Islanders can't find a way to win at home, fall to Flyers

Ilya Sorokin of the Islanders reacts after surrendering the Philadelphia Flyers' first goal of the second period at UBS Arena on Thursday, Jan 16, 2025 in Elmont, New York. Credit: Jim McIsaac
The start was strong. The middle was not. And there wasn’t enough in the end.
At a time when all games are vital, the Islanders fell to the Flyers, 5-3, on Thursday night at UBS Arena. The Islanders dropped to 17-20-7 with their second straight loss and are 7-11-2 at home.
Their 41 points rank 15th out of 16 in the Eastern Conference. Overall, only four other teams — Buffalo (39), former Islanders coach Barry Trotz’s Predators (37), San Jose (34) and Chicago (31) — have fewer points.
During last week’s three-game road trip, team president and general manager Lou Lamoriello expressed his belief in the group. But after the loss to the Flyers, the reality is that the Islanders have 38 games remaining and eight teams ahead of them in the Eastern Conference wild-card race.
All of which could prompt Lamoriello to become a seller ahead of the March 7 NHL trade deadline. It is believed that Brock Nelson, Kyle Palmieri and Jean-Gabriel Pageau are highly coveted by playoff contenders.
“We have to start winning hockey games if we want everybody to stay, right?” Bo Horvat said. “It’s not going to be easy, but if there’s any group that’s going to do it, we’re pretty relentless in here, and I have definite confidence that we’re going to pull through.”
Making this loss all the more frustrating is that the Islanders began the game doing what they vowed to do in the morning skate: Play their brand of hockey.
The igniter was Max Tsyplakov, who steamrolled Ryan Poehling with an open-ice hit seven minutes and 22 seconds into the game and the Islanders on the power play.
Poehling had his head down when Tsyplakov slammed into him. Tsyplakov’s shoulder collided with the Philadelphia center’s chest, sending him cartwheeling onto the ice, where he lay prone while the Flyers’ Garnet Hathaway attempted to fight the rookie left winger.
The hit was reviewed and determined to be clean. That meant that instead of skating four-on-four, the Islanders still were on the power play.
The Flyers later said Poehling suffered a lower-body injury. He did not return to the game.
“I agreed with the call on the ice,” Islanders coach Patrick Roy said. “I saw the same exact thing as the referees.”
Fifty-eight seconds later, Horvat one-timed Nelson’s diagonal pass from the bottom of the left circle past Samuel Ersson (26 saves) to give the Islanders a 1-0 lead with their first power-play goal in 15 games since Dec. 8, when Anders Lee and Palmieri did it against Ottawa. They had been 0-for-25.
Philadelphia tied the score 5:15 into the second period on Sean Couturier’s eighth goal. The scoring sequence began when Anthony Duclair’s pass to the middle of the ice just outside of the Islanders’ blue line was picked off by Flyers rookie Matvei Michkov, and it ended with Couturier poking the puck past Ilya Sorokin.
Sorokin, who started after missing the previous two games with an undisclosed illness, stopped 19 of 23 shots.
Hathaway’s shorthanded goal four minutes and 14 seconds later put the Flyers ahead 2-1. The deficit grew larger when Morgan Frost tipped Owen Tippett’s shot past Sorokin at 13:41. After the goal, UBS Arena went silent until a lone voice yelled “Fire Lou!” When the period ended, the Islanders again were booed off the ice.
“The quality of our turnovers gave them life,” Roy said. “There’s mistakes you can’t make . . . Unfortunately for us, we paid for it.”
Mathew Barzal scored his fifth goal 30 seconds into the third period to bring the Islanders within 3-2, but the Flyers regained their two-goal advantage on Cam York’s goal at 5:16. Lee’s power-play tip at 17:16 cut Philadelphia’s lead to 4-3, but Noah Cates scored an empty-net goal with 1:12 left.
Notes & quotes: Pageau returned after missing Tuesday’s loss to Ottawa with an illness . . . Simon Holmstrom (upper body, IR) was a full participant in the morning skate and wore an orange non-contact jersey . . . . Alex Romanov (upper body) missed his third straight game . . . The Islanders are hosting 250 girls at the franchise’s second “Girls Hockey Weekend” Saturday and Sunday at The Park at UBS Arena from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.
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