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Flyers Gameday: 1/20/14 @ New York Islanders; Bourdon Cleared

January 19, 2014, 9:55 PM ET [518 Comments]
Bill Meltzer
Philadelphia Flyers Blogger •NHL.com • RSSArchiveCONTACT
FLYERS VS. ISLANDERS GAME PREVIEW (9:00 P.M. EST, 1/19/14)

In the back end of a home-and-home set, the Philadelphia Flyers (25-19-5) are in Nassau Coliseum for a return match with the New York Islanders (19-24-7). Game time is 1:00 p.m. EST. The match will be televised locally on CSN Philly.

This is the fourth and final game between the teams this season, and the second on Long Island. The Flyers, who are 30-3-2 in their last 35 games against the Islanders and are 3-0-0 against the Isles in the meetings this season, will look to sweep the season series.

On Oct. 26, a struggling Flyers team captured a 5-2 road win over the Isles to improve their early season record to 3-7-0. The match marked the first time in the 2013-14 that the Flyers scored more than two goals in a a game. Vincent Lecavalier notched a hat trick on a power play goal and a pair of even strength tallies. Jakub Voracek lit the lamp for the first time in the 2013-14 season, and Matt Read added an empty net goal. Victorious goaltender Steve Mason made 26 saves.

On Nov. 23, the Flyers won at home by an identical 5-2 score after a scoreless opening period. Matt Read scored a pair of goals, while Wayne Simmonds, Claude Giroux (power play) and Brayden Schenn contributed single tallies and Jakub Voracek provided spectacular assists on the Giroux and Schenn goals. Mason turned back 36 of shots to improve his season save percentage at the time to .933, and lower his goals against average to 2.11.

This past Saturday night in Philly, there were three lead changes en route to a 6-4 Flyers victory. Andrej Meszaros notched a pair of goals for the Flyers, while Adam Hall, Voracek, Michael Raffl and Read (empty netter) also scored and Giroux made tremendous setups on the tying and winning goals. John Tavares, Cal Clutterbuck, Brock Nelson and Brian Strait were credited with the four Islanders goals. New York outshot the Flyers by a 27-18 margin through the opening two periods, but the Flyers outshot the Isles, 14-2, in the third period.

Philly allowed just five shots in the final 24 minutes of Saturday's game after a hung-out-to-dry Steve Mason (20 saves on 24 shots) was replaced by Ray Emery. Kevin Poulin stopped 26 of 31 shots for the Islanders.

After Monday's game, the Flyers will be right back in action on Tuesday, returning home to play the Carolina Hurricanes. The Flyers will be playing for the third time in four nights, as will the Canes. However, Carolina will be idle on Monday.

FLYERS OUTLOOK

The Flyers have a 5-3-1 record thus far in January. On the positive side, the club has scored three or more regulation goals in seven of the nine games (5-1-1 record). Of concern is the fact that Philly has simultaneously allowed three or more regulation goals in six games (3-2-1 record), including each of the last five matches.

Saturday's comeback win tied a Flyers franchise record for games won after trailing at some point of the third period. It was the team's fifth win when trailing after two periods. All of the club's successful third-period comebacks have happened after Thanksgiving.

While the club knows it is not out a game if it trails, frequently chasing the game and giving up as many goals as Philly has yielded of late is not a recipe for sustained success. For this reason, Flyers coach Craig Berube was not happy after Saturday's game despite the win and the six-goal bonanza.

For much of Saturday's game, Berube used Vincent Lecavalier on the left wing of the Giroux line. However, Raffl was back with the top unit on the shift where he scored the game-winning goal.

The Flyers went 0-for-2 on the power play last game, which ended a streak four consecutive games in which the club scored at least one power play goal. However, while the team has struggled defensively at five-on-five of late, the penalty kill has been excellent with the exception of yielding two goals to Nashville last Thursday. The Flyers went 3-for-3 on the PK on Saturday and are now 36-for-39 (92.3 pct) over the last 11 games.

Meszaros has scored three goals in the last two games. Meanwhile, team captain Giroux has posted 23 points (eight goals, 15 assists) over the club's last 18 games.

The Flyers dominated the faceoff circle in Saturday's game against the Islanders, going 39-for-58 (67 percent) for the game. The club was led in that department by Giroux (12-for-17) and Adam Hall (11-for-13).

The shorthanded goal the Flyers yielded to Cal Clutterbuck in the first period of Saturday's game was the eighth that Philly has given up this season. Only the Edmonton Oilers (nine) have given up more.

With back-to-back games on Monday and Tuesday, the Flyers are likely to split the goaltending chores. It is not known as of this writing whether Mason or Emery will get the call on Long Island.

In Thursday's game, the Flyers dressed Jay Rosehill and the Islanders started Eric Boulton. The inevitable happened at 15:24 of the first period, when they squared off in an active fight. It was their second bout of the year, having also fought in the Oct. 26 game on Long Island (at a time when the Islanders had an odd-man rush going; causing the play to end). Rosehill has played in all three games against the Islanders to date this season.

On the injury front, Zac Rinaldo (high ankle sprain) is slated to remain out of the lineup until after the Olympic break.

ISLANDERS OUTLOOK

The Islanders are 6-3-0 thus far during the month of January. They had been playing much better hockey heading into the game in Philly -- where the Isles continued to assert themselves offensively for the first 26 minutes of the game -- but their defense and goaltending was subpar in Saturday's game.

Tavares, the NHL's First Star of the Week last week, continued his offensive streak with a goal in Thursday's game. Linemates Thomas Vanek and Kyle Okposo set him up at point blank range. Despite the even strength tally, Tavares ended up minus-three for the game, while his linemates were minus-two.

On the injury front, Travis Hamonic remains sidelined with an upper body injury that could be a concussion. Veteran defenseman Lubomir Visnovsky (concussion) and veteran goalie Evgeni Nabokov (lower body) remain on injured reserve.


KEY STAT COMPARISONS (NHL OVERALL RANKING)

Non-shootout goals per game: Flyers 2.67 (15th), Islanders 2.66 (16th)
Non-shootout goals against per game: Flyers 2.78 (17th), Islanders 3.20 (29th)
Even strength Goals For/Against Ratio: Flyers 0.92 (18th), Islanders 0.84 (25th)
Power play efficiency: Flyers 18.5% (16th), Islanders 18.4% (18th)
Penalty killing efficiency: Flyers 84.6% (7th), Islanders 75.5% (30th)
Faceoff percentage: Flyers 49.6% (17th), Islanders 46.4% (27th)


PROJECTED LINEUPS (Subject to change)

FLYERS

12 Michael Raffl - 28 Claude Giroux - 92 Jakub Voracek
19 Scott Hartnell - 10 Brayden Schenn - 17 Wayne Simmonds
24 Matt Read - 14 Sean Couturier - 40 Vincent Lecavalier
9 Steve Downie - 18 Adam Hall - 37 Jay Rosehill

44 Kimmo Timonen - 5 Braydon Coburn
8 Nicklas Grossmann - 32 Mark Streit
41 Andrej Meszaros - 22 Luke Schenn

35 Steve Mason / 29 Ray Emery

Potential Scratches: Chris VandeVelde (healthy), Hal Gill (healthy), Erik Gustafsson (healthy), Zac Rinaldo (high ankle sprain), Chris Pronger (LTIR, post-concussion syndrome).

ISLANDERS

26 Thomas Vanek - 91 John Tavares - 21 Kyle Okposo
12 Josh Bailey - 51 Frans Nielsen - 15 Cal Clutterbuck
40 Michael Grabner - 29 Brock Nelson - 13 Colin McDonald
36 Eric Boulton - 53 Casey Cizikas - 17 Matt Martin

37 Brian Strait - 47 Andrew MacDonald
44 Calvin de Haan - 46 Matt Donovan
7 Matt Carkner - 14 Thomas Hickey

60 Kevin Poulin / 45 Anders Nilsson

Potential Scratches: Travis Hamonic (upper body), Peter Regin (healthy), Radek Martinek (healthy), Evgeni Nabokov (IR, lower body), Lubomir Visnovsky (IR, concussion).

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BOURDON CLEARED FOR CONTACT

The Flyers announced yesterday that defenseman Marc-Andre Bourdon, who has missed over a full calendar year due to concussion-related issues, has been cleared for contact and will soon resume his career. Bourdon skated on Sunday at the Skate Zone in Voorhees.

The 24-year-old player, who cleared waivers back in Sept. (which is why he has not been on the long-term injured reserve list), is expected to be loaned the Phantoms this week. This is very encouraging news for the likable and hard-working defenseman, who previously experienced a series of setbacks while recovering from concussions.

Bourdon dressed for 45 regular season games for the Flyers during the 2011-12 season, as well as Game One of the Flyers-Penguins playoff series. He tallied four goals, seven points and 57 penalty minutes while frequently playing with Braydon Coburn as his partner.

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