Slow start dooms Flyers in shootout loss on the Island

The Flyers survived a flurry of goals by Brock Nelson and Jordan Eberle in the first eight minutes Thursday night against the New York Islanders.

Minutes later they weathered a controversial five-minute boarding penalty against Sam Morin. But it was Kevin Hayes’ hooking penalty with two minutes and change left in overtime that doomed the Flyers, because we know the deal with the Flyers and shootouts.

Lost in the 3-2 decision were goals by Nicolas Aube-Kubel and Jake Voracek, a solid game in goal by Carter Hart and even the friendly disposition of coach Alain Vigneault.

Frustrated with another close setback, Vigneault stopped a postgame question in mid-sentence.

“If you want to talk to me about tonight’s game, I have no issues,” Vigneault said. “Going back to the month of March, I’m not doing that.”

It’s been that kind of season for the Flyers, who were legitimate victims of heavy handedness by the officials judging by the replays.

With the Flyers down 2-0, Morin shoved Casey Cizikas into the boards. Though replays suggested it was a push and no more than a two-minute penalty, the 6-7 Morin’s reputation obviously preceded him.

“Obviously, I don’t agree with the call on Sam,” Vigneault said. “Referees see the game the way they see it.”

The Flyers killed the penalty and played the rest of the game with just five defensemen, Phil Myers having been scratched and Morin back on the blueline.

Aube-Kubel served the penalty. He then tallied to cut the deficit to 2-1 entering the second period. Voracek’s goal in the second period knotted the game entering the final frame. Voracek set himself up for the winner in overtime, slamming on the brakes and sending a defender to the ice. The shot was a split-second late.

“We should have won that in 60 minutes,” Voracek said.

Vigneault rejected the notion that it was another sluggish start for the Flyers, now six points behind the Bruins for the fourth and final playoff spot in the East with just 17 games remaining.

“It’s not a slow start,” Vigneault said. “We came out doing the right things. … They had two shots and two goals. Not an easy situation to start. But we battled back hard. We’re competing. We’re trying every shift. Nobody put their heads down. We’re trying to do the right things. We had a lot of shot attempts.”

There were just too many mistakes for the Flyers to overcome. Hayes had no business taking a hooking penalty of Ryan Pulock with 2:02 left in overtime, leaving the Flyers skating 3-on-4 the rest of the way.

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The Flyers are 1-4 in shootouts this season. They’ve score on just three of 17 attempts after going 0-for-5 Thursday.

Hart stopped the first four Islanders but Brock Nelson, who got the first goal of the game beat him on the fifth shot, a wrister off the left goal post that rattled around the cage.

Ilya Sorokin then stopped Travis Konecny to end it.

Hart stopped 21 shots on the night, Sorokin 25.

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Vigneault rolled with defenseman Robert Hagg over Myers, who was scratched. Hagg was part of the penalty kill on the Morin major.

“All the killers did a great job and we got some momentum from that,” Hagg said.

Myers is minus-14 in plus-minus ratio. Nolan Patrick (minus-19) and Travis Sanheim (minus-13) were the other Flyers on the negative side entering the Islanders game.

Patrick centered a line with Michael Raffl and Nicolas AubeKubel, the latter of whom scored on a slap shot in the first period for the Flyers.

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Joel Farabee was taken off the top line with Sean Couturier line and grouped with Kevin Hayes and Scott Laughton.

Vigneault wants to see more from Farabee, who got off to a solid start this season.

“He’s going through a stretch where he’s not feeling it maybe as much as he was at the beginning,” Vigneault said. “But I like his work ethic. I love his hockey sense. That’s one of the reasons we have him playing power play, penalty killing. Right now, I just feel the chemistry with Coots, is sort of left a little bit. So, he’s playing with two really good players, Kevin Hayes and Scottie Laughton, and hopefully that line can do something for us.”

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NOTES » The Islanders scored first, making the Flyers 6-11-3 when the opposition scores first, including 4-5-2 on the road. The Flyers are 12-4-3 this season when they tally first … The Islanders played veteran forwards Kyle Palmieri and Travis Zajac, acquired from the Devils for a 2021 first-round draft pick … The Flyers beat the Islanders in the first three games, only to lose the last four … The Flyers transferred forwards Andy Andreoff and Linus Sandin to the Phantoms from the from taxi squad. Phantoms left winger Carsen Twarynski joined the Flyers’ taxi squad.