Islanders score 3 times in 3rd, beat Flyers
NEW YORK — Brock Nelson and Anthony Beauvillier scored 22 seconds apart early in the third period, Semyon Varlamov made 25 saves and the New York Islanders beat the Philadelphia Flyers 5-2 for their fourth straight victory.
The teams will complete the home-and-home set in Philadelphia on Tuesday night.
Nelson made it 3-2 with his 11th goal of the season, beating Flyers goaltender Felix Sandstrom with a high shot from the left circle at 2:57.
Beauvillier made it a two-goal margin with his fifth at 3:19. Ryan Pulock assisted on both third-period goals and had four assists overall for New York, tying a career best. The Islanders are 13-2-2 in their last 17 games against the Flyers, including a 6-0-0 mark in their last six home meetings.
"Brock just made a great shot," Beauviller said about Nelson's go-ahead goal. "Second one, Pully made a great play in the slot to me and it was definitely a game-changer."
Zach Parise scored twice for the Islanders and defenseman Adam Pelech also scored to help New York improve to 8-3-0 at home.
"We're playing good hockey. Even sometimes when we haven't put together a good first or a good second. we've been rebounding,'' Parise said. "Maybe tonight wasn't our best. But we had a good third."
The injury-depleted Flyers are 0-7-3 in their last 10 contests and haven't won since Nov. 8.
"There were a few minutes in the third where we lost the hockey game,'' Flyers coach John Tortorella said. "We are just going to keep banging away at it. I saw a lot of good things tonight. I am not going to criticize the team."
Lukas Sedlak and Joel Farabee scored to put the Flyers ahead 2-1 before Parise tied it at 2 on the power play late in the second. Kevin Hayes had assists on both Philadelphia goals.
The Islanders lead the NHL with 35 third-period goals, outscoring opponents 35-19 in that period this season. New York has 42 goals in first periods, second periods and overtime combined.
Islander defenseman have also scored 18 goals this season, a contribution that heartens their coach Lane Lambert.
"We feel we need our defense in order to create offense,'' he said. "They're doing a good job of it."
The Islanders have won 13 of 17 to improve to 15-8-0 overall.
The struggling Flyers were coming off a 4-1 home loss to Pittsburgh on Friday.
"They had two quick ones we kind of buried ourselves after that,'' Hayes said of the Islanders' early third period outburst.
Flyers defenseman Ivan Provorov also assisted on Sedlak's goal, his 200th NHL point.
Philadelphia's next five games are at home, giving them a chance to reset in the tightly contested Metropolitan Division where they started 7-3-2 before their current swoon.
"I think we forechecked pretty well. We just have to keep working,'' said Sedlak, who assisted on Farabee's goal. "We have to keep digging every shift and focus on the shift in front of us."
NOTES: The Islanders are 10-1-0 when scoring first and 6-1-0 in divisional games … New York is 15-2-0 when they score at least three goals ... The Islanders scratched injured forward Kyle Palmieri for the third straight game plus defenseman Robin Salo and forward Ross Johnston …. The Flyers scratched forwards Jackson Cates and Travis Konecny (upper-body). Philadelphia also continued to be without injured forwards Cam Atkinson, Sean Couturier, James van Riemsdyk and Scott Laughton.