BOX SCORE
Perhaps Peter Laviolettes Flyers thought this was going to be easy.
Perhaps they thought they didnt have to show up given they had won 23 of the previous 24 Islander games, dating back to March 2008.
Perhaps they thought they could rely solely on goalie Sergei Bobrovsky doing the dirty work since he had a 7-0 career record with a 1.86 goals against average and .944 save percentage against this club.
Or perhaps they were just thinking ahead to New Jersey and Boston this weekend.
Whatever the Flyers thought, they thought wrong. Jack Capuanos Islanders badly outplayed the Flyers Thursday night at Wells Fargo Center, skating off with a 4-1 lop-sided victory.
It was all about us, Kimmo Timonen said. We sucked, pretty much. They were better in every area. They skated more, they wanted it more.
NHL
Its one of those games you dont want to happen but it happens. Its a long season. Dont know why, but it happens.
The Isles didnt need three goals, three different ways: even strength, shorthanded, power play. They skated furiously against the Flyers, who seemed several strides behind for two periods.
They had a 2-0 lead with a four-on-three power play in the third when Mark Streit shot one off Bobrovskys left arm up and into the net.
That goal was overkill at that point.
Flyer rookie Matt Reads 14th goal at 10:48 seemed to light a fire under the Flyers skates as the puck stayed in the Isles end much of the final minutes of play butno goals.
You have to show up every night and play your A game, and tonight we just werent ready, Read said.
We were on our heels and things werent going our way and we just couldnt get a bounce to get us on the right track.
What was particularly alarming was the Flyers allowed three shorthanded breakaways during the second period with New York scoring once.
We were a little too casual, Danny Briere said of the Flyer power play units. Whenever one of our point men were in distress, there was nobody there to back them up.
I dont know if we gave up as many shorthanded breakaways the whole season as we gave up in this one.
Read called it complacencyboth units.
While the Isles came to skate, the Flyers didnt. Less than seven minutes into the opening period, Matt Moulson thought he had scored his 22nd goal off his skate, while battling in the slot.
The play went to review and was correctly overruled for a distinct kicking motion.
The Flyers had two shorthanded chances at periods end but couldnt score on Evgeni Nabokov, who had 40 saves, yet didnt face as many quality shots as Bobrovsky.
Bobrovsky had the periods best save with 1:50 left off a Flyer turnover near the Isles blue line. It resulted in a John Tavares breakaway with Bobrovsky making a pad stop to keep the game scoreless.
It was a harbinger of what was to come during that awful middle stanza.
In the second and third period we created some chances but just werent as sharp around the net to bury chances, Briere said. Its disappointing more than anything.
We had played a big stretch on the road and wanted to take advantage of the fact we have lots of home games left in the second half. Its something we need to do better. Our home record is not good enough.
Moulson, hunting for that 22nd goal, nailed it 28 seconds into the second period, taking a nice feed from Tavares, then moving straight up the slot all by his lonesome. He measured Bobrovsky, then wristed the puck for a 1-0 lead.
The Flyers scored twice on the power play in their last home game, Tuesday against Minnesota. They didnt look particularly sharp in this one, going 0-for-4.
Their first power play saw Michael Grabner steal a puck up high and go off solo on Bobrovsky. He tried forehandbackhand. Bobrovsky stayed with the shot the entire way, smothering the puck with his pads.
Thats three times Bob has denied Grabner on breakaways (including a penalty shot) over the last two games these teams played.
Bobrovsky next stopped Tavares on a shorthanded break, but finally caved on Josh Baileys shorthanded break off a Matt Martin steal.
Both Flyers up high -- Timonen and Wayne Simmonds -- were caught on the same side of the ice, allowing Bailey a free lane to Bobrovsky at 12:58 for a 2-0 lead.
For the first, two periods, we didnt support each other very well, Laviolette said. We left one guy vulnerable. You see it. Players were in trouble. Guys hanging to the offensive side of things.
We left one man to figure things out for himself without the driving support we need. We got to be closer to each other. Breakaways are the result of that. In all instances, we left one man vulnerable.
And left themselves with another home loss.
E-mail Tim Panaccio at tpanotch@comcast.net