Islanders shut out Flyers for win they needed in the worst way
The Islanders came into Philadelphia on Monday night outmanned and reeling, having lost their past two games by a combined score of 9-1.For a team that hadn’t lost three straight games in regulation since the first three games of the season, and for a team that would have gone below the playoff cutline with a defeat, this was a game they needed in the worst sort of way.Down Simon Holmstrom, Cal Ritchie and Ryan Pulock with a combination of illness and injury, the Islanders showed their resilience anyway, defeating the Flyers 4-0 at Wells Fargo Center.“We approached the game like it was a playoff game,” Jean-Gabriel Pageau told reporters after a two-goal performance.“And I thought we played an extremely solid game.
Of course, when your goalie gives zero, it helps a lot.”This performance had so much of what the Islanders have lacked recently.The Islanders dominated on special teams.They held the puck in the offensive zone and played off the cycle.
They cut down on high-danger chances around Ilya Sorokin’s crease, helping him to a 21-save shutout.That is what they will need to do, again and again, if they are going to stay above the playoff cutline and make some noise in the tournament itself.Coach Patrick Roy’s constant reshuffling of the lines finally seemed to land on some combinations that did the trick here.Mathew Barzal and Anthony Duclair had exactly the right response to their third-period benching on Saturday, playing most of the night up ice on a line with Jonathan Drouin.
The trio produced a goal when Barzal tipped Isaiah George’s shot from the right point past Sam Ersson to make it a 2-0 game 5:41 into the second.That was sandwiched between a pair of special teams goals, the first of which came from Pageau shorthanded at 14:29 of the first.Pageau took Casey Cizikas’ expertly spun feed off the wall and went bar-down to open the scoring.Barzal then got his second point of the night on the power play, assisting Tony DeAngelo off the rush ...