After a discouraging home-and-home lost weekend against the East-leading Montreal Canadiens, the New York Islanders found comforting tonic in a struggling Metro opponent who brought rival-caliber feistiness and violence to the game.
The Philadelphia Flyers opened scoring early on the power play, and the goalscorer Claude Giroux tried to stir captain-level intensity by going after Nick Leddy following an awkward hit with Michael Raffl, but it backfired and quality prevailed as the Isles opened their second quarter with a 3-1 win.
The Isles erased the 1-0 deficit with a shorthanded goal late in the first period, took the lead early in the second on a power move and needle-thread shot by Kyle Okposo, and doubled the Flyers in shots 36-18 by the time the final buzzer rang.