Josh Bailey
In Saturday’s game, it took just over six minutes for the Flyers to allow a goal. After another 10 minutes, the Islanders had four on the board and the game was as good as over. Two more third-period turnovers padded the score further, resulting in a 6-1 defeat for the Flyers. There’s an awful lot to unpack in another result like that.
Within 10 minutes, the Islanders opened up a three-goal lead of their own, and added a fourth goal with under five minutes to play. That was all they needed, as a late first-period goal by the Flyers was all they could get in a 6-1 defeat to the Islanders on Saturday night.
Kevin Hayes scored on the power play with 38 seconds remaining in overtime to give the Flyers a 4-3 win over the Islanders, their fourth straight win, on Sunday night at Wells Fargo Center.
The Islanders struck for two goals in the first period and never looked back, holding the Flyers at bay all game and finishing off the series, as the Flyers season came to an end with a 4-0 loss to the Islanders in Game 7 on Saturday night.
It all comes down to this. Game 7 to decide who goes to the Eastern Conference Final and who goes home. If it’s anything like the other games in this series, you can expect a close, hard-fought battle to the finish where only one thing is certain: this game will end with handshakes at center ice.
The Flyers have a chance to force this series to the brink with a win in Game 6, and it could require them to do so without one of their top players in the process.
Just like in Game 2, when the Flyers let another 3-1 lead in the third period get away, they had the answer in overtime. It took over 12 minutes, but the Flyers remain alive in the series with a deflection goal by Scott Laughton. 5 takeaways from Game 5.
The Flyers are not dead yet. A point shot by Ivan Provorov was deflected by Scott Laughton and beat Semyon Varlamov to give the Flyers a 4-3 overtime win in Game 5 that keeps their season alive.
There is a chance this could be the last game of the 2019-20 season for the Flyers. There is a chance their time in the Toronto bubble will end. But it is also in the control of the Flyers to try to make a push and at least inch their way back into the series with a win in Game 5 and forcing a Game 6.
It played out so much like the other games in the series. The Flyers had their moments. The Islanders had more of those moments. They used turnovers and transition plays to their advantage again. And while the Flyers had more shot volume and traffic to the net than in previous games, the goalie who kept them in Game 2 made sure they were in Game 4 and got the result needed.
