Islanders Fall 4-3 in SO, Officially Eliminated from Playoff Contention

The Philadelphia Flyers (33-37-9) officially eliminated the New York Islanders (34-33-12) from playoff contention on Saturday afternoon inside Wells Fargo Center. The Flyers won 4-3 in the shootout. This game became the 19th game to go beyond regulation this season.

The loss cemented what this 2-6-2 stretch already confirmed. This season is over, and now it’s reflected in the standings as they are officially eliminated. It’s the second miss in the last four seasons and only the second time they’ve missed under Team President and General Manager Lou Lamoriello.

Between two major injuries to Mathew Barzal knocking him out for 49 games and counting. All six opening-night defensemen suffered injuries that kept all of them out for double-digit games. Anthony Duclair reportedly suffered a torn groin, missed 28 games, returned, and did not have his trademark speed, hindering him the rest of the way.

Lamoriello made the difficult decision to trade then-career Islander Brock Nelson ahead of the trade deadline. That, along with Barzal’s injury, proved to be too much to overcome offensively. Defensively, the team weathered storms with injuries, dressing a total of 13 defensemen throughout the season. In net, Semyon Varlamov suffered what turned out to be a season-ending injury in November. Marcus Hogberg and Ilya Sorokin both suffered injuries at points as well and for the first time since 2011-12, the Islanders used five goalies in one season.

With a whole myriad of factors against them, the team fought hard and avoided elimination until game 79.

The Game Today:

The game started wide open on either end, with both teams trading high-end chances throughout the first period. Despite the wide-open nature of the game, Hogberg and Samuel Ersson shut the doors at either end.

The scoring opened up in the second period with a Tyson Foerster scored on the power play for Philadelphia. Later, Anders Lee answered with a power-play goal of his own before Noah Dobson scored his 10th of the season to give New York a 2-1 lead late in the second period.

Dobson played extremely well today, setting up Lee’s goal with a gorgeous pass before slipping in his 10th of the year. At the end of the second period, the Islanders had outshot Philadelphia 26-12. They showed that pride that Kyle Palmieri felt was missing. By the time the game ended, they outshot Philadelphia 40-22.

Once the third period began, Philadelphia woke up and pushed back hard. Jakob Pelletier tied the game quickly after a nifty passing play. Later, Foerster scored his second of the game to put the Flyers up 3-2 with 9:26 left.

The clock trickled down and the Islanders kept pushing and eventually, they earned their equalizer. Bo Horvat threw a puck toward the net and it hit a defender and deflected in, tying the game with exactly 60 seconds left.

Ultimately, overtime provided little and New York went 0/5 in the shootout and Bobby Brink won it with his fifth-round goal.