FLYERS CLOSE REGULAR SEASON, BEAT ISLANDERS 5-2
In an exhibition-like game that saw both teams rest a host of top players, the Philadelphia Flyers closed out the 2015-16 regular season with a 5-2 victory over the New York Islanders at Barclays Center in Brooklyn. As a result, the Islanders dropped to the higher wildcard seed in the Eastern Conference and will play the Florida Panthers in the Eastern Conference quarterfinals. The Flyers went in knowing they'd be the lower wildcard and play the President's Trophy winning Washington Capitals.
The playoff schedule is as follows: The Flyers series in Washington will begin on Thursday. Game two is on Saturday. Games three and four will be in Philadelphia on Mon. April 18 and Wed. April 20. If necessary, game 5 in DC will be Fri. April 22, game 6 in Philly would be Sun. April 24 and game seven in DC would be Wed. April 27.
The Flyers finish the season with a record of 41-27-14 (96 points). The mark is eight point better than last season. Philly was already a strong home club last season, finishing with 53 points but the Flyers did it one better with 54 points this year. The Flyers went from atrocious on the road last season (10-20-11) to respectable (18-17-6); therein lay a seven-point jump. Ninety-six points is the most the Flyers have had in a season since 2011-12 (103 points).
The regular season finale in Brooklyn was, for the most part, a light-hitting and low-intensity affair. Flyers head coach Dave Hakstol rested Steve Mason, Claude Giroux, Wayne Simmonds, Sean Couturier and Mark Streit as healthy scratches. In their places, goalie Michal Neuvirth made his first appearance since March 16, and Jordan Weal, R.J. Umberger, Scott Laughton and Evgeny Medvedev got into the lineup. Ray Emery dressed as Neuvirth's backup.
In addition to a slew of injury-related absences, Islanders coach Jack Capuano gave John Tavares, Kyle Okposo and Johnny Boychuk rests on the final night of the regular season. Thomas Greiss played the first period in goal, stopping seven of nine shots. Christopher Gibson (15 saves on 18 shots) played the final 40 minutes.
Neuvirth started out looking rusty -- which was to be expected given his lengthy injury-related absence and the team's lack of bonafide practice time over the last week -- but settled in as the game went along. He ended up seeing just 17 shots (stopping 15) and was barely tested over the balance of the game but looked increasingly comfortable and solid.
The first save Neuvirth made was a little shaky, nearly finding the short side. Neuvirth then allowed a bit of a leaky goal on a Nikolay Kulemin (ninth goal of the season) backhander that squeezed through under his left arm as New York took a 1-0 lead at 5:58. Calvin de Haan and Ryan Pulock got the assists. Kulemin beat Brandon Manning, who lost his stick, on the rush and went in on Neuvirth, moving to his right.
Neuvirth was given no chance to stop a point-blank goal as New York sliced through soft defensive coverage. Pulock stepped up from the right puck and put a slap pass toward that net that an untouched Matt Martin (10th goal) simply re-directed into the net at 9:19.
Thereafter, it was all Flyers. Special teams played a big part, as Philly went 3-for-4 on the power play (including a 5-on-3 tally) and going 4-for-4 on the penalty kill (including a 5-on-3 kill). The Flyers finished regular season at 18.9 percent efficiency on the power play; good for a tie for 11th in the NHL. They finished at 80.5 success on the penalty kill; tied for 20th.
Shayne Gostisbehere notched the 17th and final goal (eighth power play tally) of his rookie season as he faked a pass from center point to the left side and then snapped off a shot that found its way home through traffic to cut the gap to 2-1 at 11:15. Jakub Voracek (44th assist) and Brayden Schenn (32nd assist) got the helpers.
Gostisbehere finished the season with 46 points; second among all rookie defensemen in Flyers franchise history. Behn Wilson had 49 points in 1978-79 but did it over 80 games. Gostisbehere, called up in November, played 64 games. His 17 goals are the most by an NHL rookie defenseman since Dion Phaneuf in 2005-06.
With a 5-on-3 power play in the waning seconds of the first period, the Flyers got the game to intermission tied at 1-1. Medvedev cranked up a howitzer of a center point shot that hit the underside of the crossbar and then dropped over the goal line at 19:52 for his fourth goal. Assists went to Matt Read (15th assist) and Nick Cousins (4th).
Shots in the first period were 9-7 Flyers.
In the second period, Michael Raffl scored what proved to be the game-winning goal, getting open in the slot to take a nice feed from Laughton and snap a shot bast Gibson to break a 13-game goal drought. Laughton (14th assist) and Schenn (second of the game, 33rd of the season) collected the apples at 6:38.
Raffl, the lone Flyer to dress in all 82 games of the regular season, would go on to collect a three-point game before the night was over. In the meantime, the Flyers got through a brief 5-on-3 penalty kill and generated more pressure than New York during the 5-on-4 portion of the kill.
Shots in the second period were 9-4 Flyers; 18-11 Flyers through two periods.
The Flyers pulled away in the third period. Laughton earned a two-point game as he used de Haan as a screen and put a shot from above the left circle past Gibson at 5:50. Raffl earned the lone assist.
At 10:59, New York's Bracken Kearns took exception to a hit by Radko Gudas and received a minor penalty for a retaliatory slash. Philadelphia bagged its third and final power play goal at 11:10.
Umberger stationed himself in front of the Islanders net and swept a Raffl rebound home on the backhand for his second goal of the season. Raffl (18th assist of the season) and Medvedev (ninth) got the helpers.
Shots in the third period were 9-6 Flyers; 27-17 Flyers for the game.