Flyers fall to Isles in shootout, 3-2, and slip 6 points out of a playoff spot in East Division

The Flyers played well after another shaky start Thursday, but the bottom line wasn’t what they needed: a 3-2 shootout loss to the new-look New York Islanders at Nassau Coliseum.

Brock Nelson scored the only goal in the five-round shootout.

The Islanders, who moved past Washington and into first place in the East Division, increased their winning streak to four games, and they are now 17-1-2 at home this season.

The Flyers slipped six points behind Boston for the final East playoff spot; they are 7-11-3 since the beginning of March.

“It is frustrating. You just have to find a way to win those games,” Jake Voracek said.

The veteran right winger looked at the positive side.

“You get four or five wins in a row, you’re right in the mix,” he said. “That’s the mindset we have right now. ... We have to start Saturday [against Boston]. You have to believe.”

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The Flyers have played with much more structure and have tightened their defense over the last four games, but are just 1-1-2 in that span -- 3-2 shootout losses to the Islanders sandwiched around a win and a loss to Boston.

“We’re playing some good hockey,” defenseman Travis Sanheim said. “Obviously, you want different results. You can get frustrated over that, but we really don’t have time for that. We have some big games coming up. We’ve got to find a way to win hockey games. You can’t look at the negatives right now.”

They have 17 games left, two fewer than the team they are chasing, the Bruins.

The Flyers, helped by Carter Hart’s big save on Mathew Barzal, killed off an Islanders power play in the final 1 minute, 58 seconds of overtime, sending the teams into a shootout.

Hart (21 saves), who has lost his last six starts, had his third straight solid performance. He made his best save of the night when he kicked out his leg and denied Anthony Beauvillier with 3:20 left in the second period to keep the game tied at 2-2. The Isles were on a power play when Beauvillier weaved around Shayne Gostisbehere and went in alone.

The teams went beyond regulation for the fifth time in their seven meetings this season. Six of the games have been decided by one goal.

Islanders coach Barry Trotz thought the Islanders were fortunate to win. The Flyers had a 56-42 advantage in shot attempts.

“I thought they played a much better game than we did,” Trotz said.

The Flyers’ power play had a chance to snap a 2-2 tie but did little with man advantage that started with 16:25 left in regulation. Snake-bitten Joel Farabee had their best scoring chance, but Ilya Sorokin stopped his redirection in front. That left them 1-for-16 on the power play in the last six games.

After allowing two early goals, the Flyers gained momentum by killing a questionable five-minute penalty to Samuel Morin and eventually tied the game at 2-2.

Voracek finished off a two-on-one with Claude Giroux to knot the score at 2-all with 16:38 to go in the second period.The goal gave Voracek 10 points (2 goals, 8 assists) in his last eight games, and made him the team leader with 32 points.

The Flyers’ first periods have looked like Groundhog Day. They fall behind. Over and over. They chase the game and expect the result to change.

More times than not, it doesn’t.

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They allowed two early goals 63 seconds apart Thursday and fell into a 2-0 hole. At the end of the period, they faced a 2-1 deficit.

They have led after the first period twice in the last 21 games. They have allowed the first goal in eight of the last nine games.

They are playing with fire and burning themselves with their slow starts and head-scratching execution.

Nelson opened the scoring with a one-timer from the right circle with 13:50 left in the first. Pulock circled around the back of the net and found an uncovered Nelson in the right circle. A little over a minute later, after defenseman Ivan Provorov fell down and lost the puck, Jordan Eberle took a feed from Leo Komarov and made it 2-0 by beating Hart from out front.

Morin shoved Casey Cizikas into the boards with 12:33 left in the first and was given a controversial five-minute boarding penalty and a game misconduct. Cizikas returned a short time later in the period.

“Obviously, I don’t agree with the call,” coach Alain Vigneault said. “The referees see the game the way they see the game.”

Trotz disagreed.

“Questionable hit, for sure; he was vulnerable,” he said. ‘It was the right call, no question.”

During the Isles’ five-minute power play, the Flyers actually had the better scoring chances, but Kevin Hayes and Michael Raffl couldn’t connect on a two-on-one, Giroux fired wide on another two-on-one, and Raffl was stopped by Sorokin on a shorthanded breakaway.

“From our point of view, we thought he deserved two minutes,” Sanheim said. “We went down to five (defensemen) early and the guys stepped up on the back end and played solid.”

Ivan Provorov (29:59), Sanheim (25:07), Justin Braun (23:35), Robert Hagg (22:03), and Gostisbehere (20:30) logged extra minutes.

Sorokin gave the Flyers a gift goal as Nic Aube-Kubel’s shot from above the right circle, which was going wide, hit off the knob of the goalie’s stick and went into the net, cutting the Isles lead to 2-1 with 6:07 remaining in the first. It was Aube-Kubel’s first goal in the last 23 games.

The Islanders were playing their first game with Kyle Palmieri and Travis Zajac in the lineup; the veteran forwards were acquired in a deal Wednesday with New Jersey.

Breakaways

In the shootout, Sean Couturier, Nolan Patrick, Giroux, Travis Konecny, and Farabee were stopped by Sorokin. ... The Flyers are 1-4 in shootouts this season and an NHL-worst 51-92 in their history. ... Flyers shooters are just 3 for 17 in shootouts this season. ... Giroux won 15 of 21 faceoffs (71.4%).