The Baker’s Dozen is not the history the Flyers were looking to make at the beginning of the season. For what seems like the hundredth time, the Philadelphia Flyers drop yet another, 4-3 to the New York Islanders in the UBS Arena in Elmont, New York. The only upbeat occurrence was Keith Yandle becoming the “Iron Man” on the NHL with his 965th consecutive game. The Islander fans gave Yandle a nice reception when it was announced that he broke the record.
“To be honest with you, it’s not something I talk about too much,” said Yandle after the game, regarding the record. “It’s one of those things where I kind of get comfortable. I’m not really a guy who likes to have the spotlight on myself. If guys do talk about it, I try to change the subject.”
Speaking of broken records, Philadelphia was fortunate to have a shot at winning this one and held in with the same script, a late goal.
Here We Go Again
Things actually looked upbeat for the (13-22-8) Flyers when Claude Giroux potted his 15th with help from Oskar Lindblom and the first of two from Travis Sanheim with just :58 elapsed. Things looked better with light scoring Justin Braun getting the dividend off the work of Cam Atkinson and James Van Riemsdyk. With 12:48 gone, the question was, is it finally over?
New York (15-14-6) replied, “let us get back to you.” Less than a minute and it would be a one-goal game. Noah Dobson bested Martin Jones for his sixth of the season and the 17,255 started to get boisterous. The wild period kept going with Islander Captain, Anders Lee bringing the opening 20:00 to an end with a 2-2 tie.
Does the Pace Keep Up?
After the four-goal first, the second only revealed a single lamp-lighter. Mathew Barzal with his 8th and the first of his two points at 5:42 on the advantage, closed the second with the Isles up, 3-2.
So, You’re Saying they Have a Chance?
At the 1:30 mark, it was Gerry Mayhew getting the game-tying goal converting the second helper from Sanheim and the secondary to James Van Riemsdyk. No one in Flyer land was comfortable and had an impending sense of doom. Their feeling would be realized when, seconds after a Morgan Frost penalty expired, Zach Parise hit paydirt off the second Brock Nelson assist. New York killed off the final 8:09 to finish the Baker’s Dozen.
After Thoughts
Shots on Goal were 33-17….yes…17 in favor of the home squad. Martin Jones turned aside 29 while the Islanders Ilya Sorokin stopped 14. Face-offs favored New York, 31-23 with Jean-Gabriel Pageau with an impressive 16 of 20. New York improves to 8-2-1 in their last 11 and have now posted 9 consecutive victories over Philadelphia. “That makes it a baker’s dozen for me, Bob!” The late Chris Farley.
Kevin has followed and promoted the game of lacrosse since May 19, 1974.
The same day the Philadelphia Flyers won the Cup, the Philadelphia Wings were introduced to Neibauer and Philadelphia.
Kevin has covered many sports, including baseball, football, basketball, and.. lacrosse. A former licensed football referee and baseball umpire, Kevin brings a unique insight to his game coverage.
A published writer in JustHockey Magazine, Kevin covered the American Hockey League as well as a monthly story on a pugilist where Kevin used the pen name, The Rink Rat. Neibauer turned his attentions to lacrosse for a few years and does his part, whether podcasting or writing to grow the game. Kevin branched out to his roots and currently provides insight for all Philadelphia teams for Edge of Philly as well as his full-time duties with LaxPhilly.
