New York Islanders
Embarrassing Second Period Fails Islanders; Flyers win 5-3

ELMONT, NY — The Philadelphia Flyers (20-20-6) took full advantage of a hapless New York Islanders (16-19-7) second period to surge to a 5-3 win in UBS Arena on Thursday night. Turnovers after turnovers flummoxed Islanders’ Head Coach Patrick Roy on Thursday, where he all but said his team gave the game away.
In one word, Roy said all he needed to say about the Islanders on Thursday night. The media asked Roy, “Did you see enough hunger tonight?” Just one game after specifically calling out the lack of hunger in their game, Roy said, “No.”
For the Islanders, Ilya Sorokin made 19 saves while allowing four goals. Samuel Ersson turned away 26 of 29 Islanders’ shots.
Travis Konecny had three assists in the win for the Flyers, while Cam York scored what became the game-winning goal just 5:16 into the third period.
Bo Horvat snapped the Islanders’ power-play drought in the first period, giving the Islanders an early 1-0 lead before the bottom fell out. Anders Lee scored his 20th of the season late in the contest.
First Period:
You can’t say what Roy said after their last game when he called out the Islanders for their lack of energy. The first period came with a lot of energy, some good and some bad. Dennis Cholowski started the festivities with a fairly blatant trip on Joel Farabee. That penalty came just 2:48 into the contest and immediately pressured the Islanders to step up and have a strong kill.
The best chance for Philadelphia came courtesy of a Konecny wrister that Sorokin denied. Morgan Frost tripped Kyle Palmieri in the neutral zone, handing the Islanders their first power play of the game. New York hadn’t registered a power play goal since December 8 against the Ottawa Senators, a span of 14 games and an 0/25 run.
After the first minute of the man advantage yielded nothing but a Flyers shorthanded rush, Maxim Tsyplakov blew up Ryan Poehling with a borderline hit, leading with his shoulder into Poehling’s shoulder, but his follow-through appeared to clip Poehling’s head. There was no penalty called on the play, and the league reviewed it and did not apply any call.
Poehling would not return.
The Flyers became incensed and chased down Tsyplakov for the remainder of the period. Nick Seeler broke his stick. Garnet Hathaway threw about five gloved punches to try and get Tsyplakov to drop the gloves, which he refused.
Ultimately, the Islanders’ power play refocused, and Brock Nelson slid a pass to Bo Horvat, who scored the team’s first power-play goal in over a month. In the lead-up to the goal, it appeared Travis Konecny might have been slashed, but it went uncalled.
From there, Philadelphia played angrily and set a physical edge, resulting in another Islanders power play. However, the Islanders did not convert on that man advantage, and the period ended with the Islanders up 1-0 and shots even at eight.
Second Period:
After a high-energy first period, the Islanders came out for the second period flat and were run over by a fired-up Flyers team. Philadelphia came out firing on all cylinders and completely blew away the Islanders.
The onslaught started early. Just 5:15 into the period, Anthony Duclair sent a blind backhand pass to the middle of the ice where it was stolen. Then, Dobson and Isaiah George failed to lockdown either man in front. George literally fell down trying to lift Couturier’s stick in front. Joel Farabee slid the puck his way, and the game was tied.
After a second successful kill, the Islanders headed to their third power play 3:06 after the Couturier equalizer. This was a major chance to seize momentum back. Instead, the Islanders embarrassed themselves.
Travis Sanheim sprung Konecny and Garnet Hathaway for a two-on-one up the ice. The Islander there to defend was Noah Dobson. He could’ve played the puck carrier Konecny, or he could’ve played the pass to Hathaway.
Instead, Dobson chose neither in perhaps the worst defensive moment of the season for New York:
https://x.com/RTaub_/status/1880072303033339968
For the rest of the period, the Islanders rolled over. Luckily, Philadelphia only finished one more chance in the third off another odd-man rush where George got caught trying to change. He sprawled, and Adam Pelech couldn’t tie up his man Frost, who tapped in the feed from Owen Tippett.
The Islanders fans booed the team off the ice as the second period ended.
Third Period:
After the embarrassment in the second period, the Islanders came out hard in the third. After Dobson made a nice play to spring Mathew Barzal and Horvat for a two-on-one, Barzal kept and beat Ersson clean on the blocker side.
The Islanders surged for two minutes after the goal and the crowd rallied until Cholowski took his third minor penalty of the game. All three penalties called were inarguable and pretty indefensible. Cholowski’s had his moments, but this game tonight easily is the worst he’s had this season.
The Islanders’ penalty kill, 3/3 on the night prior to this infraction, bent but didn’t break until the penalty expired, where a set face-off play set up Cam York for an easy goal. York had Sorokin caught out of position, and while officially not a Philadelphia power play goal, Cholowski hadn’t even gotten out of the box entirely as the goal went in.
From there, Tortorella’s Flyers were more than happy to sit back and prevent the Islanders from getting themselves back into the game. Scott Laughton gave the Islanders a late lifeline with an unnecessary crosscheck. Anders Lee deflected in his 20th of the year for the Islanders’ second power play goal of the game.
It didn’t matter, ultimately. Noah Cates’ empty-net goal sealed the deal and gave the Flyers a 5-3 win.