Lifeless Flyers Blanked by Isles
The Flyers have now lost six games in a row. They have not won a single game in April. They last earned a point in the overtime loss vs Ottawa that started this losing streak. But this game may have been the worst of the losses.
New York Islanders goaltender Ilya Sorokin put on a clinic on Saturday as he stopped all 27 shots he faced, helping the Isles to an easy, breezy 4-0 victory over the Philadelphia Flyers. Likewise, the victory helped keep the Islanders in the playoff hunt. They are currently the eighth seed in the Eastern Conference with two games left to play (Washington and Montreal). They are tied with 80 points with seventh seed Florida and are one point ahead of ninth-seeded Pittsburgh.
Meanwhile, Carter Hart was pulled from net after allowing three goals off of 18 shots. Felix Sandstrom came in to start the third period and faced only three shots, however he let in a goal by Hudson Fasching. Scott Mayfield scored his sixth goal of the year to get the ball rolling for New York in the first period while Brock Nelson and Samuel Bolduc tallied goals for the Isles in the second. Mayfield’s goal came on a deflection, but the other two came on odd man rushes that Hart was left hung out to dry; something that has become more common lately.
This losing streak by Philadelphia has seen their scoring dry up. During their seven game point streak, they averaged 4.42 goals a game. That includes the two OT losses, including the one to Ottawa. If you take out the Ottawa game, in the five games since, the Flyers have averaged just 1.6 goals in their five games in April. That’s not going to cut it.
This is also the third extended losing streak this season. They lost 10 games from Nov. 10-26, 2022, going 0-7-3 last fall to put them in the hole they are now finding themselves in. They they lost six games following the All-Star break from Feb. 9-22, 2022, going 0-4-2 in that stretch.
We will probably see the current streak extended tonight as the Flyers return home to face the Bruins.