The Islanders missed a few opportunities to extend a four-game win streak Saturday afternoon in Philadelphia, but they at least came away with a point and Marshall Warren got an NHL debut to remember.
The Laurel Hollow native had his mom and sister in the stands — and dad surely watching from a hospital while tending to his grandpa — as he made an exciting rookie lap and then ended up assisting on two of the Islanders’ three goals in a 4-3 shootout loss.
Warren’s assist on Anthony Duclair’s goal for his first NHL point but the Isles up 2-0 early in the second period, but they let the Flyers on the board four minutes later, and Trevor Zegras twice tied the game in the third before adding a shootout tally.
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Either team could’ve taken the points, but one of the Isles’ best, final chances was in a 2-on-1 in OT when Samuel Ersson robbed Bo Horvat with the glove after a somewhat telegraphed but still very dangerous cross-slot feed from Jonathan Drouin.
Simon Holmstrom, who got the Isles on the board with a shorthander in the first, was the only Islander to convert in the shootout.
Marshall Warren before the game, on what it means…:
…and during the game, after his first point:
Other Notes
- Scott Mayfield fought Garnet Hathaway, who’d been running around laying “there’s a puck in this game?” hits all over the ice, including a torpedo on Casey Cizikas before he got near a loose puck. They roughed up again early in the third in a larger scramble that included offsetting roughings for Matthew Schaefer and Nikita Grebenkin, plus a fight between Kyle MacLean and a Latvian who goes by the name of Rodrigo Abols.
- Pretty solid game overall for Ilya Sorokin, who had some acrobatic stops. Continue monitoring.
- The Holmstrom combo with Anders Lee and J-G Pageau continued to play smart, effective hockey. And Lee did the forechecking work that led to Duclair’s goal and Warren’s first point.
- Those were Zegras’ first two points as a Flyer. Naturally.
- The fourth line — now with Cizikas, MacLean and Max Tsyplakov was under 9 minutes again but Tsyplakov did open his account by getting in front of goal to deflect Warren’s shot in. Sure would’ve been nice to have that hold up as the winner.
Up Next
Couple days between stops on this four-game road trip as the Isles are in Boston on Tuesday. A back-to-back in Carolina and D.C. looms afterward, so…yeah, would seem important to get points against the Bruins.
