Trevor Zegras propels the Flyers’ comeback to win it in a shootout over the Islanders

It was a New York State of Mind for the hometown team on Saturday.

Backed by a pair of goals from New York native Trevor Zegras, who also scored a shootout goal, the Flyers clawed back and skated away with a 4-3 win against the visiting New York Islanders.

Matvei Michkov beat countryman Ilya Sorokin in the shootout, and Sam Ersson stopped Anthony Duclair to give the Orange and Black their fourth win in the past six games.

Trailing 2-0, the third line of Christian Dvorak, Zegras, and Michkov single-handedly tied things for Philly.

Dvorak made it 2-1 with his second of the season with 9 minutes, 31 seconds left in the second period. Michkov and the center twice had a give-and-go, first in the neutral zone and then once again when the blue line was gained.

Michkov got the puck right up against the left boards and, as Dvorak sneaked behind the Islanders’ defense, the Russian winger fed Zegras across the ice at the right point. Zegras waited to hit Dvorak as he cut across the crease, and the center scored on the backhand.

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And then came the big moment: Zegras’ first goal with the Flyers.

Dvorak carried the puck into the offensive zone, and although Islanders defenseman Marshall Warren poke checked him, it went up and off the arm of Dvorak, who corralled the puck at the goal line.

While doing so, he also drew two Islanders with him, Warren and former Flyers defenseman Tony DeAngelo, giving Zegras the time to accept the pass, pause, and beat Sorokin top corner.

Dvorak said he had seen Zegras out of the corner of his eye but also heard him yell for the puck.

“I always call for the puck,” Zegras said, jokingly. “I might not even be open, but I probably scream for it. Just happy he found me on that one though.”

The Flyers have two power-play units. But is the one with Noah Cates, Tyson Foerster, Bobby Brink, Cam York, and Zegras the second unit? Or is it the one with Michkov, Travis Konecny, Sean Couturier, Jamie Drysdale, and Owen Tippett?

“I’m not sure who is first or second right now,” coach Rick Tocchet said postgame. “You can say two, but I don’t know yet. It’s one and one right now.”

That’s a fair assessment, considering how much better the Cates unit has looked. While the other unit started the first two-man advantages, the Cates unit started the third power play of the day — and it worked.

Zegras got his second goal of the game — his first multigoal game since Jan. 7, 2024, when he was with Anaheim — as he put a rebound shot on Sorokin. Bobby Brink had turned and fired off a good shot from the right face-off circle that the Islanders’ goalie stopped before Zegras’ shot led to a mad scramble in front.

» READ MORE: Owen Tippett is setting the tempo for the Flyers, both on the ice and with the aux cord

It took a few seconds, but the puck crossed the goal line with Cates giving it an extra push after it was in to confirm it tied the game at 3.

As Tocchet said, they took the information assistant coaches Jaroslav “Yogi” Svejkovský and Jay Varady provided before they went out and applied it.

“They do apply a lot of stuff that we say,” he said of the Cates line.

“Just kind of good for us to crash the net,” Cates added. “I think we want these pretty plays, but we see it day in and day out in the NHL, that you just get it to the net, get guys there, outnumber them, especially on the power play, it’s going to go in.”

On the flip side, the Couturier unit struggled again as the Islanders got better looks and a goal. Simon Holmström gave the Islanders a 1-0 lead with a short-handed tally 39 seconds into the Flyers’ first power play of the day.

Set up in the offensive zone, they had Drysdale at the point, Michkov in the right face-off circle, and Tippett in the slot as the bumper.

Tippett had some time in the bumper, and there was an open lane for a few seconds, but by the time Michkov tried, it was closed as two guys jumped on Tippett.

Holmström, who is a lefty, was easily able to knock the puck away from Tippett, a right-handed shot. It appeared the red-hot Tippett was looking to shoot instead of drawing two players in and bumping the puck back to Michkov to open even more space.

The Swedish winger got the puck and passed it to Jean-Gabriel Pageau, breaking out two-on-one. Drysdale overcommitted slightly to the puck carrier, Pageau, as Couturier tried to catch up with Holmström. Both Flyers went to Holmström after he got the puck back, but he was a stride ahead and beat his countryman, Ersson stick side.

On the Flyers’ second power play of the day — and with the Couturier unit on the ice — Adam Pelech rang one off the post after a Konecny giveaway in the Flyers’ zone.

The Flyers’ power play is now at 16% effectiveness, with four goals in 25 opportunities.

» READ MORE: Flyers’ Travis Konecny happy to get on the board and put an end to the ‘snakebit’ questions

Making his third start of the season, and first appearance since Oct. 16, a 5-2 loss to the Winnipeg Jets, Ersson made 23 saves on 26 shots for his first win of the season.

“His attitude was unreal all week. Practicing hard. He’s with [goaltending coach Kim Dillabaugh] and never complained,” Tocchet said. “You’ve got to give him credit. It was a [heck] of a save on Duclair at the end [in the shootout]. So, give him a lot of credit. Great attitude.”

In the first period, he faced just four, 13 in the middle frame, and five in the third. Not an easy task for a goalie who likes shots but hasn’t seen game action in a while.

“I’ve got to try to stay ready as best as I can; obviously, it’s hard sometimes,” Ersson said. “But I’m looking to stay involved in the game, play pucks, do something to stay attached to the game mentally. So, yeah, it’s just another challenge [and] you’ve got to find a way to deal with it.”

Ersson allowed one goal in each period, but the one in the second period, the Swede had no chance.

Defenseman Noah Juulsen tried to go D-to-D with Drysdale behind the net, but the puck hit the skate of the referee. Duclair tracked it down and tried to feed Anders Lee in front; however, he was tied up by two Flyers — one being Juulsen.

The puck sprung loose to Warren, a Long Island kid making his NHL debut, who put the puck through the crease to Duclair sitting wide open at the right post for the easy goal.

Warren then helped the Islanders take a 3-2 lead less than 3 minutes after Zegras’ tying goal, when his low point shot was deflected up and over Ersson by Maxim Tsyplakov for his first NHL goal.

Then Ersson locked things down.

With the game tied, Tippett was tugged off the puck by Bo Horvat, allowing him to skate in on a two-on-one with Drysdale the only Flyer back. Horvat fed Jonathan Drouin for the quick shot, and Ersson made a diving blocker save.

But, Ersson saved his best save of the night for overtime, robbing Horvat on a sure goal. After the puck was carried back in by the bodies of Horvat and Cam York, Drouin picked it, and the Islanders’ forwards had a short two-on-one as Horvat got past York. Drouin fed the former Vancouver Canuck — he crossed paths with Tocchet for a week — and was absolutely robbed by the glove of Ersson.

“He bailed us out a handful of times,” Dvorak said. “Played great, couple of big saves there in the third, and the overtime was unbelievable. We couldn’t believe he saved that on the bench there. So it was a big goal and got us a win.”

“Just, Erss is back,” a grinning Cates said when asked what he thought about watching that save. “When he’s confident, he’s so good, and that’s a huge game for him.”

Flyers prospect Spencer Gill suffered an upper-body injury and could miss 12-15 weeks. The Flyers are still trying to determine whether the defenseman needs surgery or if he can rehab the injury. ... The only change among the skaters was swapping defenseman Adam Ginning in for Egor Zamula on the third pair. ... Forward Garnet Hathaway had five hits and dropped the gloves with Scott Mayfield, leaving the Islander bloodied on his forehead. In the third period, Rodrigo Ābols also fought Kyle MacLean, the son of former New Jersey Devils and New York Rangers forward John MacLean, for his first NHL fight. The line of Ābols, Hathaway, and Nikita Grebenkin ended up in the box together, with the latter two getting coincidental minor penalties.

The Flyers are off on Sunday and will practice at 11:30 a.m. on Monday. They take on the Pittsburgh Penguins on Tuesday. It kicks off ESPN’s Frozen Frenzy triple header with puck drop at 6 p.m.