Philadelphia Flyers, New York Islanders Recap And Takeaways

Nov 23, 2013; Philadelphia, PA, USA; New York Islanders left wing Thomas Vanek (26) battles in front of Philadelphia Flyers goalie Steve Mason (35) during the third period at Wells Fargo Center. The Flyers defeated the Islanders, 5-2. Mandatory Credit: Eric Hartline-USA TODAY Sports

The Philadelphia Flyers needed another third period comeback to earn a victory against the New York Islanders. They won the game 6-4 to regain 2nd place in the Metropolitan Division. Here is a recap of the game:

The Flyers looked bad at the beginning of the first period. They were skating slow and being outworked for the puck. About eight minutes into the game the Flyers made a coverage mistake behind their own net. Both Coburn and Grossmann covered the same man, leaving John Tavares wide open in front of Mason. Sure enough, Thomas Vanek sent the puck to Tavares who gave the Islanders the lead. A few minutes later the Flyers were caught being lazy on the power play so Frans Nielson and Cal Clutterbuck made them pay for it. Just like that it was 2-0, Isles. however, the Flyers fought back. Andrej Meszaros continued his resurgence, skating a puck in alone and firing it five hole from a weak angle. It made it through and cut the Islanders lead in half. Then, in the final two minutes of the period, Meszaros got the puck at the point, faked a slap shot, and wristed a laser to the upper left corner of the net to tie the game. The period ended with the game tied 2-2 and the Islanders leading in shots 12-8.

The Flyers played a bad second period. They scored the first goal of the period, an Adam Hall deflection of a Mark Streit shot, only 3:45 into the period. After that, however, it was all Islanders. They scored two more goals in the period, one by Brock Nelson and one by Brian Strait. John Tavares also had a goal that was waved off due to Thomas Vanek’s interference with Steve Mason. After the fourth Islanders goal Craig Berube pulled Steve Mason and replaced him with Ray Emery. The move was made to wake  up the team. Of the four goals allowed, only on the second goal can a case be made that it was Mason’s fault (although I would still blame Hartnell and Voracek more than Mason). The period ended with the Flyers down 4-3 and trailing in shots 27-18.

The message that Berube was trying to send when he pulled Mason was obviously delivered between periods. The Flyers came out in the third period and took control of the game. The Flyers outshot the Islanders 14-2 in the period and scored three goals. The fourth goal was set up by the amazing passing of the Claude Giroux line. They passed the puck all throughout the zone until Giroux made a no look pass to Voracek who scored. Then, a few minutes later, Giroux made another dazzling pass to a trailing Michael Raffl who put the puck in an open net. Matt read sealed the deal with an empty net goal. Emery faced a total of five shots in 26 mins of play.

Takeaways:

-Andrej Meszaros is on fire. Since being named to the Slovakian Olympic team he has 3 goals and 6 assists through 6 games.

-This game marks the (franchise record tying) 9th time this season that the Flyers have come back after trailing in the third period.

-Mason made some very impressive stops and was hung out to dry. The Mason haters will point to his .833 SV% tonight, but he kept the Flyers in the game. The way the team played after he was benched is evidence that it was not his fault. For the record, the Flyers are 1-0-0 since the extension was signed.

-If you have not seen Giroux dropping the F-bomb on live TV, watch this. It was hilarious.

-The Flyers will take on the Islanders again on Long Island Monday at 1pm.