The Philadelphia Flyers evened the series Tuesday in Toronto after defeating the New York Islanders 4-3. The Islanders erased a 3-goal deficit only for Philippe Myers to win the game for the Flyers just 2:41 into overtime.

Anders Lee, Anthony Beauvillier, and JG Pageau scored the goals in the comeback for the Islanders. Carter Hart was coming up big in net for the Flyers, so the Isles goals were hard-earned. “Obviously not the first period we set out to have, but we understood at the same time there is plenty of game left and a lot of things can happen. So, if we just stick with it, stay positive, we’ll find a way and that’s exactly what we did. Got ourselves to overtime,” said Islanders captain Anders Lee.

Kevin Hayes gave the Flyers an early lead by scoring the games opening 2 goals. Hayes had only one playoff goal so far before Game 2. Hayes’ goal ended Semyon Varlamov’s franchise record playoff shutout streak, and another goal by Sean Couturier had Varlamov pulled in the first period. Thomas Griess was put in for his first playoff game action this season.

“We didn’t help him enough,” is what Barry Trotz said about Varlamov’s performance. He also went on to say the Islanders gave up too many odd man rushes and weren’t good in the defensive zone early in the game. Griess made 20 saves on 21 shots in relief. The Islanders overall game improved from that point on.

A turning point in the game is when Matt Niskanen laid a huge hit that stunned Islanders heavyweight Ross Johnston. Shortly after the Islanders fore-check applied pressure forcing Jakub Voracek to shoot the puck out of play for a delay of game call. Just 17 seconds into the ensuing powerplay Mat Barzal found Anders Lee in front of the net, who got the Islanders on the board midway through the second period.

Two goals came in the third period for the Islanders. Anthony Beauvillier scored on a quick short side shot off a feed from Josh Bailey on a quick 3 on 2. With about 2 minutes left in the game, Adam Pelech kept the puck in the zone after a failed Flyers clearing attempt, fed the puck to Jean-Gabriel Pageau in the slot who sniped it over Carter Harts left shoulder. The goal was challenged by the Flyers for a potential offside, but was ruled a good goal. The Islanders had come all the way back to tie the game. After the failed challenge resulted in an Islanders power play, on which the Isles didn’t score, we were headed to overtime.

The Islanders couldn’t get the puck out of their own zone and the puck ended up on Phil Myers stick at the point. He floated the puck on net and it deflected off of Anders Lee, fooled Thomas Griess, and ended up in the back of the net. The game was over and the Flyers evened the series at one game apiece.

Game 3 was scheduled for Thursday night but has been postponed until at least Saturday.

John Smark