Despite scoring two power-play goals, the Islanders fall 5-3 to the Philadelphia Flyers.
ELMONT NY -- The New York Islanders began the night desperate for two points after dropping the first game of their current seven game home-stand Tuesday vs. Ottawa. However they found no success against the Flyers, falling 5-3.
Sean Couturier finished the night with a goal and an assist, while Travis Konecny picked up three assists.
The Islanders started the game with some bite and got their first power play when Cam York was called for tripping Kyle Palmieri 7:22 in. On the power play Max Tsyplakov shouldered the Flyers' Ryan Poehling -- a hit that sent Poehling to the Philadelphia dressing room.
Although coach John Tortorella argued vigorously, no penalty was called on Tsyplakov.
When play resumed the Isles maintained their man-advantage and after failing 25 straight times, they scored on the power play when Bo Horvat fired home his 14th goal of the season.
With a few minutes remaining in the first, the Flyers suffered their second injury of the night, when Cholowski made contact with Konecny before the Flyers forward went into the boards awkwardly. He left the ice favoring his right shoulder, but after a few minutes returned.
In the second, the Flyers quickly evened things up 5:15 in, as Couturier scored his 8th goal of the season from Joel Farabee and Mateo Michkov.
With momentum shifting the Flyers' way, Cholowski was called for his second penalty of the night, slashing Morgan Frost -- but the Flyers failed to scored with the extra man.
Only seconds later, Rasmus Ristolainen was called for interference, getting in the way of Jean-Gabriel Pageau, but the Flyers caught a break while shorthanded, resulting in an odd-man rush and a goal. Garnet Hathaway scored his sixth of the season, off a feed from Konecny giving the Flyers a 2-1 lead 10:31 into the second.
The Flyers continued to push, and Frost was able to deposit another Flyers odd-man rush via a perfect pass from Owen Tippet to give Philadelphia a 3-1 lead with 6:19 left in the second period.
Then Scott Mayfield got called for slashing with 5:44 left in the second period, but the Isles were able to kill that and after two periods the Isles trailed the Flyers 3-1.
Shots entering the third period were 19-14 in favor of the Flyers.
Thirty seconds into the third period Mat Barzal picked up a loose puck, skated in down the right side and fired a laser past Flyers goalie Samuel Ersson to make the score 3-2.
The Isles seemed to grab momentum, but that only lasted a short while, as Cam York buried his fourth goal of the season at 5:16 of the third, beating Islanders goalie Ilya Sorokin, who couldn't move left-to-right quickly enough. The goal gave the Flyers a two-goal cushion again.
With 3:36 remaining, Scott Laughton was called for cross checking Tsyplakov, giving the Islanders one last opportunity to get back into the game.
Sure enough Anders Lee tallied the Islanders second power play goal of the night with 2:44 to play, making the score 4-3. The goal was Lee's 2oth of the season.
However Flyers center, Noah Cates scored an empty net goal for the Flyers with 1:12 left, locking up the win and another home loss for the Islanders.
The Islanders will host the San Jose Sharks at UBS Arena Saturday at 7:30 PM.
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