The New York Islanders defeated the Philadelphia Flyers 2-1 in overtime at Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, PA on March 22. Anthony Beauvillier beat Brian Elliott on a wrap-around in the extra session while Ilya Sorokin made a career-high 36 saves and notched his eighth-straight win.

The Flyers were the better team out of the gate, peppering Sorokin with the game’s first nine shots. The Russian goalie had to make a number of big saves to keep the Islanders in it. New York got one of its four first-period shots on the period’s only man-advantage.

The Islanders had a few more opportunities in the second period but it was Philadelphia getting on the board first. Claude Giroux came out from behind the net and whipped the puck in front where it deflected off of Oskar Lindblom’s skate past Sorokin. The Islanders were outshot 14-6 and killed off a penalty early in the frame.

Trailing 26-10 in shots heading into the third, the Islanders were just one shot away from tying the game. That shot belonged to Oliver Wahlstrom. Adam Pelech gave a pass to JG Pageau who took a shot from the side of the net and banged away at the rebound. Wahlstrom found the loose puck before Elliott and flipped the puck over the Philadelphia netminder’s pad to tie the game at one. Sorokin made 10 more saves in the final 15 minutes to push the game to overtime.

The Flyers began the extra session with 11 seconds of power-play time but New York killed it off to get back to four-on-four. The game never made it to three-on-three.

The final shot total was 37-19 in favor of the Flyers. Pageau picked up two assists for New York while Elliott made 17 saves in the loss for Philadelphia. The Islanders move to 2-1-2 against the Flyers this season.

Positive COVID tests within Boston’s organization postponed March 23’s game. The Islanders will wait to see if they can play the Bruins on March 25.

John Smark