The Upshot: Late goal puts damper on NY Islanders 4-3 O.T. win versus the Flyers

HOW IT HAPPENED

After giving up the lead with under 10 seconds to play, Brock Nelson scored at 1:24 of overtime as the New York Islanders recovered for a 4-3 win against the Philadelphia Flyers at Wells Fargo Center on Monday night. Bo Horvat scored his 30th of the season, Anders Lee scored the go-ahead goal in the second, and Matt Martin also scored for the Isles (32-27-15). Semyon Varlamov made 29 saves in his third straight start. Noah Cates and Travis Sanheim scored for Philadelphia (36-29-11), which are winless in their last five (0-3-2). Ivan Fedotov made 19 saves on 21 shots in his NHL debut after replacing Samuel Ersson (four saves on six shots) at the start of the second period.

WHAT WENT RIGHT

After shuffling the lines repeatedly in search of more balanced scoring and separating Mathew Barzal and Bo Horvat, they were back playing together versus the Flyers and picked up where they had been most of the season. Barzal set up Horvat for his 30th goal of the season and 500th career point to give the Islanders a 2-1 lead in the first. “It was a gut feeling,” Roy said after the game about putting the playmakers back together. “I felt like it was time to do it. When they scored that first one, I think we needed a bit of a spark, and I was hoping that would do it for us.”

WHAT WENT WRONG

It's easy to call out allowing the game-tying goal with 10 seconds to play that kept the Islanders from coming a way with a regulation win that would've brought them within three points of the Flyers with two games in hand. However, the third period overall was abysmal as they say back and played not to lose, trying desperately to hold on. They were outshot 18-3 in the final 20 minutes and predictably couldn't score an empty net goal to seal the victory despite the Flyers pulling their goaltender with over three minutes to play in the period. The team's inability to score empty net goals has only been matched by how easily they give them up when the situation is reversed.

STATS OF THE GAME

Per NHL Public Relations, Brock Nelson scored in overtime to register his third 30-goal season with the Islanders. The only players in franchise history with more are Bryan Trottier (11), Mike Bossy (10), Pat LaFontaine (6), Clark Gillies (6) and John Tavares (4).

SOCIAL MEDIA MOMENT OF THE GAME

They don't make it easy to root for them, do they?

WHAT'S NEXT

The Islanders look to win on the backend of back-to-back games for the first time this season when they host Connor Bedard and the Chicago Blackhawks at UBS Arena.

Face-off is set for 7:30 PM EST.