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Brian Elliott and the Travii lead the Flyers past the Islanders, 4-1

Posted on by Mike Dusak

Four different Flyers scored and Brian Elliott made 29 saves on 30 shots as the Flyers downed the Islanders, 4-1, on Sunday afternoon on Long Island.

Travis Konecny, Travis Sanheim, Scott Laughton, and Sean Couturier all scored for the Flyers, who picked up two more big points in their quest for the Stanley Cup Playoffs. The win pulls the Flyers to within five points of a wild card spot in the Eastern Conference.

Though they still have much work left to do in the playoff hunt, the Flyers are doing the one thing they can control: win and rack up points in the standings.

PUCK DROP

Another unique lineup for Flyers coach Scott Gordon, going with 11 forwards and seven defenseman with Jake Voracek out due to a lower body injury.

Making matters worse would be Nolan Patrick blocking a Cal Clutterbuck shot with the back of his head early on. The puck appeared to miss the protective part of the helmet and Patrick went off with head trainer Jim McCrossin.

The first great chance of the game came nearly eight minutes in with an alley-alley-oops pass to Ryan Hartman, but Robin Lehner was there to snuff out Hartman’s shot to keep things scoreless.

Moments later they would break through, with Travis Konecny outworking Scott Mayfield along the wall and beating Lehner to the short side with a quick shot to give the Flyers a 1-0 lead. Radko Gudas and Ivan Provorov picked up the helpers on the goal, Konecny’s 21st and third in his last four periods.

With 5:40 left in the first things would get hairy in the Flyers zone after a turnover from Phil Myers, but Brian Elliott was there to pounce on the puck and cover. Phil Varone dove back to block a pass across that would have resulted in a sure Islanders goal. That would prove to be a big momentum swing, too.

Just 39 seconds later the Flyers would take advantage and extend their lead to 2-0 thanks to Travis Sanheim hopping on a rebound in front of the Islander crease and putting it past Lehner. Like Konecny’s goal, this one was all effort as Sanheim outmuscled his man in front to win the puck battle and stick home his ninth of the season. The defender now has points in five-straight games (four goals, one assist) and 14 in his last 16 games.

Elliott would preserve the Flyers’ 2-0 lead late in the first as Adam Pelech tried to beat the buzzer with a last-second bomb from the point, but Elliott was out to deny the chance and make Konecny and Sanheim’s goals hold up.

AFTER 20: Flyers 2, Islanders 0

Already armed with a two-goal lead, the Flyers would add another with Scott Laughton doing the honors to make it 3-0 just 3:18 into the second. Like the first two, it was another hard-working shift from Laughton to win a puck battle along the wall and get the payoff.

That would be all for Robin Lehner, given the hook by Barry Trotz after allowing three goals on 13 shots. He was replaced by Thomas Greiss in the Islanders crease.

They were no such issues in the Flyers crease, with Brian Elliott held down the fort during a real Islanders push with 14 minutes left in the period. Elliott denied Ryan Pulock and Jordan Eberle on back-to-back chances from in close, flopping around to keep the puck out and the Flyers’ lead at three. The man has been really good since coming back from injury, folks.

The Islanders really put up the pressure on as the second wore on, and even hit a post behind Elliott as they carried play but couldn’t muster anything besides a pile of chances and near misses.

At the other way a quick 2-on-1 for Claude Giroux and Oskar Lindblom should have resulted in a goal, but Giroux’s pass just fluttered over Lindblom’s stick with the net wide open. With a three-goal lead, the Flyers attack was limited to counter rushes for the most part.

Despite the Islanders’ pressure, the bounces were going the Flyers’ way in this one.

Lindblom sent a puck towards the Islanders net and it glanced off either Sean Couturier or a defender and past Greiss to make it 4-0 Flyers with 4:46 left in the middle frame. Lindblom made up for his miscue on the 2-on-1 with Giroux and nevertheless provided the Flyers with their fourth goal of the afternoon.

AFTER 40: Flyers 4, Islanders 0

With his general feistiness from Friday night carrying over a bit, Konecny went toe-to-toe with Jordan Eberle early into the third, dropping the gloves after Eberle gave the forward a hard check along the boards.

Konecny picked up an extra minor for cross-checking to give the Islanders the first man-advantage of the game with just over 18 minutes left in regulation. The refs wanted to get this thing over with, too.

The Flyers would kill off Konency’s extra minor, but Scott Laughton decided to put the Isles right back on the power play with a high-sticking call of his own. Really trying to put Brian Elliott’s shutout bid in deep peril.

But again the Flyers would kill off the penalty with relative ease, and Laughton jumped back on the ice with a rising shot at Greiss just after leaving the box. Laughton was one of many Flyers with quietly good afternoons, including his ninth goal of the season.

After keeping the Islanders at bay for most of the day (heh), they would finally solve Elliott with 4:45 left in the form of an Adam Pelech goal to break the shutout bid and make it 4-1 Flyers. It was kind of a broken play in front after the Flyers were pretty tight through most of the third in limiting time and space for the Islanders to make plays.

Right after the goal the Isles would take a penalty to effectively end the comeback bid. The power play helped soak up much of the remaining time on the clock as the Flyers put this one on ice.

FINAL: Flyers 4, Islanders 1

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