Flyers fall to Islanders on a night that could've been the final in Orange and Black for Morgan Frost

Jackie Spiegel, The Philadelphia Inquirer on Jan 30, 2025

Published in Hockey

By clicking submit, I authorize Arcamax and its affiliates to: (1) use, sell, and share my information for marketing purposes, including cross-context behavioral advertising, as described in our Privacy Policy , (2) add to information that I provide with other information like interests inferred from web page views, or data lawfully obtained from data brokers, such as past purchase or location data, or publicly available data, (3) contact me or enable others to contact me by email or other means with offers for different types of goods and services, and (4) retain my information while I am engaging with marketing messages that I receive and for a reasonable amount of time thereafter. I understand I can opt out at any time through an email that I receive, or by clicking here

PHILADELPHIA — Coach John Tortorella said recently that Ivan Fedotov’s goalie style is weird.

But that wasn’t the only weird occurrence inside the Wells Fargo Center Thursday night.

The Flyers’ continuing troubles in the second games of back-to-back matchups continued following a 3-0 loss to the New York Islanders, in a game in which Morgan Frost and Matvei Michkov did not see the ice halfway through the second period and beyond.

Toward the end of the second period, there were reports on social media by Daily Faceoff and Sportsnet that the Flyers were working on a trade. Frost did not come out for the third period but why is still to be determined.

Michkov was on the ice for the Islanders' first goal and started to head out of the zone despite the Flyers not recovering the puck. He sat the rest of the night.

Things didn’t start so bad for the Orange and Black. According to Natural Stat Trick, the Flyers out-chanced the Islanders 29-12 in the opening frame. It included a goal that was called back.

The Flyers thought they took a 1-0 lead on a power-play goal by Michkov, which was scored through a screen by Frost. However, the Islanders challenged the goalie for interference, and the video review determined that Frost made contact with Ilya Sorokin in the crease, which prevented the goalie from playing his position before the goal.

And they also got some retribution.

Alternate captain Scott Laughton dropped the gloves with Maxim Tsyplakov off a defensive-zone faceoff in the first period. The Islanders forward recently returned from a three-game suspension for an illegal check to the head of Flyers forward Ryan Poehling on Jan. 16.

But then the Islanders scored a pair in the second period. Simon Holmstrom was the guy who put the visitors up 1-0 with a shot from above the circles, and Marc Gatcomb made it 2-0 with his first in the NHL. He beat Ivan Fedotov off a pass from Kyle MacLean as both got behind the Flyers defense.

Kyle Palmieri made it 3-0 in the third to hand the Flyers their fourth loss in five games. It is the Flyers' second straight game putting up a goose egg.

Breakaways

Adam Ginning made his season debut after being recalled from Lehigh Valley of the American Hockey League earlier Thursday. ... Owen Tippett did not play. He was injured early in the second period on Wednesday against the New Jersey Devils and did not return. Coach John Tortorella did not have an update before the game. ... The game marked No. 1,600 for Tortorella, making him the first American-born NHL coach to reach the milestone.

Up next

The Flyers head west for a matchup with the Colorado Avalanche on Sunday.