The Philadelphia Flyers earned a hard-fought and surprising 4–3 shootout victory over the New York Islanders after rallying back from an early two-goal deficit.
Goaltender Sam Ersson got the start for Philadelphia, looking to rebound after a shaky beginning to the season that had allowed Dan Vladar to take most of the recent starts.
New York opened the scoring with goals from Simon Holmstrom and Anthony Duclair, controlling the tempo early and putting the Flyers on their heels. The momentum began to shift midway through when Trevor Zegras sent a sharp cross-ice feed to Christian Dvorak, who buried the puck behind Ilya Sorokin to cut the deficit in half. Zegras later tied the game with his first goal as a Flyer, finishing a setup from Dvorak and Jamie Drysdale.
The Islanders briefly regained the lead, but Zegras wasn’t done. The 23-year-old forward capped off his best performance since joining Philadelphia by scoring his second goal of the game — and season — to even the score once more. The Flyers’ third line led the charge offensively, generating steady pressure and accounting for all three regulation goals.
Despite several quality chances in overtime, neither team could find the winner. Ersson stood tall in the extra frame, making several key stops to force the shootout.
Round 1: Bobby Brink – no goal | Bo Horvat – no goal
Round 2: Trevor Zegras – goal | Simon Holmstrom – goal
Round 3: Matvei Michkov – goal | Anthony Duclair – no goal
The Flyers sealed the 4–3 victory, marking their second consecutive comeback win following a similar effort in their previous home game against Seattle.
After the game, Jamie Drysdale reflected on assisting Zegras’ first goal as a Flyer, saying, “He's been setting up and creating a lot for other people. It was nice to see him get on the board tonight — well-deserved. He’s been great so far.”
Zegras returned the compliment with a grin, calling Drysdale’s feed, “the best pass he’s ever given me.”
The Flyers have a scheduled off day on Sunday before returning to practice Monday. They’ll face the Pittsburgh Penguins at home Tuesday night at 6 p.m.
