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5 Observations: Flyers Falter in 3rd Period, Lose 10th Straight

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Lukas Sedlak, Philadelphia Flyers
Flyers center Lukas Sedlak chips a shot past Islanders goalie Semyon Varlamov in Saturday's game on Long Island. AP Photo.

The Philadelphia Flyers’ blazing start to the season is a distant memory.

They began the year 7-3-2, but are now fighting through what has become normal in the last two seasons: A double-digit losing streak.

The Flyers suffered their 10th straight loss Saturday night, falling to the New York Islanders, 5-2, at UBS Arena.

Zach Parise, 38, had a pair of goals for the Islanders (15-8), who won their fourth straight and sent the Flyers (7-10-5) to their third double-digit losing streak in the last year.

They had 10- and 13-game skids last season. Like this year, the Flyers were torn apart by injuries in 2021-22.

It was a 2-2 game before the Flyers were outscored, 3-0, in the third.

“I saw a lot of good things tonight. I saw confidence with the puck,” Flyers coach John Tortorella said. “We hold them to 22 (actually, 23) shots, and we’re playing against a really good hockey team. I thought we did a lot of good things. In certain situations, we lose ourselves for a few minutes, and it hurt us tonight in the third.”

Here are five quick observations from the latest defeat:

1. The Islanders needed 22 seconds to turn around the game.

The outmanned Flyers outworked the Islanders in the first 40 minutes and had them on their heels.

“I think we took it to them in the first two periods,” Flyers center Kevin Hayes.

But the Isles looked like a different team early in the third period as Brock Nelson and Anthony Beauvillier scored 22 seconds apart to give the hosts a 4-2 lead with 16:41 left in regulation.

Nelson scored from the left circle off an odd-man rush, and Beauvillier tallied from the doorstep after the Islanders’ forechecking kept the Flyers hemmed in the zone.

For Nelson, it was his 11th goal — and eighth in a third period.

Parise, 38, made it 5-2 with a goal to the short side with 8:03 left. It was Parise’s second PP goal of the night, and it was the Islanders’ fourth straight goal in the game.

Earlier, Parise’s power-play goal with 3:22 remaining in the second tied the game at 2.

2. One of the Flyers’ four new lines was especially effective.

That would be the third line, which had Lukas Sedlak centering Joel Farabee and Hayes. Hayes played right wing for the first time in his Flyers career.

The line scored twice as the Flyers and Isles were locked in a 2-2 tie heading into the third period.

Hayes (five shots, two assists) made a slick pass to Sedlak for the Flyers’ first goal, and the center used a backhand to chip the feed past Semyon Varlamov, tying the score at 1-1 in the first period.

In the second, Sedlak did a nice job entering the zone, and Farabee scored on a rebound of Hayes’ shot. Hayes has a team-high 22 points in 22 games.

Farabee scored about two minutes after Felix Sandstrom stopped Nelson on a shorthanded breakaway.

3. The Flyers made a surprising early statement.

Despite being shorthanded because of injuries, the Flyers completely shut down the Isles in the second half of the first period. Philly did not allow a shot in the final 10:29 of the session, which ended with the teams tied at 1-1.

4. Coach John Tortorella shook up the lines.

And why not? The Flyers, who are missing six injured forwards, are last in the NHL in scoring.

Philly’s top line had Morgan Frost centering former Islander Kieffer Bellows and Owen Tippett. That unit has a combined 45 career goals.

The other lines: Noah Cates centering Nick Deslauriers and Zack MacEwen; Sedlak centering Farabee and Hayes; and Tanner Laczynski centering Max Wilman and Patrick Brown.

Raise your hand if you thought before the season that enforcers Deslauriers and MacEwen would be on the Flyers’ second line.

Didn’t think so.

5. The Flyers’ special teams are still a mess.

With all the injuries, Tortorella is giving lots of young players a look on the power play, but they are not producing.

Philly went 0 for 2 on the power play. The Flyers are 0 for 14 in the last five games.

The penalty kill is also struggling. Again. New York was 2 for 3 on the PP. The Flyers have allowed 11 goals on 25 chances in their last nine games. Not good.

Breakaways

It was ’80s Night, and right on cue, there were several fights and scrums late in the game. … The teams will meet again Tuesday at the Wells Fargo Center. .. Ivan Provorov had an assist and became the seventh defenseman in the Philadelphia Flyers’ history to reach the 200-point mark. …. Adam Pelech’s goal was the 18th by an Isles D-man; Flyers’ defensemen have seven goals. … Isles defenseman Ryan Pulock had four assists. … New York has won 13 of its last 17.

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