Flyers lay an egg in loss to Islanders and hear it from fans originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia

Rick Tocchet talked about this being a “maturity game” for the Flyers.

They didn’t handle it well, at all.

The Flyers showed little life Monday night and lost to the Islanders, 4-0, at Xfinity Mobile Arena. They gave up two even strength goals, a power play goal and a shorthanded goal.

They heard boos after the second-period horn and the final buzzer.

This came after the Flyers had a commendable 2-0-1 road trip, which was capped off by a signature, 7-3 win over the NHL-best Avalanche. Tocchet’s club also had two days of rest with Sunday’s practice being canceled because of the snowstorm.

But the Flyers (24-18-9) failed to sustain any of the momentum and missed an opportunity to move into playoff position. They’re now four points back of the Islanders (28-19-6) for third place in the Metropolitan Division.

They’ve won consecutive games only once since the calendar turned to 2026.

The Flyers are 2-1-0 in their four-game regular-season series against New York. They recorded a pair of 4-3 shootout wins in the opening two months of the season.

The clubs wrap things up April 3 at UBS Arena.

• Making his fourth straight start and seventh straight appearance, Samuel Ersson denied 19 of 23 shots.

A bad tone was set for the Flyers when their power play gave up a first-period goal. Ersson played a bouncing puck to the corner, where Casey Cizikas took it and found a wide-open Jean-Gabriel Pageau streaking to the net.

The Flyers’ 1-0 deficit grew to 3-0 during the middle stanza.

Mathew Barzal scored on a redirection 5:41 minutes into the period. Then, a little over seven minutes later, former Flyer Tony DeAngelo struck on the power play. Cam York was in the box and Emil Andrae couldn’t handle a pass at the offensive blue line, which put the Islanders on the rush.

Pageau added his second of the night in the third period.

Dan Vladar was out for a sixth straight game because of a lower-body injury, but he’s pretty close to a return.

New York netminder Ilya Sorokin continued to be a thorn in the Flyers’ side, stopping all 21 shots. It marked his 12th career win over the Flyers.

He entered with a 1.61 goals-against average and .944 save percentage lifetime against them.

The Flyers’ 27th-ranked power play went 0 for 3 and surrendered that game-opening shorthanded goal.

• After missing six straight games with an upper-body injury, Rasmus Ristolainen was back in the lineup for Noah Juulsen.

To make room on the roster, the Flyers loaned Hunter McDonald back to AHL affiliate Lehigh Valley.

• The Flyers are back in action Wednesday when they visit the Blue Jackets (7:30 p.m. ET/TNT).