Flayers stay alive with OT win over Islanders

The Philadelphia Flyers and their big boy pants are sticking around the Toronto bubble for at least one more game.

Scott Laughton scored on a redirect in overtime after Philadelphia blew a late two-goal lead, helping the Flyers stave off elimination with a 4-3 win over the New York Islanders on Tuesday night.

The Flyers pulled it out after blowing a late two-goal and coach Alain Vigneault called on his top players to "put on their big boy pants" for Game 5.

"The big boy pants is something they're aware of," Vigneault said. "They don't need me to motivate them. They're a group the motivates themselves. They're got a lot pride and a lot of compete."

Claude Giroux and James van Riemsdyk responded their coach's urging with their sticks, scoring their first postseason goals after New York went up 1-0 on Josh Bailey's first-period goal. Matt Niskanen added his first playoff goal early in the third period to put the Flyers up 3-1.

The scrappy Islanders made a big push late, though, tying it on goals by Brock Nelson and Derick Brassard 93 seconds apart.

"The third period we were coming," Islanders coach Barry Trotz said.

Game 6 is Thursday in the Toronto bubble.

"In games like this, you need everyone pulling the rope and moving in the right direction," van Riemsdyk said. "Everyone did their job and played their role tonight."

The Islanders put themselves in position to clinch the series with consecutive wins with different goalies in Games 3 and 4.

Semyon Varlamov returned to the crease after Thomas Greiss stopped 36 shots in Game 4 and was sharp early as the Flyers controlled play much of the first period.

The Islanders opened the second period on a power play after managing four shots in the first and immediately capitalized. Bailey scored on a wraparound through a pile of bodies in the crease, a goal upheld upon review for goaltender interference.

Van Riemsdyk gave the Flyers their first lead since early in Game 3, one-timing a pass from Laughton past Varlamov's glove side 2½ minutes later.

Niskanen made it 3-1 following a New York turnover in the third period, beating Varlamov with a slapshot from the right circle.

The Islanders weren't done fighting.

Nelson seemed to catch Hart off guard with a one-timer between the circles with 4:14 left in regulation and Brassard sent it to overtime with a goal off a nifty feed by Cal Clutterbuck.

Varlamov stopped 29 shots, but had no chance on Laughton's redirect through traffic.

Western Conference

Vancouver 2, Vegas 1: Elias Petterson scored the go-ahead goal early in the third period, Thatcher Demko made 42 saves in his first NHL playoff start and the Canucks staved off elimination by beating the Golden Knights in Game 5 of their second-round series.

Western Conference top-seeded Vegas outshot Vancouver 43-17 and only cracked Demko once, on a highlight reel goal by defenseman Shea Theodore in the second. Brock Boeser also scored for the Canucks and got the primary assist on Pettersson's goal by taking the shot the 21-year-old Swede deflected past Robin Lehner.

Because of Demko's dominant performance in net and timely scoring, there will be a Game 6 on Thursday night at Rogers Place.

The winner of this series will face the winner of Stars-Avalanche in the Western Conference final.

Demko led the Canucks onto the ice for warmups, ending the mystery and thrusting the 24-year-old from San Diego into the biggest of pressure situations facing elimination. The Boston College product was more than up to the task, stopping 17 of 18 shots in the second period alone while his teammates only put four on Vegas' net.