Philly Sports Today

With their backs against the wall and a loss to the lowly New York Islanders appearing imminent, the Center City Line came to the Flyers’ rescue as Philly escaped Long Island with a 4-3 shootout victory. Despite being badly outplayed for much of the night, the Flyers somehow found a way to win and were able to keep pace in the Eastern Conference standings. The win was Philly’s fourth in five games, and the Flyers maintained their hold on fourth place in the East with 92 points over both the Carolina Hurricanes (91 points) and the Pittsburgh Penguins (90 points). However, Philly has three games in hand over the Canes and two games in hand over the Pens, so they will hopefully be able to get themselves some more separation.

The Islanders jumped out to an early lead late in the first period when Radek Martinek’s slap shot found its way past a screened Martin Biron to put New York up 1-0. The Isles almost added another first period tally, but Franz Nielsen’s apparent power-play goal was scored just after the horn sounded to end the first period. However, New York struck again early in the second period when Jeff Tambellini batted a waist-high into the net to make it 2-0 Islanders. It was a pretty impressive display of hand-eye coordination.

After showing absolutely nothing for the first two periods, the Flyers took control early in the third period and scored three goals in a 3:55 span. Joffrey Lupul opened the scoring for Philly with a hard wrist shot from the right side that went in off Yann Danis’s pad. A little over two minutes later, Scott Hartnell tied the game at 2-2 when he knocked in a rebound. Less than two minutes after Hartnell’s goal, Lupul lit the lamp again with a backhander to put the Flyers ahead 3-2. Philly’s lead was shortlived as Mark Streit scored just 32 seconds later to tie the game at 3-3.

Neither team scored in overtime, so the game moved to a shootout. Danny Briere and Mike Richards each scored shootout goals and Biron stopped two of the three shots that he faced to seal the win. For the game, Biron made 30 saves and picked up his 11th consecutive win over the Islanders. Danis stopped 33 of the 36 shots that he faced.

The Flyers won’t have any time to celebrate their win as they return home tonight to host the Boston Bruins. Philly has won two out of three against Beantown this year, including a 4-2 win on March 3rd. Hopefully, they’ll be able to pick up two more points against the Eastern Conference leaders.

Let’s Go Flyers!

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