Zach Parise scores winner as Islanders rally to defeat lowly Flyers
Zach Parise of the Islanders reacts after third period goal against the Flyers at UBS Arena on Tuesday. Credit: Jim McIsaac
Zach Parise, as he notched just one goal through his first 32 games with the Islanders, assured his teammates he’s a "second-half player."
"It’s not as if I came into the room and told everyone I was a second-half player," Parise said. "I was just trying to make light of the situation. Hopefully, I’ll be heating up here in the near future."
That future might be now as Parise scored for the second straight game, netting the winner in the Islanders’ 4-3 victory over the reeling Flyers on Tuesday night at UBS Arena as they continued a seven-game homestand.
Ilya Sorokin overcame a shaky start to make 14 saves as the Islanders (15-14-6) overcame an early two-goal deficit to move back into sixth-place in the Metropolitan Division, improving to 10-4-1 since Dec. 7 and beating the Flyers for the eighth straight time. The last-place Flyers (13-22-8) lost a franchise-record 13th straight game (0-10-3).
Parise now has two goals and an assist in his last two games and three goals and nine assists for the season.
"I don’t really see any difference in his game," coach Barry Trotz said. "You think about all the chances he had early and nothing would seem to go in. It didn’t affect his play. His play has been consistent right through."
Parise, who also had an assist, ripped a shot from the slot past a mediocre Martin Jones (29 saves) off the rush at 11:51 of the third period, just five seconds after an Islanders’ power play expired.
Trotz started the game by re-arranging his top three lines. Captain Anders Lee was separated from top-line center Mathew Barzal in favor of Anthony Beauvillier and Oliver Wahlstrom, after being a healthy scratch in Saturday’s 3-1 loss to the Maple Leafs and benched for the third period of Friday’s 4-0 win over the Coyotes, was put back on Jean-Gabriel Pageau’s right wing.
But Trotz quickly flip-flopped Lee from Brock Nelson’s line for Beauvillier.
"We’re trying to get everyone going here, ourselves included and trying to get a spark going," said Lee, who buried a feed from Barzal on their first shift back together to tie it at 2 at 18:15 of the first period. "It got switched back up a little bit and we found ourselves back on the ice together and I think we had a pretty solid game from then on out. That’s the kind of stuff you want to build on as a line."
The Flyers scored on two of their first four shots with Claude Giroux bouncing one in off Sorokin’s pad from the right corner just 57 seconds in and defenseman Justin Braun’s deflected shot from the right point making it 2-0 at 12:48 of the first period. Defenseman Noah Dobson halved the lead just 49 seconds later through Wahlstrom’s screen.
Parise set up Barzal’s power-play goal at 5:42 of a dominant second period for the Islanders to make it 3-2 but Gerry Mayhew, skating around Dobson, tied it at 1:30 of the third period.
Andrew Gross joined Newsday in 2018 to cover the Islanders. He began reporting on the NHL in 2003 and has previously covered the Rangers and Devils. Other assignments have included the Jets, St. John’s and MLB.
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