Flyers 5 (EN), Islanders 3: What are you guys doing?

1 day ago  /  Lighthouse Hockey

Oh, he’s your Public Enemy #1? | Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images


A semi-controversial hit fired up the Flyers, and the Islanders faded away. The New York Islanders lost again, at home again, despite achieving the miracle of two power play goals.
The loss is nothing, really, the way this team has been headed for most of this season, but the manner was a little disturbing. The Isles had a pretty good first period and took a 1-0 lead on a Bo Horvat power play goal(!), but things started to change after Max Tsyplakov was given a quickly-rescinded major for a high hit that knocked Ryan Poehling out of the game, the Flyers went into full frontier justice mode and the Islanders didn’t really respond.
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That’s always a tricky one — the refs issued the major so that they could review the play, then determined there was no penalty, which of course sent John Tortorella into a rage. They actually could’ve easily penalized Flyers like Garnet Hathaway, a classic “I’ll go after anyone not my size” guy, for all the retaliatory mauling they did afterward with their teammate prone on the ice, but you get that. Unfortunate play (Poehling was releasing his shot when Tsyplakov hit him, and if there was any direct head contact it was in the course of a normal bodycheck), they reviewed it, let everyone get their “that’s our guy!” hacks in and then cool down.
But then in the following minutes the officials let the Flyers swing freely with some pretty severe slashes and crosscheck, mostly on Tsyplakov but also on any random Islander they could find, as if they felt bad about their non/reversed call on Tsypkaov. And then they finally called one of the far weaker offenses by the Flyers, a mild slash by Joel Farabee...and then quickly went back to letting more violent things go. Another great NHL officiating “ignore the spear, call the arm tap” moment.
This all seemed to rattle the Islanders, who sort of turned the other cheek while awaiting more calls that never came, and they never really hit back. I get being careful about retaliation when the refs were giving Flyers free reign as if they were begging the Isles to give them an excuse for a retaliatory call, but the Isles weren’t even delivering legal hits back. They could’ve risen to the occasion and given the home crowd — and their overall game — a much-needed pulse. But no.
To watch the Islanders in the second period, you could reasonably conclude they have no spine. They disappeared. And worse, when they finally got another call, they were vacant in giving up a shorthanded goal on an easy 2-on-2 to...Hathaway, of course. Noah Dobson was as far away from Hathaway as could be, guarding empty space. Travis Konecny, being played closer by a backchecking Anders Lee, made a great early pass that Hathaway hammered before preening like a secondary WWE character desperate for more air time.
That gave the Flyers a 2-1 lead — Sean Courturier had tied it five minutes into the period — and then the Isles sagged further, had a bad change, and gave up a 2-on-2 poorly played by Isaiah George and Adam Pelech, which Morgan Frost finished to make it 3-1.
They were booed off the ice to end the second, a common sound these days and one that will only get louder (crap, didn’t we say that last game?) on this homestand. Lou may need to initiate the selloff he claims he doesn’t want to do sooner than later just to stop the atmosphere from getting worse.
In the third period, for a brief surge, the Islanders came out with fire and purpose again. After Noah Dobson and Mat Barzal exchanged on a point play, Dobson laid a key check on the backcheck to cause a turnover while Barzal was covering. Barzal took the loose puck quickly up ice for a 2-on-1, and he shot inside the far post to narrow the gap to 3-2.


MAT. BARZAL.@Ford | #LGI pic.twitter.com/Z28ABjtswb— New York Islanders (@NYIslanders) January 17, 2025




But it didn’t last. Dennis Cholowski took a slashing penalty soon afterward, and although the Flyers coughed up the puck multiple times and allowed the Isles multiple shorthanded opportunities that might’ve gotten them back in the game, they couldn’t convert. Then, just as the penalty expired, Ilya Sorokin was slow to move across the crease on a shot that Cam York put inside the near post to restore Philadelphia’s two-goal lead.
It stayed 4-2 for most of the period until the Islanders hemmed the Flyers in a bit on a delayed penalty with Sorokin pulled for an extra attacker. They narrowly missed scoring on the delayed penalty but then converted on the power play with a Horvat shot deflecting in off Anders Lee.
With a couple of minutes yet to get an unlikely equalizer, you knew what would happen before it occurred. Empty netter conceded, two-goal gap restored and another regulation loss secured.
The losses are to be expected but the lethargic manner is not. There are two more meetings left with the Flyers in the next two weeks. Might they bother to hit somebody?
Quote/Exchange of the Night
Brendan: “Tonight’s trivia, Brent Sutter’s NHL debut on Feb. 25, 1981, in Calgary was notable for something that’s only happened one time. Butch, do you remember what happened that night?”
Butch: “I...no I don’t remember that night.”
Brendan: “You’re going to remember it when you hear it. It’s the only time the Islanders have allowed 11 goals, an 11-4 loss.”
Butch: “Oh...oh yes, I remember that.”
Up Next
Saturday night the Sharks visit, when Brent Sutter will be honored as the latest inductee into the Islanders Hall of Fame. He would not have stomached a showing like this.
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