Flyers’ Five-Game Win Streak Snapped by Islanders, Lose 3-2

The New York Islanders have long been a thorn in the side of the Philadelphia Flyers. On the eve of Thanksgiving, things remained the same as the Flyers lost 3-2.

Two goals from Brock Nelson and another from Anders Lee were enough to defeat the Flyers, with the help of Ilya Sorokin.

The Flyers fell down 1-0 less than two minutes into the first period at the hands of Anders Lee. The Islanders’ captain outworked both Yegor Zamula and Marc Staal along the boards and managed to stuff the puck past Carter Hart at his near post. It was a goal that Hart needs to prevent, but the onus is equally on his two defensemen. Head coach John Tortorella is not going to be happy to see that one on the tape, but Marc Staal gets the benefit of the doubt after a 14-game layoff.

As they do, the Flyers rediscovered their legs in the latter half of the first period, but went into the first intermission down 1-0.

Late in the second period, Brock Nelson and Cam York traded goals, keeping Philadelphia at a one-goal deficit.

York was set up by a deft pass from Owen Tippett, and the defenseman eventually scored by cashing in on his own rebound. York now has goals in each of his last two games.

Sorokin Saves

Islanders superstar Ilya Sorokin was the Flyers’ bane Wednesday night turning aside chance after chance and racking up 34 saves.

Joel Farabee redirected a Bobby Brink pass past Sorokin with less than five minutes remaining in the third period, but that was about as much offense as the Flyers could muster offensively. Even with Hart pulled for most of the last three minutes, very little was accomplished at 6-on-5.

Sorokin has now won two games in a row for the Islanders, and moves to 5-3-4 on the season.

Laughton Benched

Scott Laughton, serving as the Philadelphia Flyers’ No. 2 center, played only one shift in the third period.

This comes after Tortorella benched Morgan Frost once again and replaced him with Brink. And, although Brink had a solid performance, Philadelphia is having a hard time finding a happy medium amongst their forwards right now.

It's pretty interesting that the Flyers' three best lines this season are all not together anymore pic.twitter.com/twWWwz6OuA

— Jon Bailey (@ByJonBailey) November 23, 2023

Ryan Poehling’s emergence has been a revelation for this team, but they must tread carefully to avoid fitting a square peg into a round hole – especially at the expense of other players.

For example, Noah Cates has yet to find his legs playing on the fourth line. Nic Deslauriers and Garnet Hathaway don’t play a whole lot, while Cates has shown in the past he is a capable middle-six forward.

Reporting to the Tank Commander

After all of that, the Flyers’ season-high five-game win streak unceremoniously comes to a close. Those who want the team to push for the playoffs will be upset, while those who want improved draft position will rejoice.

The happy medium is somewhere in the middle.

Indeed, the Philadelphia Flyers are not Stanley Cup contenders, and they’re not going to be able to consistently win three in a row against teams that are. However, the important thing is that they showed they can. Wednesday’s loss is a back-to-earth moment for a team that was playing very good hockey.

If the Flyers don’t produce a strong response at some point over the next few games, they’re back to square one in terms of ‘growth’ – especially mentally.

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