in the Metro. It was a brutal loss given that the Flyers nearly got themselves a point after sleepwalking through most of the first period.
Best player on the ice. Mat Barzal, Islanders: Three assists, including one on the game-winner. Barzal’s line dominated the first period.
That was cool. Well, maybe if you’re not Matt Niskanen, but Barzal was able to dance around Niskanen with a puck flip that ended up becoming the Islanders’ third goal when Jordan Eberle slammed home a rebound.
The Flyers dropped to 0-2-1 against the Islanders this season thanks to a laser by Ryan Pulock in the final minute followed by an empty-netter. Before Travis Konecny’s second-period goal, the Islanders had scored six consecutive goals against the Flyers dating back to their Nov. 16 meeting.
Where’s the power? The Flyers went 0-2 on the power play and are in a 4-26 slump.
Brian Elliott allowed four goals on 24 shots, but the three in the first period were not his fault. It was Elliott’s first loss in regulation to the Islanders in almost 10 years. He was 8-1-7 in 16 career starts against the Isles.
Farbs in, Frost out: Joel Farabee returned to the lineup. Morgan Frost was a healthy scratch.
Line of the night: Alain Vigneault was forced to wait a few minutes while Konecny finished a pregame session with the media. “There goes your power-play time,” the coach said pretending to be annoyed.
What’s next? The Flyers play Travis Sanheim’s favorite goalie on Thursday. Sanheim has 19 career goals -- six of them against Sergei Bobrovsky, who is now with the Florida Panthers.