|
Flyers Gameday: 11/24/17 vs. NYI |
|
|
|
|
|
GAME 23 PREVIEW: FLYERS VS. ISLANDERS
Staggering through the month of November with only two wins to date, Dave Hakstol's Philadelphia Flyers (8-9-5) are home to play Doug Weight's New York Islanders (12-7-2) on Black Friday. Game time at the Wells Fargo Center is 4:00 p.m. ET. The game will be televised on NBCSP.
This is the second of four meetings this season between the Metro Division teams, and the first of two in Philadelphia. The teams will rematch at the Wells Fargo Center on Jan. 4. The season series will conclude in Brooklyn on April 3.
Friday's game in Philadelphia is the second half of a home-and-home set. The Islanders prevailed in overtime, 4-3, at Barclays Center in Brooklyn on Wednesday.
FLYERS OUTLOOK
The Flyers are just 2-4-4 in November and winless in their last six games (0-3-3). The team has scored first in each of the last four games and held two-goal leads in a pair of games but ended up with no wins to show for it.
Wednesday's game in Brooklyn followed an all-too-familiar recent pattern. Philadelphia held leads of 1-0 and 2-1, trailed 3-2 and had chances late in the game to win in regulation. Unfortunately, a penalty killing swoon that started in the Calgary game last Saturday continued for a third straight game (3-for-5 on Tuesday) as New York scored its first two goals. Discipline lapses and some untimely coverage gaffes ultimately resulted in settling for one point instead of claiming a win.
Taylor Leier and Michael Raffl scored their respective first goals of the season for Philadelphia. Jakub Voracek (power play, 7th) tied the game at 3-3. Travis Sanheim (assists in back-to-back games), Scott Laughton (4th assist), Sean Couturier (11th assist), Ivan Provorov (8th assist), Wayne Simmonds (7th assist) and Claude Giroux (14 assist) collected helpers.
Brian Elliott played an excellent game in goal without being rewarded. He made a host of excellent saves during stretches of Islanders' dominance and stopping 35 of 39 shots overall.
The Flyers went 1-for-2 on the power play. They had a chance to take the lead on a man advantage late in the third period but were unable to score. Philly dominated the last few minutes of regulation -- especially Raffl during an outstanding shift hemming the Islanders deep in their own end -- but could not score.
Philadelphia recalled defensemen Samuel Morin and left winger Danick Martel before the game in Brooklyn. Morin played in his second career NHL game and first of the 2017-18 season, while Martel made his NHL debut.
Veteran defenseman Andrew MacDonald (lower-body injury sustained on Oct. 21) is close to being ready to come off the injured reserve list. Fellow veteran defenseman Radko Gudas will serve the fourth game of his 10-game NHL suspension.
Through the season's first 22 games, Voracek leads the team in scoring with 27 points (seven goals, 20 assists). He is followed by linemates Couturier (12 goals, 11 assists, 23 points) and Giroux (nine goals, 14 assists, 23 points).
Shayne Gostisbehere paces the blueline with 16 points (one goal, 15 assists) in 19 games played. He has struggled of late on both sides of the puck, however. Statistically, Gostisbehere has two assists and a minus-four rating over the last six games. He's had recent trouble getting point shots through and on net in the offensive zone. Defensively, he's also been in a rough spell.
Simmonds had a nice assist on Voracek's power play goal on Tuesday but his offensive frustrations otherwise continued. After racking up a hat trick on opening night and six goals in the season's first eight games, he's gone 14 games without scoring a goal. Simmonds has chipped in four assists during that 14-game span.
Provorov has not assembled one of his "A" games in his shift-in and shift-out play as of late. However, he has four points (two goals, two assists) in the last three games to provide some desperately needed secondary offense beyond the Flyers' top forward trio and Gostisbehere. For the season, the 20-year-old defenseman has posted 12 points (four goals, eight assists), a minus-two rating and an average 24:55 of ice time per game.
Valtteri Filppula has chipped in 11 points (six goals, five assists) through 22 games. He has assists in two of the last three games but is eight games removed from his last goal and has just one goal and two assists over the last 10 games.
Thirteen games removed from his last goal, Travis Konecny went through a spell where he was getting multiple scoring chances per game and seemed on the cusp of an offensive breakthrough. The chances have been fewer as of late, and he has just two assists to show from the team's last 11 games. Overall, the talented 20-year-old winger is still sitting on two goals and eight points through 22 games.
Goaltending has been a bright spot of late for the Flyers. Overall, Elliott has made 16 appearances (15 starts) with a 6-5-4 record, 2.72 GAA and .908 save percentage. Michal Neuvirth, who got hooked from Tuesday's game against Vancouver, has made seven starts in posting a 2-4-1 record, 2.59 GAA, .916 save percentage and one shutout.
On the power play, the Flyers are 14-for-73 (19.2 percent, 17th overall) with three opposing shorthanded goals yielded. On the penalty kill, the spate of seven PPGA in the last three games has dropped the team to 60-for-80 on the season (75 percent, 28th overall). Laughton's shorthanded goal against the Washington Capitals in the home opener stands as the lone Flyers SHG to date.
Overall, the Flyers have scored 61 goals and yielded 63. At five-on-five, however, the team has scored 38 times (tied for 19th) and yielded an NHL-lowest 29 opposing goals. Philly is just 1-3 in games decided in overtime (3-on-3 play) and has yielded a pair of 4-on-4 goals while scoring one.
ISLANDERS OUTLOOK
The Isles are 5-3-1 thus far in November. The team has won four of its last five games.
In Wednesday's game against the Flyers, Mathew Barzal (power play, 5th goal of the season), Johnny Boychuk (5-on-3 PPG, 3rd), Joshua Ho-Sang (2nd) and Josh Bailey (3-on-3 overtime winner) scored goals. John Tavares picked up his 9th and 10th assists of the season, including setting up Bailey on the winning goal. Bailey earned his 20th assist of the season on Barzal's late first period power play goal and his 21st on Boychuk's goal.
Thomas Greiss grabbed the win in goal on Wednesday with 35 saves on 38 shots. In 11 starts, he is 7-2-2 with a 3.30 GAA and .906 save percentage. Teammate Jaroslav Halak has made 10 starts, posting a 5-5-0 record, 3.14 GAA and .896 save percentage.
Through 21 games, Bailey leads the team with 26 points (five goals, 21 assists). He's followed by Tavares (15 goals, 10 assists, 25 points), Anders Lee (11 goals, 11 assists, 22 points) and Barzal (five goals, 15 assists, 20 points). Nick Leddy leads the defense with 17 points (five goals, 12 assists) to date.
On the power play, the Islanders are 16-for-74 (21.6 percent, tied for 11th) but their ultra-aggressive puck movement sometimes leaves them vulnerable to counterattacks. The Isles have yielded seven opposing shorthanded goals; worst in the NHL. On the penalty kill, New York is 54-for-68 (79.4 percent. ranked 17th) with shorthanded goals scored by Tavares, Casey Cizikas and Cal Clutterbuck.
Overall, the Islanders have scored 76 goals while yielding 68; their average 3.62 goals scored per game makes them the NHL's second most-potent offensive team (Tampa averages 3.90 GPG so far) but their 3.24 goals against average ranks just 24th. At five-on-five, the Islanders have scored 49 goals (ranked 4th) yielded 42 goals (tied for 20th).
PROJECTED LINEUPS (Wedneday's lines, will be updated)
Flyers
28 Claude Giroux - 14 Sean Couturier - 93 Jakub Voracek
70 Danick Martel - 19 Nolan Patrick - 17 Wayne Simmonds
12 Michael Raffl - 51 Valtteri Filppula - 11 Travis Konecny
20 Taylor Leier - 21 Scott Laughton - 40 Jordan Weal
9 Ivan Provorov - 8 Robert Hägg
5 Samuel Morin - 53 Shayne Gostisbehere
6 Travis Sanheim - 23 Brandon Manning
37 Brian Elliott
[30 Michal Neuvirth]
Scratches: Dale Weise (healthy), Jori Lehterä (healthy), Andrew MacDonald (IR, lower body), Radko Gudas (NHL suspension, game 4 of 10) .
Islanders
27 Anders Lee - 91 John Tavares - 12 Josh Bailey
16 Andrew Ladd - 13 Mathew Barzal - 7 Jordan Eberle
29 Brock Nelson - 72 Anthony Beauvillier - 66 Josh Ho-Sang
25 Jason Chimera - 53 Casey Cizikas - 15 Cal Clutterbuck
2 Nick Leddy - 55 Johnny Boychuk
44 Calvin De Haan - 50 Adam Pelech
4 Dennis Seidenberg - 42 Scott Mayfield
41 Jaroslav Halak / 1 Thomas Greiss
Scratches: Thomas Hickey (healthy), Ryan Pulock (healthy), Alan Quine (healthy), Nikolay Kulemin (IR), Shane Price (IR, ankle).
Philadelphia Flyers Blogger •NHL.com • 
Join the Discussion:
»