Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
Burned in Brooklyn, Flyers feeling the heat
NEW YORK » An Islanders team playing out the string decided to use it instead to trip up the Flyers Tuesday night. Rarely this season has this team fallen so hard in the space of one awful night.
After two great shifts at the start of the first period, the Flyers wound up getting consistently burned by the Isles for two periods. They were down three goals when they suddenly struck twice on the power play, Nolan Patrick getting both goals, in the third. Then they tied it on a Claude Giroux goal with 6:54 left in regulation.
All of 28 seconds later, New York’s lightning fast Mathew Barzal blew by alleged backchecking center Jori Lehtera en route to a clean breakaway goal and a 5-4 Islanders win at Barclays Center.
Considering the size and scope of the Flyers’ third-period resurrection, blowing it all on a breakaway goal so quickly after the tying goal was hurtful enough. But all teams playing elsewhere that are fighting the Flyers for a playoff spot won, and in style.
The Florida Panthers, who are the longest of shots to make the playoffs, still have the Flyers dead in their sights. It appeared they had been tied with less than a second left on an apparent Nashville Predators goal at the end of their game. But a replay showed the Preds were guilty of goalie interference, which gave the Panthers a win and a fresh breath of hope.
With New Jersey, Colubus and Florida all winning, the Flyers (40-26-14, 94 points) now drop to the eighth and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. They have two games left, both at home against non-playoff teams in Carolina Thursday and the New York Rangers Saturday.
Sean Couturier would like to remind his teammates that those kinds of games have to be approached with caution ... just as this game in Brooklyn should have been.
“It’s frustrating. We’re almost in the playoffs but we can’t take the foot off the gas pedal,” Couturier said. “We have to keep pushing. They’re not going to be easy games, with Carolina and New York Rangers. They’re not going to give us the two points, so we’re going to have to battle.”
As for the Isles (33-37-10), who received two goals from leader John Tavares and who used the speedster line of Jordan Eberle, Anthony Beauvillier and Barzal to drive the Flyers crazy all night, they played like they should...
Without anything mental hurdles to hold them back.
“We didn’t respond well,” Couturier said. “They’re a pretty good team. They have skill. They can hurt you if you’re not ready and that’s what they did. I don’t think our mindset was it’s going to be easy, but it’s tough at this time of year. You’re playing some teams with, you know, nothing to lose.
“They just go out and play and there’s really not a whole lot of emotion. and you’ve got to kind of get yourself going and be ready for those games. Those are the toughest ones and those are the ones that make a difference.”
This loss certainly made a difference for the Flyers, who had been on a 5-0-3 run and were on the verge of clinching a playoff spot because the Panthers had lost three in a row. But Florida (41-30-8) has turned around and won a pair in consecutive nights, and at 90 points and with one less game played than the Flyers still presents a close danger.
The Flyers were also passed by the Devils, who easily dispatched the Rangers to move into the top wild card position with 95 points, while Columbus also did a dramatic turn, reversing a big Detroit lead in time to win and go to 96 points and move into a tie with the Penguins.
All is certainly not lost, but the Flyers now face a pressure cooker of a week at home to close out the season.
“We didn’t hustle the way we can and it cost us the game,” Giroux said. “I know that Thursday we have to come out stronger. We need to have a better first period. We’ve played all year trying to be in the playoffs, and now we have a good chance making it, but we have to earn it first.”