Parise Scores Twice, Flyers Losing Streak Hits 10

For the third time in a year, the Flyers have hit a losing streak of 10 or more games. And looking at the schedule, this streak has a possibility of growing further. On Saturday night, the ten game mark was hit as Zach Parise scored two goals to help lead the New York Islanders past Philly, 5-2 in Long Island.

Felix Sandstrom, who stood in net in the place of Carter Hart, was tagged for five goals. He made 18 saves on 23 shots.

Kevin Hayes led the way for the Flyers, assisting on both of the Flyers goals. The first goal came at 15:27 in the first period as Lukas Sedlak scored his second goal of the season. With traffic in front of Semyon Varlamov, Ivan Provorov and Hayes had been passing the puck back and forth while Sedlak came streaking down the center and snuck it past Varlamov to tie the game after Adam Pelech had scored a goal earlier in the period.

About midway through the second period, Joel Farabee notched his fifth goal of the year. Hayes had taken a feeder from Sedlak and rifled a one-time shot that ricocheted off of Varlamov.  Farabee was in place for the rebound and fired in a shot to give the Flyers a 2-1 lead.

That lead would not last long. Parise would tie it up at 16:38 in the period. That was followed by three straight goals in the third by Brock Nelson and Anthony Beauvillier, both in the first three minutes of the third frame, and a power play goal by Parise with eight minutes to play in the game. Defender Ryan Pulock had four assists in the game for the Isles.

After the loss, Coach John Tortorella said, “I’m not criticizing my hockey team tonight… I’m proud of how the guys played. Other than a few minutes here and there where we had some breakdowns, I am thrilled with some of the things that went on with our club.”

What would he have to be thrilled at? The Flyers had their chances, taking 28 shots on Varlamov, who has been a very steady backup this year. As the team fell behind, Hayes was hit pretty hard by Alexander Romanov with a shoulder to the head. Nicolas Deslauriers came to his aid and was given a game misconduct as he knocked Romanov down and began to pummel him with punches. Tony DeAngelo, at the same time, squared off against Oliver Wahlstrom. Teams that don’t care, don’t fight back.

Despite some mistakes, this team never stopped trying. The puck might not be bouncing their way and they may be losing a lot right now, but the heart is still there. These two will face off again on Tuesday at 7:30 in Philly.