After a current brutal 0-4-1 stretch following their exquisite 5-1-1 homestand, the Philadelphia Flyers will face off against the New York Islanders tonight as they close out a 4-game road trip.
The Flyers have struggled mightily as of late, being outscored 23-12 over this 5-game losing streak. Their special teams have been anything but as well, going just 2 for 14 (14.2%) while their penalty kill has allowed 4 goals on 15 opportunities (73.3%).
Philadelphia has also allowed the first goal in a game 4 out of 5 times on this losing streak, only striking first against Buffalo in a 6-3 home defeat on April 1st.
On the other hand, the Islanders are currently in a battle for a Wild Card berth in the Eastern Conference are on the outside looking in. They maintain the first spot outside the playoffs at the moment with the Florida Panthers holding a tiebreaker over them.
New York has seesawed over their last 11 games, going 6-4-1 since their West Coast road trip back in mid-March. Some of those wins included blowouts against marquee opponents such as Toronto and Tampa Bay, while they suffered a rather embarrassing overtime loss to Columbus in the same stretch.
UBS Arena has not been kind to the Flyers so far, as they have yet to win in the Islanders’ new home in 3 visits. They haven’t won on Long Island at all since March 18th, 2o21 – a span of 7 road games against the Islanders. Philadelphia has only won 5 of their last 15 meetings against the Islanders anyway, so it’s not necessarily just a problem with playing them on the road either.
PHI Record: 29-36-13, 71 pts, 7th in Metropolitan
NYI Record: 40-30-9, 89 pts, 5th in Metropolitan
Last Game PHI: 4/6/23, 4-1 L at Dallas
Last Game NYI: 4/6/23, 6-1 W vs. Tampa Bay
When: 7:30pm ET
Where: UBS Arena, Elmont, NY
PHI Goalie: Carter Hart (20-21-10, .908 SV%, 2.92 GAA, 2 SO)
NYI Goalie: Ilya Sorokin (29-21-7, .924 SV%, 2.38 GAA, 5 SO)
PHI Projected Lineup
#74 Owen Tippett – #49 Noah Cates – #11 Travis Konecny
#86 Joel Farabee – #48 Morgan Frost – #13 Kevin Hayes
#25 James van Riemsdyk – #21 Scott Laughton – #57 Wade Allison
#44 Nicolas Deslauriers – #58 Tanner Laczynski – #22 Brendan Lemieux
#9 Ivan Provorov – #45 Cam York
#6 Travis Sanheim – #55 Rasmus Ristolainen
#24 Nick Seeler – #61 Justin Braun
#79 Carter Hart
#32 Felix Sandström
NYI Projected Lineup
#27 Anders Lee – #14 Bo Horvat – #10 Simon Holmström
#18 Pierre Engvall – #29 Brock Nelson – #21 Kyle Palmieri
#11 Zach Parise – #44 Jean-Gabriel Pageau – #20 Hudson Fasching
#17 Matt Martin – #53 Casey Cizikas – #15 Cal Clutterbuck
#3 Adam Pelech – #6 Ryan Pulock
#25 Sebastian Aho – #24 Scott Mayfield
#4 Samuel Bolduc – #8 Noah Dobson
#30 Ilya Sorokin
#40 Semyon Varlamov
PHI Injuries: Sean Couturier (back), Ryan Ellis (hip), Cam Atkinson (neck)
Scratched: Tony DeAngelo, Kieffer Bellows
NYI Injuries: Mathew Barzal (lower-body), Alexander Romanov (upper-body), Oliver Wahlstrom (lower-body)
Scratched: Josh Bailey, Parker Wotherspoon, Ross Johnston
News and Notes
– Carter Hart will play in his 200th career NHL game tonight, all with the Flyers. The only other goaltenders to reach that mark with the Flyers are 1987 Vezina Trophy winner Ron Hextall (489), Hockey Hall-of-Famer Bernie Parent (486), 2009 Calder Trophy winner Steve Mason (231), and 1967 expansion draft pick Doug Favell (215).
– If Hart and the Flyers win tonight, it would represent his 84th victory. That would be one shy of Pete Peeters to tie him for 8th on the Flyers’ all-time list.
– The last time the Flyers faced the Islanders, Kyle Palmieri and Mathew Barzal scored once each and Semyon Varlamov made 25 saves to lead New York to a narrow 2-1 victory at Wells Fargo Center on February 6th.
– New York is 2-1-0 against Philadelphia this season with a chance to clinch the season series advantage tonight in their final meeting.
– Tony DeAngelo will be healthy scratched for the second consecutive game. Justin Braun draws back into the lineup after Ronnie Attard was sent back to AHL Lehigh Valley.
Broadcast Info: TV – NBC Sports Philadelphia, Radio – 97.5 The Fanatic
