In a game that was all but a must-win to keep their playoff dreams alive, the Flyers faced the pressure and turned the lights back on with a 4-1 win against the New York Islanders.

With the win, they move into a four-way tie in points (88) for the second wild-card in the Eastern Conference and one point back of the Islanders for the third seed in the Metropolitan Division. Philly has a game in hand on New York.

The Ottawa Senators technically hold the last slot in the East because they have played one fewer game played than the Flyers and Columbus Blue Jackets. Ottawa also has more regulation wins, the first tiebreaker, than the Detroit Red Wings.

The Flyers took a 1-0 lead for the 28th time this season when Owen Tippett notched his 28th goal in the first period. It tied his career high set in 2023-24, and gave him 50 points on the season.

It started when New York’s Mathew Barzal carried the puck into the Flyers’ zone, around the net, and all the way to the opposite point, where he hit Ryan Pulock. The Islanders defenseman bobbled the pass, allowing Tippett to poke it away.

He took off on a two-on-one with Travis Sanheim, who trailed Barzal around and into the neutral zone. Sanheim received the pass and, deep in the Islanders’ zone, fed it back to Tippett, who flew past Barzal. Tippett cut across the crease and scored on his backhand around goalie Ilya Sorokin, who slid out of position.

One minute, seven seconds later, the Flyers took a 2-0 lead off a snipe by Alex Bump. Matvei Michkov got the puck from Noah Cates near the half-wall and tried to hit Bump across the ice as he was crashing the net.

They didn’t connect, but the puck went off the boards, and Bump was able to corral it with ample time and space. A healthy scratch on Thursday, Bump picked up the puck and turned toward the net before sending the puck past Sorokin for his fourth goal in 13 NHL games. He had a secondary assist later in the game to give him eight points on the season.

The line of Bump-Cates-Michkov wasn’t done. Less than three minutes into the second period, Bump pressured former Flyers forward Brayden Schenn, who was already struggling handling the puck after getting bumped by Cates inside the Islanders’ blue line. The puck slid off his stick to an open Michkov, who flicked it wide of the net.

Michkov tracked down the puck after it hit the end board and banked it in off the backside of Sorokin. His 17th goal of the season gave the Flyers a needed three-goal cushion because the Islanders’ push was coming.

After holding New York to two shots in the first period, while putting 12 on goal themselves, Philly gave up 12 shots in the middle frame.

The Islanders, between Michkov’s goal and Jean-Gabriel Pageau finally beating Flyers goalie Dan Vladař with a wrister off a pass from Barzal to make it 3-1, put 24 shot attempts on goal to the Flyers’ six. During that stretch, eight shots were blocked by the Flyers, and the Islanders missed the net seven times, including a crossbar clang by Adam Pelech.

Philly also took two penalties during that stretch. Luke Glendening was called for hooking and Travis Konecny for tripping. At one point during a 13-second even-strength span, Vladař stopped Pulock from 33 feet out and Simon Holmström’s wrister from near the slot, Pageau just missed, and the goalie snared a Pulock slap shot against the grain with his glove.

In the third period, Sanheim restored the Flyers’ three-goal lead with the Cates line on the ice.

Bump skated through the neutral zone and passed it to Michkov on the right wing to gain the zone. Facing a hit from Emil Heineman, he sent it down the boards to the rookie who kept skating and got lower than the Russian along the wall. Bump turned and sent it back to Michkov, who fed Sanheim as he snuck down from the left point on the weak side.

Sanheim snapped the puck shortside to all but put the game away. It is his 10th of the season, tying his career high set in 2023-24. With his second assist of the game, Michkov finished with his first three-point game since Jan. 23 against the Colorado Avalanche.

Breakaways

In between the Islanders putting 15 shot attempts toward the Flyers’ net after Sanheim’s goal, including a shot off the post by Matthew Schaefer, the rookie, who was drafted first overall in the 2025 NHL draft — before Porter Martone at No. 6 — was impressive as he stopped several players from icing the game into an empty goal. … Trevor Zegras got trucked in the first period by Pelech at the Islanders’ blue line and left the ice. He returned for the second period. … Cates had an assist on Bump’s goal, setting a new career high (26). He has 17 points (seven goals, 10 assists) in the 20 games since the Olympic break; only Tippett has more goals during that stretch.

Up next

The Flyers are off on Saturday before hosting the Boston Bruins on Sunday. Boston has 94 points and a firm hold on the first wild card spot. Philly has six games remaining on the schedule.

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