'EAU SO CLOSE
J-ties it late, but Isles lose quickly in OT to Flyers
This game looked to be over in the first period, but the Flyers learned to never count the Islanders out.
However, the Islanders fell short of a storybook comeback after rallying with three unanswered goals to force overtime before Philippe Myers won it for the Flyers just 2:41 into OT to take a 4-3 win and even the Eastern Conference semifinals series 1-1 Wednesday afternoon in Toronto.
Having allowed just three first-period goals in their first 10 games this postseason, the Islanders gave up three goals in roughly 15 minutes in just their third loss since arriving in the Toronto bubble.
“I think we were resilient tonight,” Islanders captain Anders Lee said on a Zoom call following the loss. “Obviously not the first period we set out to have, but I think we also understood at the same time that there was plenty of game left and a lot of things can happen.”
Lee pumped some life back into his team halfway through the second period with a deflection on a feed from Mathew Barzal seconds into the Isles’ first power play of the day to cut the Flyers’ lead to 3-1. Anthony Beauvillier then broke through on an odd-man rush at 11:42 of the third, wristing the puck right under Flyers goaltender Carter Hart’s arm to bring the Islanders within one.
As the Islanders turned up the pressure, it was Jean-Gabriel Pageau who slammed home the game-tying tally, capitalizing on a Flyers turnover and sniping one right over Hart’s shoulder at 17:51. But Myers’ slap shot from the top of the zone skipped past Islanders goaltender Thomas Greiss less than three minutes into OT for the win.
Asked if falling short in the comeback will provide extra motivation — or be extra deflating — as his team sets its sights on Game 3 on Thursday, Islanders head coach Barry Trotz said he expects it to be a little bit of both.
“You want to complete the comeback, that’s the disappointing part,” he said. “The positive is it reinforces a lot of the things you were able to do to get back in the game. You can take a lot of good from that. It is taxing in terms of that we were investing and pushing them back.”
Fresh off of back-to-back shutouts, Islanders goaltender Semyon Varlamov stood tall for the 40 seconds he needed to surpass Billy Smith’s franchise record playoff shutout streak (136:59). But he was quickly lit up twice by Kevin Hayes and again by Sean Couturier, with at least two of those goals considered to be soft.
Varlamov, who finished with seven saves on 10 shots, was pulled for the first time this postseason and replaced by Greiss, who made his first appearance in net since the Islanders’ exhibition game against the Rangers on July 29.
On the Flyers’ first shot of the game, Hayes slammed the puck off the post to make it 1-0 at 1:57. After Ryan Pulock mishandled the puck, Hayes came barreling in and squeezed another one in under Varlamov’s arm at 9:43 to double Philadelphia’s score. Flyers center Sean Couturier then danced around Nick Leddy to finesse one past Varlamov on the short side, giving Philadelphia a commanding 3-0 lead at 15:09.
With Greiss now in net, Jakub Voracek was called for delay of game at 11:28 of the second to put the Islanders on their first power play. Seconds into the man-advantage, Lee put away a slick feed from Barzal on the right side of the net to cut the Flyers’ lead to 3-1.
Just over halfway through the third, Beauvillier wristed one under Hart’s arm on an odd-man rush to bring the Islanders within one. Adam Pelech’s pressure in the Flyers’ zone landed the puck on Pageau’s stick for the quick shot over Hart’s shoulder to knot the game at 3 with just over two minutes left in regulation.
“Let it go,” Trotz said of the mindset his team will need to make in a quick turnaround. “Understand how you can be better. I think that’s the number one thing. You can’t get the game that just happened, you got to get the next one. Playoffs you almost have to be a goaltender, when you let one in you just got to focus on the next save. [Thursday], the next save will be Game 3.”