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 The Flyers spotted the Islanders a quick two-goal lead before
scoring five unanswered goals on their way to a 5-2 win in a
regular-season finale at Barclays Center that had all the ambiance
of a preseason opener.
"It probably had more of an exhibition atmosphere out there," Flyers
center R.J. Umberger said. "We didn't have much to play for either."
Any suspense that might have been attached to the makeup of a game
postponed by a blizzard Jan. 23 disappeared Saturday, when the
Flyers clinched the final postseason spot in the Eastern Conference
by beating the Pittsburgh Penguins, 3-1.
Regardless of Sunday's outcome, the Flyers (41-27-14) were locked
into the Eastern Conference's second wild card and a
quarterfinal-round matchup with the top-seeded Washington Capitals.
"I thought our guys did a good job," said rookie Flyers head coach
Dave Hakstol. "We wanted to take kind of a business-like approach."
 With the loss, the Islanders (45-27-10) enter the playoffs as the
first wild card and will face the second seed, the Atlantic Division
champion Florida Panthers. Had the Islanders won Sunday, they would
have moved past the New York Rangers for third place in the
Metropolitan Division and secured a first-round date with the
Pittsburgh Penguins, who finished the season as the hottest team
(8-2-0 in their last 10 games) in the East.
But in scratching a whopping 12 players -- including their top three
scorers in John Tavares, Kyle Okposo and Frans Nielsen, all of whom
were healthy -- the Islanders made it clear they were content with
their playoff positioning.
Even with the loss, the Islanders head into the postseason having
won six of their last 10 (6-3-1), a mark bettered only by the
Penguins and Panthers (7-3-0). Included in that stretch was a
three-game winning streak against the playoff-bound Rangers,
Capitals and Tampa Bay Lightning.
"We had to win some big games coming down the stretch," Islanders
right winger Cal Clutterbuck said. "I'm always confident in our
group."
Of New York's 20 active players, six opened April with the
Islanders' AHL affiliate. Left winger Eric Boulton and right winger
Steve Bernier were also active after being regular scratches during
the season.
The Islanders still seemed as if they might win the game in spite of
themselves when Nikolay Kulemin and Matt Martin scored less than
four minutes apart in the first.
But the Flyers -- who scratched stars Wayne Simonds and Claude
Giroux as well as starting goalie Steve Mason -- tied the game on
power-play goals later in the period by Shayne Gostisbehere and
Evgeny Medvedev, the latter of whom was inactive for 23 of the
previous 26 games.
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Michael Raffl's goal 6:38 into the second ended up being the
game-winner. There were Islanders fans seen cheering the Flyers
goals, and whomever operated the in-house sound system seemed to be
acknowledging the weirdness of the evening when the theme song from
"The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air" -- which starred Philadelphia native
Will Smith -- played in between the second and third periods.
Two more regular scratches -- Scott Laughton and Umberger -- capped
the scoring in the third period. Laughton didn't play in eight of
the previous nine games while Umbarger sat the previous 23 games.
"I think the way the game started 2-0, we were like 'uh oh, this
might be an ugly one for us,'" Umbarger said. "I don't think there
was much intensity on both ends, but it's good to be on the winning
side."
Goalie Michal Neuvirth, making his first appearance in 13 games,
recorded 15 saves.
Thomas Greiss started in goal for the Islanders and made seven saves
before giving way to Christopher Gibson, who recorded 15 saves and
was saddled with the loss.
"Obviously not today, but we're playing some of our best hockey
entering the playoffs," Martin said. "We know the talent we have and
the kind of team we can be. We just need to prove it."
NOTES: Among the announced crowd of 14,244 were New York Mets
pitchers Noah Syndergaard and Logan Verrett. Howie Rose, who called
the Mets' 5-2 loss to the Philadelphia Flyers earlier in the day,
made it to Barclays Center in time for his role as the Islanders'
television play-by-play announcer. ... LW Michael Raffl was the only
Flyers player active for all 82 games. RW Wayne Simmonds was active
for every game except the finale. ... With C Frans Nielsen and D
Nick Leddy scratched after playing in the first 81 games the
Islanders had nobody play all 82 games. ... The Islanders and Flyers
made the playoffs in the same season for the first time since
2003-04 and the 18th time overall. The teams made the playoffs in
the same season 14 straight times from 1974-75 through 1987-88.
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