LIVE BLOG: Flyers/Islanders Rookie Game 2019

ALLENTOWN, PA -- The Philadelphia Flyers and New York Islanders square off in a battle of prospects at the PPL Center - home of the American Hockey League's (AHL) Lehigh Valley Phantoms. The annual rookie game gets underway tonight at 7:00 p.m. ET.

While all eyes will, inevitably, be on the top line of Isaac Ratcliffe, Morgan Frost and Joel Farabee and defenseman Phil Myers, tonight's rookie game gives incoming pros an extra chance to start getting acclimated to a higher-paced play as they begin to ramp things up leading into main training camp on Friday.

An in-game tally of events will be updated here each period, and post-game reaction will be embedded below after the game.

Flyers Roster Notes

Felix Sandstrom is expected to get the start in net for the Flyers. Kirill Ustimenko will begin the game as the team's backup but is expected to enter game action.

Lehigh Valley Phantoms head coach Scott Gordon will run the show behind the bench tonight.

Expected Lines/Pairings

Isaac Ratcliffe (76) - Morgan Frost (48) - Joel Farabee (49) Maxim Sushko (64) - German Rubtsov (50) - Pascal Laberge (75) Max Golod (77) - Mikhail Vorobyev (24) - David Kase (72) Matthew Strome (78) - Mika Cyr (89) - Egor Serdyuk (74)

Egor Zamula (54) - Phil Myers (5) Mason Millman (63) - Rob Michel (80) Wyatt Wylie (89) - Sean Comrie (84) Josh Couturier (85)

Felix Sandström (32) - Kirill Ustimenko (67)

Expected Scratches: goaltender Roddy Ross, defenseman Mark Friedman and forwards Connor Bunnaman, Gerry Fitzgerald, Ben McCartney and Carsen Twarynski

GAME STORY

1st Period

The Islanders came out with a little more pace in the opening minutes, racking up five of the game's first seven shots, but it was the Flyers' top line of Isaac Ratcliffe, Morgan Frost and Joel Farabee getting the first real offensive scoring chance on a quick transition in the neutral zone. Some quick passing resulted in Farabee with a tap-in in the bottom of the circle that Soderstrom was able to corral and get a whistle.

The two teams traded brief power plays in the middle of the period, with neither team getting much in the way of dangerous offensive chances.

Two former HV71 goalies - Philadelphia's Felix Sandstrom and New York's Linus Soderstrom - were in a bit of a goalie duel in the opening 10 minutes.

As the period wore on, the Flyers' difficulties handling the puck in their own end became more prevalent. Luckily for the orange and black, Sandstrom stood tall in net - most notably stopping Arnaud Durandeau on a mini-breakaway after a neutral zone turnover by Egor Zamula.

It wasn't until the final two minutes of the period that the Flyers offense broke through for the game's opening goal. And the second tally wasn't far behind.

First, a nice play by Phil Myers at the offensive zone blue line allowed the defender to skate to the high-slot before feeding German Rubtsov for a quick one-timer from the right-wing circle to give the Flyers rookies a 1-0 lead with 1:44 left before the first intermission.

Just 34 seconds later, on the ensuing shift after the goal, a nice play by Farabee in the offensive zone allowed Ratcliffe to get a puck to Frost who eventually spotted the backside defenseman Sean Comrie and fed him a perfect pass for a quick wrister by the camp-invitee to extend the Flyers' lead to 2-0 heading into the middle frame.

2nd Period

The Flyers' top line continued to stand out as the game continued in the middle frame, but it was the second power play unit extending the lead to 3-0 just over five minutes into the middle frame.

Matthew Strome was first to a loose puck in the far corner, and he fed a puck out in front to the near-side face-off circle for Mikhail Vorobyev who centered it in front for a re-direct by Rubtsov for his second of the game.

The Islanders were finally able to solve Sandstrom on a power play 6:35 into the middle frame as a pass from behind the net by Otto Koivula made its way to the top of the crease for that Felix Bibeau was able to sneak in past the Flyers' goalie to cut their lead to 3-1.

The goalies swapped with 7:30 left, with Sandstrom stopping 24 of the 25 shots he faced in 32 minutes and 30 seconds of game action. He was replaced by Kirill Ustimenko, who unfortunately surrendered a goal on the first shot he faced - a quick moving point-to-point pass and shot from David Quenneville eluded Ustimenko and made it a one-goal game with 7:13 left before the second intermission.

David Kase forced a turnover in the Flyers' offensive zone on a forecheck and quickly finished his own shot to restore the Flyers' two-goal lead to 4-2 on an unassisted tally at 14:03.

3rd Period

The final frame began with a hooking minor assessed to Ratcliffe on the opening shift of the period. Later, on the ensuing power play, Samuel Bolduc beat Ustimenko with a shot through traffic from the outside to make it a one-goal game with 17:43 left in regulation.

Less than two minutes later, Otto Koivula was left alone in front of Ustimenko and the Islanders got the puck to him for a quick shot past the Flyers' goalie to tie the game up at 4-4.

From there, back-to-back penalties on Josh Couturier had the Flyers shorthanded up until the midway mark of the period. Luckily for the Flyers, Ustimenko - who had let in three goals on seven shots - had settled in and kept the Islanders from taking the lead on either of the power plays they had.

Farabee, who stood out on most of his shifts, got caught trying to do a little too much on a shift late in the third - a shift that ended with Farabee hunched over and heading to the bench after a collision with an Islanders forward in open ice. Farabee didn't miss a shift, finished the game and seemed no worse for wear.

Overtime/Shootout

Both teams had excellent chances to end the game in the 3-on-3 overtime, but to no avail.

Joel Farabee had a breakaway chance hit the inside of the post, and a second mini-breakaway at the end of that shift that just missed the net.

At the other end, Ustimenko came up big time on a full-splits right pad save to get the game to the shootout.

In the shootout, Frost and Farabee dazzled with plenty of slick moves but were unable to get one past Jakub Skarek. Rubtsov was stopped in the third round as well.

For the Isles, Olivier Wahlstrom tallied the lone shootout goal to lift his team to the come-from-behind win.

GAME SUMMARY

1st Period

7:24: NYI - (PP) Wahlstrom, minor (high sticking) 8:34: PHI - (PP) Myers, minor (playing with broken stick) 15:37: PHI - (PP) Strome, minor (slashing) 18:16: PHI - Rubtsov (1) - Myers 18:50: PHI - Comrie (1) - Frost, Ratcliffe 20:00: NYI - (PP) MacLean, minor (tripping)

2nd Period

3:55: NYI - (PP) Murray, minor (roughing) 5:25: PHI - PPG Rubtsov (2) - Vorobyev, Strome 6:06: PHI - (PP) Comrie, minor (cross-checking) 6:35: NYI - PPG Bibeau (1) - Koivula, Brown 12:47: NYI - David Quenneville (1) - 65, 24 14:03: PHI - Kase (1) - unassisted

3rd Period

0:38: PHI - (PP) Ratcliffe, minor (hooking) 2:17: NYI - PPG Bolduc (1) - Jobst 3:47: NYI - Koivula (1) 5:39: PHI - (PP) Couturier, minor (holding) 7:46: PHI - (PP) Couturier, minor (boarding)

Overtime

No Scoring or Penalties

Shootout

NYI

Koivula - no goal Wahlstrom - GOAL

PHI

Frost - no goal Farabee - no goal Rubtsov - no goal

BOXSCORE

NY Islanders  0 - 2 - 2 - 0 - 1 = 5 Philadelphia  2 - 2 - 0 - 0 - 0 = 4

Shots

NY Islanders  18 - 11 - 12 - 3 = 44 Philadelphia  9 - 15 - 7 - 2 = 33

Goalies

NYI: Linus Soderstrom (17 saves - 20 shots in 32:30) and Jakub Skarek (12 saves - 13 shots in 32:30) PHI: Felix Sandstrom (24 saves - 25 shots in 32:30) and Kirill Ustimenko (16 saves - 19 shots in 32:30)

Power Play

NYI: 2-for-6 PHI: 1-for-3

Penalty Kill

NYI: 2-for-3 PHI: 4-for-6