Lack of Energy Plagues Philadelphia Flyers in Loss to Islanders

The Philadelphia Flyers hosted the New York Islanders in their final matchup of the 2018-19 season.

Hoping to keep their ever so slim playoff chances alive, the Philadelphia Flyers played host to the New York Islanders in the first half of back-to-back contests.

Carter Hart received the start and opposed Robin Lehner in-net for the Isles. Lehner had a 2.23 Goals-Against Average with a .926 save percentage coming in. The Flyers had to bring their best offensive efforts if they wanted any chance to defeat a defensively sound Islanders squad.

Philadelphia basically began the game on the penalty-kill, as Radko Gudas committed a hooking penalty just 26 seconds into the contest. After a horrible high-sticking call on Robert Hagg and a Too Much Man penalty from the Islanders, the Flyers ended up killing off about three minutes of power-play time to keep the game scoreless. They would be rewarded for those shorthanded efforts later on, with a shot towards the boards from Hagg bounced off of an Isles defender and into the net to give the Flyers a 1-0 lead. It seemed the hockey gods were in the Flyers favor, especially with Hagg of all players getting credit for the tally.

Philadelphia’s lead wouldn’t last long, though, thanks to a goal from Brock Nelson. Hart couldn’t really do much on the shot, as Nelson put on his best Bryce Harper impression by legally batting the puck out of the air and into the back of the net to tie the game at one after 20 minutes of play.

The second period was, in a word, catastrophic for the Orange and Black. While they only found themselves down by one at the end of the frame, the Flyers could hardly generate any offense and spent nearly the entire period hemmed in their own zone. God bless Hart for being able to survive the 15 shot onslaught from New York because this game would’ve turned into a blowout without his presence between the pipes.

The referee’s continued to show incompetence in the final period of regulation, giving the Flyers two questionable penalties that put them on a 5-on-3 penalty kill. Thankfully, Philadelphia was able to halt the Isles man advantage and keep the deficit at one. The Flyers eventually received a power-play of their own and Shayne Gostisbehere took full advantage, scoring his eighth goal of the year to tie things back up for Philadelphia. Claude Giroux won the initial face-off, setting Ghost up for his heavy one-time blast that led to the goal.

New York started to pressure the Flyers in the offensive zone again, leading to a goal from Josh Bailey to regain the lead. This was a classic example of why you have to keep your foot on the gas. Philadelphia had all of the momentum following Ghost’s goal, did absolutely nothing with the opportunity, and went on to lose by a score of 4-2 because of it.

In all honesty, the Flyers just didn’t deserve to win this game. They were outperformed by the Islanders in just about every category since puck drop and it was very clear that Philadelphia didn’t bring the energy or effort needed to get the win.

The Flyers are now 36-31-8 on the year. Next game is Sunday against the Washington Capitals.