Flyers remain undefeated in shootouts with 4-3 win at New York Islanders

Jackie Spiegel, The Philadelphia Inquirer on Nov 28, 2025

Published in Hockey

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ELMONT, N.Y. — Despite giving up a 3-0 lead, the Flyers turned the lights back on when it mattered most to defeat the New York Islanders 4-3 in a shootout.

Trevor Zegras and Travis Konecny scored, and Sam Ersson stopped Bo Horvat to win the game.

The Flyers are a perfect 5-0 in shootouts this season. They have won two straight and four of their past five.

Just The Way You Are

Long Island’s Billy Joel famously sang, “Don’t go changing,” and while the Flyers made one significant change — it’s only the seventh time in 23 games this season they scored first — there’s one aspect they shouldn’t. For the second straight game, Tyson Foerster and Sean Couturier scored seconds apart.

On Wednesday, it gave the Flyers a 4-2 win against the two-time defending champion Florida Panthers when they scored 21 seconds apart. On Friday, their goals 22 seconds apart gave the Orange and Black a 2-0 lead.

Foerster opened the scoring 8 minutes, 30 seconds into the game. Travis Sanheim got the puck in his own end, skated around the net, and carried it up the left wing with Islanders forward Emil Heineman hounding him.

He gained the zone and dished the puck to Konecny, who sent a turnaround pass right to Heineman. But it wasn’t a clean pass, and Foerster poked it away as Heineman fell. It gave Foerster the perfect shooting lane, and he beat Islanders goalie David Rittich glove side for his ninth of the season.

Couturier snapped a 17-game goal drought on Wednesday and scored in consecutive games for the first time since March of last season. His goal came after Noah Juulsen defended New York’s Mathew Barzal against the wall in the Flyers’ zone, allowing Matvei Michkov to scoop up the loose puck.

The winger sent it up the boards with Bobby Brink putting pressure on Tony DeAngelo. DeAngelo sent the puck over to his former teammate Couturier, and the Flyers captain scored past the glove of Rittich from the left face-off circle.

An Innocent Man

Before getting to one of the worst calls this season — and there have been plenty to choose from — the Flyers looked in control when Zegras extended the lead to 3-0 on a power play 1:55 into the second period.

The kid from New York took the puck off the wall after Emil Andrae carried the puck deep and was stopped by Rittich. Zegras curled in the left circle and scored off the skate of Islanders defenseman Ryan Pulock.

But then things started to go awry.

Heineman exacted some revenge and scored to make it 3-1. Andrae got the puck and skated backward into his own zone. He didn’t realize that Kyle Palmieri was still in the Flyers’ end after getting tangled up with Jamie Drysdale. Palmieri picked his pocket and fed Jonathan Drouin, who dropped it for Heineman.

The referees missed a call as the Islanders had six guys on the ice when Palmeiri played the puck as he was skating to the bench.

Rookie sensation Matthew Schaeffer cut the Flyers’ lead to one with his eighth of the year. He got the puck at the left point and skated down into the left circle before firing off a wrister past Flyers goalie Ersson. There was a delayed penalty on Garnet Hathaway, but the Islanders didn’t have the extra skater on yet.

And then, with the momentum swinging in the Islanders’ favor, Konecny was called for a phantom hold on Simon Holmström during a Flyers power play.

There have been quite a few bad calls against the Flyers this season, and this was one of the more questionable ones as Holmström sold it and the referee above the blue line — not the referee standing right in front of the players — made the call.

After skating four-on-four, on the ensuing power play for the Islanders, Schaefer put a point shot that Max Shabanov tipped up and off the body of Anders Lee past Ersson.

Breakaways

The Flyers killed off a four-minute power play when Michkov high-sticked Islanders rookie Calum Ritchie in the third period. The call came after Ersson made a ridiculous stop on Ritchie on a two-on-one. Anthony Duclair fed Ritchie after Juulsen fell, leaving Nick Seeler as the lone Flyer back. … Palmieri did not return after playing a role in the Islanders’ first goal due to a lower-body injury. … Forward Nic Deslauriers and defenseman Egor Zamula were healthy scratches for the second straight game. They did participate in warmups. … Couturier played in his 896th NHL game, all with the Flyers.

Up next

The Flyers get right back to it on Saturday against the Devils in New Jersey.