The Flyers and Islanders got off to a fast start last night—historically fast in fact. Each team scored on its first shot, the score tied at 1 just 37 seconds in. Per Elias, that's the fastest 1-1 tie in team history and second fastest in NHL history.
That being said, it basically sucked. All the elation of Andrej Meszaros scoring 18 seconds in was immediately erased by the Kyle Okposo equalizer. Worse yet was Okposo netting the go-ahead goal on a gorgeous display of Islanders passing 10 minutes later, then assisting on a third Isles goal with a minute and a half left in the period.
Fortunately, the Flyers would come all the way back. A look at the goals and more below.
Stay in the game with the latest updates on your beloved Philadelphia sports teams! Sign up here for our All Access Daily newsletter.
Ilya Bryzgalov got the second and third periods off, though he wasn't terrible in the first. Sergei Bobrovsky put in a great relief effort, keeping the Isles off the board the rest of the way. It took a few huge saves too, including back-to-back breakaways turned aside.
On a power play in the second period, Scott Hartnell, sporting one hell of an amazing mustache, collected a bad bounce off the end boards and quickly deposited it behind Rick DiPietro. Despite some great looking opportunities for the Flyers in on DiP, that was it for the scoring in the second, and coming on the heels of a pair of disappointing losses, things weren't looking too good…
But Danny Briere got on the board with just over five minutes left in regulation, capitalizing on a fluky bounce out of the corner. Rick DiP had to be hating his home boards after this game. And, he almost let that frustration out in stick-shattering fashion when Briere beat him in OT, this time without any flukes. Hartnell hit him with a nice drop pass, and Danny buried it for the winner.
Video Highlights
News
Notes
Perhaps the biggest story coming out of this one was that Jaromir Jagr reaggravated his groin injury. He presumes he'll miss the next two games, but who can really say. At his age, injuries are a concern, even though he has been something of an ironman. He was a minus-2 in 7:52 of ice time.
Hartnell now has nine goals on the season, tied with rookie Matt Read for second on the team behind Claude Giroux's 11. Briere scored his sixth and seventh. We see you, Danny… Remindin us you're a sniper…
Before breaking out on Wednesday, Okposo hadn't scored yet this season, even drawing a benching from his coach last week. Glad our boys could help him get on track.
The Isles line of Okposo, Michael Grabner, and Frans Nielsen accounted for all of the team's scoring.
Only 11,086 people showed for the game. Things are bleak on the Island…