Flyers Force Game 7 in Double-OT Thriller

The Philadelphia Flyers defeated the New York Islanders by the score of 5-4 in double-overtime on Thursday night.

For the Flyers, Game 6 of the Second Round was prefaced by the inspiring return of star forward Oskar Lindblom, who had missed nine months of action while undergoing treatment for Ewing's sarcoma, a rare form of bone cancer. Though Lindblom failed to make an impact on the scoresheet tonight, his return to the lineup undoubtedly boosted morale.

In general, this evening's contest served as a prime example of narrative defiance for a resilient Philadelphia squad. Once again, the Flyers simply refused to accept elimination, despite the glaring absence of superstar Sean Couturier due to a knee-on-knee collision with Mathew Barzal in Game 5.

In other narrative relevance, New York forward Josh Bailey entered Game 6 with a total of 15 postseason points, the most by any Islander since 1993. He failed to record a point tonight.

Finally, entering Game 6, the Islanders boasted a third period goal differential of +15 in the postseason. Tonight, they were -1.

Perhaps it was Philadelphia's early start that helped propel them to victory, as they amassed an early 2-0 advantage courtesy of goals that came 96 seconds apart by Kevin Hayes and James Van Riemsdyk.

Nonetheless, the Flyers weren't without their share of problems. As the evening progressed, Philadelphia allowed three unanswered goals, rallied to even the score courtesy of a Michael Raffl rebound tally, and ultimately fell behind again as New York continued to dominate the flow of play.

Lighting the lamp for the Islanders in a losing effort were Derick Brassard, Matt Martin, Anders Lee, and Mathew Barzal.

Midway through the third frame, the Flyers capitalized on yet another Islander turnover (a prevalent theme throughout the night) as Scott Laughton busted into the offensive zone alone to tie the game at four goals apiece.

Despite being outshot 42-17 in regulation, Philadelphia had managed to beat New York goaltender Semyon Varlamov four times to force overtime. By the game's conclusion, the shot counter was less lopsided, reading 53-31 in favor of the Islanders.

Even so, it was Ivan Provorov of the Flyers who proved to be the double-overtime hero tonight. On the deciding play, Kevin Hayes drove toward the net and dished the puck out to Provorov, who blasted it past the screening Michael Raffl to beat Varlamov and force Game 7.

New York now holds a record of 0-5 in the Stanley Cup Playoffs when allowing three or more goals. Contrastly, they post a 10-0 mark when allowing two or less.

Meanwhile, all three of Philadelphia's victories in this series have come in overtime.

The teams will square off in a decisive Game 7 with a trip to the Eastern Conference Finals on the line, Saturday at 7:30 PM EST.