PHILADELPHIA — The first 65 minutes weren’t the cleanest for the Islanders and the subsequent nine-round shootout could go down as one of the worst in NHL history.
But all that matters to the Islanders was coming away with a 4-3 shootout win on Tuesday night at Wells Fargo Center to sweep the home-and-home series against the Flyers and finally get back to NHL .500 after more than two months.
Semyon Varlamov made 31 saves for the last-place Islanders (13-13-6). They are within one point of the seventh-place Flyers (13-18-8), who are on an 0-6-3 skid.
Oliver Wahlstrom, shooting last, scored the only goal in the unimpressive shootout, with many tries not even getting on net.
The Islanders had beaten the Flyers, 4-1, on Monday night at UBS Arena to end a 5-1-1 homestand and the teams play three times in nine days. The Islanders open another seven-game homestand Friday night against the Coyotes.
Claude Giroux got past defenseman Zdeno Chara — recently out of the penalty box after a needless slashing call on Oskar Lindblom after his shot at the crease was gloved by Varlamov — and also the diving Scott Mayfield to give the Flyers a 3-2 lead at 4:05 of the third period.
The first of the Islanders’ nine third-period shots didn’t come until Mathew Barzal — now playing with Zach Parise on his right wing after one game with Kieffer Bellows — put a short-range wrister on Carter Hart (28 saves) at 10:25.
But Casey Cizikas, with his second goal in two games after going 43 straight without one, tied it at 3 at 15:32 as he took Mayfield’s feed to the crease.
The Islanders hadn’t been at NHL .500 since a 4-1 road loss to the Lightning on Nov. 15 dropped them to 5-5-2. That was in the midst of an eight-game regulation losing streak that bridged the end of their season-opening, 13-game road trip and the first four games at UBS Arena.
"I think once you get to the .500 mark it allows you to look forward, ‘OK, we got back to even now, what do we do with the next 50-odd games?’" coach Barry Trotz said before the game. "I’m all about collecting points. You’ve just got to keep collecting points."
The Islanders escaped a rocky second period tied at 2 after the Flyers responded just 26 seconds after Josh Bailey made it 2-1 at 13:28 at the crease on Anthony Beauvillier’s feed from the left. But Varlamov misplayed the puck behind his net under pressure from Lindblom and Travis Konecny tied it from the low slot.
Another Varlamov gaffe nearly led to another goal as defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen’s shot from the right point trickled past him. But Varlamov bent back and smothered the puck on the goal line with his blocker.
The Islanders had taken a 1-0 lead at 2:08 of the first period on defenseman Robin Salo’s first career goal, a hard slap from high in the slot. Salo nearly had the milestone goal in the second period on Monday on a shot from the blue-line but Casey Cizikas was credited with the deflection.
Trotz successfully challenged that the Flyers were offside on Joel Farabee’s apparent goal at the crease at 11:12 of the first period. But James van Riemsdyk tied it at 1 at 14:39 on the power play after Salo was forced to take down Max Willman near the Islanders’ net following Brock Nelson’s defensive-zone turnover.
Van Riemsdyk knocked the puck through Varlamov’s pads at the crease after defenseman Ivan Provorov’s shot from the left point ricocheted off the endboards and through the goalie’s legs.
