Stefen Rosner
The New York Islanders had the Philadelphia Flyers right where they wanted them.
After scoring three goals in the third period back on Saturday night, the Islanders took the first game of the home-and-home with the Flyers by a score of 5-2, pushing their win streak to four games. The Flyers losing streak was pushed to 10.
Despite th shenanigans in the final minutes of Saturday’s contest, leading to a few misconducts, the Islanders headed to Philadelphia with the opportunity to notch another two points and continue their winning ways before a three-game homestand.
New York Islanders head coach Lane Lambert did not think the bad blood would boil over as he was focused on two points.
But when warmups came and went, Ross Johnston was in over Simon Holmstrom, a move that was made to keep the Flyers in check in case anything did happen. Matt Martin was also in the lineup.
Right before game time, the Islanders announced that Josh Bailey was day-to-day with an upper-body injury which meant Holmstrom was back in.
Eight seconds into the contest, there had already been two fights as Martin fought Zack MacEwen while Johnston fought Nic Deslauriers, the player who started the brawl Saturday night.
A few minutes after the fisticuffs, the Islanders found themselves with a five-on-three advantage after penalties by Kieffer Bellows and Rasmus Ristolainen. Noah Dobson and the Islanders took advantage as they scored the first goal of the contest, but before the second power play came to a close, the score was even at one thanks to a shorthanded goal by Travis Sanheim.
That Dobson goal was the lone tally for the Islanders in the contest, who were heavily outplayed from start to finish.
Let’s dissect.
With the Josh Bailey injury, Lambert had no choice but to dress Johnston. The last time Johnston played was in the 5-4 loss to the Nashville Predators a few weeks ago. It was a game in which Bailey was a healthy scratch for Johnston, but due to the Islanders’ struggles, Johnston found himself on the bench for the second half of the game as he was taken out of the rotation.
The reasoning was that Lambert needed more offense, so he shortened the bench.
But on Tuesday night, with Cal Clutterbuck leaving the game in the first period with an undisclosed injury, Lambert did not have the ability to truly shorten his bench while the Islanders were trailing.
Lambert very well could have, but with a handful of players already double-shifting in Clutterbuck’s absence, that would have been a lot for his players.
Despite the Flyers record, they are a team that battles for sixty minutes. And their speed and will just overmatched the Islanders. That’s not to say there was a lack of effort by New York, but they struggled in all three zones. It just was not a good enough effort against a struggling opponent.
The Islanders had 10 giveaways and 10 missed shots in the contest. Out of the 24 shots that came Carter Hart’s way, only three were classified as high-danger chances. Anthony Beauvillier led the Islanders with five scoring chances, but had six attempts blocked, while missing the net once.
On the flip side, the Flyers notched 32 shots on goal, with eight classified as high-danger.
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