Good Morning, Islanders Country.
Two fights, but not two points.
A pair of streaks sqaured off against each other on Tuesday night in Philly, one a short but fulfilling 4-game win streak, the other a long, season-draining 10-game winless streak.
The Islanders came out swinging in multiple ways last night, but after staggering a vulnerable opponent with an early power-play goal, they struggled to maintain pressure and couldn’t land a knockout blow.
The Flyers had their guard up and tied up the Isles all night in one of their more structured games of the season. One of the best comeback teams in the league, the Islanders couldn't generate much of an attack as the Flyers took the lead and confidently held onto it for 50 minutes to earn their first win since November 8th.
You can say that John Tortorella’s Philadelphia Flyers were due for a win, but with a big chunk of their roster still resembling an AHL team, it felt like a missed opportunity for the Isles to continue the momentum from last week’s success. It was a rare misstep for the Isles in the matchup, suffering a regulation loss against the Flyers for only the third time in their last 18 games (13-3-2).
Coming up, Lambert’s lineup gets scratched late, and Brock Nelson skates in his 700th career game. Plus, Matt Martin punches his way to 100 fights, Duane Sutter makes his debut and an Isles holiday gift idea!
Let’s dive in.
🏒 IN SHORT: The Philadelphia Flyers (8-10-5) snapped their 10-game winless streak on Tuesday night with a 3-1 win over the Islanders at Wells Fargo Center. After the Islanders jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the first period on a 5-on-3 power play goal from Noah Dobson, the Flyers tied the game when Travis Sanheim scored short-handed on the subsequent 5-on-4 power play. The Flyers took the lead when Kevin Hayes scored off a face-off at 9:45 of the first period. Hayes would later score an empty net goal to secure the win. Carter Hart made 23 saves in net for the Flyers, who were 0-7-3 in their previous 10 games. Ilya Sorokin had 30 saves in the loss, which ended the Isles (15-9-0) four-game win streak.
KEY MOMENT(s):
🔻 After Dobson scored on a 5-on-3 to an early 1-0 lead, Travis Sanheim scored short-handed for the Flyers. Ryan Pulock broke up a centering pass from Noah Cates, but Sanheim was able to find it and chip it over Sorokin to tie the game.
🔻 Lucas Sedlak, who had two assists, won a face-off in the left circle clean to Hayes, who unloaded a quick wrist shot that beat Sorokin over the left shoulder for a 2-1 lead that the Flyers would not relinquish.
3 REACTIONS
❶ TIME AND SPACE: "I give them credit," Head Coach Lane Lambert said of the Flyers. "Structured team, they take away time and space. We didn't do enough to create opportunities for ourselves."
❷ STRUGGLED: "We struggled to break out, struggled to sustain pressure and struggled to hold on to the puck, so I don't love our chances to win the game when you struggle in all those areas,” said Matt Martin.
❸ CAN’T DO IT: “I think we can’t give up a shorthanded goal that early in the game,” Noah Dobson said. “It affects the rest of the game.”
⏭ NEXT UP: The Islanders are off the next two days before hosting the Nashville Predators on Friday night at UBS Arena. Puck drop is 7:30 PM ET.
📊 STANDINGS:
📰 NEWS: Lane Lambert’s plan was to insert Ross Johnston into the lineup and Simon Holmstrom to be a healthy scratch on Tuesday after an eventful third period on Saturday night, but that changed when Josh Bailey became a late scratch with an upper-body injury after participating in pre-game warmups.
◾️ SCRATCH THAT: This was the fourth game Bailey has missed this season, but the previous three were healthy scratches. Kyle Palmieri didn’t travel to Philadelphia, missing his fourth straight game. Back from Bridgeport, Robin Salo was a healthy scratch for the 20th straight game. “It was good,” he said of playing in the AHL game. “It felt good to play again and get some ice time down there.”
◾️ CAL LEAVES: The Islanders played most of the game short a player as Cal Clutterbuck left the game late in the first period and did not return. Lambert didn’t have an update on his status during the post-game.
◾️NOTHING MAJOR: Lifelong Islander Brock Nelson played in his 700th regular-season game on Tuesday night but underplayed the milestone. “It’s not a major one,” the 31-year-old said of 700 games. “It means you’ve been around for a bit and been able to play and fortunate to be part of being around the group and being in the NHL, which has always been a dream.”
🤜🏻 🤛🏻 THE UNDERCARD: After the way the third period transpired on Saturday, there was a good chance the gloves would be dropped early, very early. Matt Martin hit a milestone just seven seconds into the game when he fought Zack MacEwen and recorded his 100th career fight. It was a doozy.
◾️PART OF THE JOB: "You get the sense that after a game like the other night that it's going to be a physical one, especially against a team like Philly," Martin said. "It's just part of the job."
📚 SOUND SMART: Per NHL PR, Noah Dobson scored his seventh goal of the season (24 GP), currently ranking third in the NHL among defensemen. He's more than halfway to his end-of-season total from 2021-22 (13 in 80 GP), which marked the highest total by an Islanders defenseman since 2008-09 (Mark Streit: 16 G)
🗓 THIS DATE IN ISLANDERS HISTORY: On November 30, 1979, Duane Sutter made his NHL debut, becoming the second of five Sutter brothers to play in the league. Sutter was in the lineup for an injured Billy Harris, who had played all 576 games in franchise history to that point. Sutter scored two goals in his NHL debut, but the eventual Stanley Cup champions lost 5-3 to the Edmonton Oilers at the Northlands Coliseum to drop their record to 6-11-4 on the season.
🔗 Josh Bailey late scratch for Isles with upper-body injury by Andrew Gross, Newsday “Simon Holmstrom, selected 23rd overall in 2019, was originally slated to be a healthy scratch after playing in his first three NHL games as coach Lane Lambert opted to insert tough guy Ross Johnston after Saturday’s chippy contest. However, Holmstrom was a late addition as he drew in for Bailey”
🔗 Islanders’ four-game win streak snapped in fight-filled loss to Flyers by Ethan Sears, New York Post “The rematch of Saturday’s affair between the Islanders and Flyers ended up bruising the Isles in more ways than one. First and foremost, they suffered a 3-1 loss to a Philadelphia team that came in having lost 10 straight, blowing what figured to be an easy pickup of two points.”
And we leave you with this ….the super-talented Sean Connors is selling his Islanders prints for $20 each this holiday season (+shipping). You can Direct Message (DM) him on Twitter @Bckt106Art for more information.
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.....they DO say 'hindsight's 20 / 20' but, in retrospect I really wish they HADN'T indulged Philly's goading to register what were at BEST, two DRAWS; my sense was, THAT threw off their tempo from the outset (yeah, Hayes' sudden shortie DIDN'T help, no) - and once MORE, Flyers put on ANOTHER Tortorella obstruction fest - NOT fun to watch : (
As many have been pointing out, we're winning but have not really hit our stride.
It was apparent that Philly was prepared to stop our exit strategy out of the D Zone. I use the word "strategy" loosely. At least a half-dozen times a Philly player was standing just past the mid-boards waiting for blind passes from our D men. We never use the middle of the ice! No change there from Lambert.
More than anything I think our defensemen were horrible last night (and lately). And while everyone points to his increased offensive production, I think Dobson has regressed in our own end, as has Peleck.