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Flyers Gameday: 11/25/15 @ NYI |
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PREVIEW: FLYERS @ ISLANDERS
Dave Hakstol's Philadelphia Flyers (7-9-5) are in Brooklyn on Wednesday to take on Jack Capuano's New York Islanders (10-8-3). Game time at the Barclays Center is 7:30 p.m. ET. The game will be televised on TCN Philadelphia.
This is the first of five meetings between the Metropolitan Division teams. The clubs will rematch on December 8 (Philadelphia), January 9 (Philadelphia), January 23 (Brooklyn) and March 21 (Brooklyn). Last season, the Islanders won three of four against the Flyers but two of the wins were via shootout and one came after the teams played to a 0-0 tie through 65 minutes.
The Flyers last played on Monday, hosting the Carolina Hurricanes. Wednesday's game is the start of a brutally difficult three-in-four stretch. After playing the Islanders, the Flyers will face back-to-back matinees against the Nashville Predators (home) on Black Friday and the New York Rangers (away) on Saturday.
The Islanders last played on Sunday, visiting the Montreal Canadiens. As with the Flyers, the Islanders are starting a three-in-four gauntlet of gams. On Black Friday, the Islanders will be in Sunrise to take on the Florida Panthers. The next evening, the Isles are in Tampa Bay.
Flyers Outlook
The Flyers have only won three of their last 14 games overall (3-7-4) but they are coming off a 3-2 overtime win against Carolina and have earned at least one point in four of the last five games (2-1-2).
On Monday, the Flyers built a 2-0 lead on second period goals by Brayden Schenn (power play) and Claude Giroux (shorthanded). After Carolina pushed back in the third period to tie the game, Shayne Gostisbehere won the game for Philadelphia with an overtime power play goal. Giroux finished the night with three points. Michal Neuvirth stopped 31 of 33 shots to earn the win.
Wednesday's game marks the first time all but eight of the Flyers' players will play at Barclays. The Flyers and Islanders opened the preseason with split-squad games in Allentown and Brooklyn; eight players on the Flyers' NHL roster played in the Brooklyn game.
Team captain Giroux leads the Flyers in both goals (seven) and points (16). Voracek (one goal, team-leading 10 assists) is second in points. Brayden Schenn has six goals and three power play tallies among his eight points. Wayne Simmonds has three goals and nine points.
After leaving Saturday's game in Ottawa early in the first period due to a head-first check into the boards, Scott Laughton suited up for Monday's game against Carolina. However, linemate Sam Gagner was lost to the Flyers early in the Carolina game with lacerations near his left eye. Gagner will be reevaluated by a doctor on Wednesday. On Tuesday, the Flyerss called former Islanders winger Colin McDonald from the Lehigh Valley Phantoms.
Elsewhere on the injury front, the Flyers remain without Ryan White (suspected right shoulder injury) for a two-to-four-week period dating back to him getting injured in the third period of the Nov. 14 game in Carolina. White has since skated on his own numerous times but is not yet cleared for contact. Forward R.J. Umberger (suspected foot injury) remains on the injured reserve list and has yet to resume skating since going down in the Nov. 7 game in Winipeg. Defenseman Mark Streit is on long-term injured reserve for surgery to repair a displaced pubic plate. Streit is expected to miss approximately six weeks from Nov. 17.
Islanders Outlook
The Islanders have lost back-to-back games and six of the last 10 (4-6-0) heading into this game. On Sunday, New York dropped a 4-2 road decision to the Montreal Canadiens.
John Tavares's 10th goal of the season sent the Islanders to the first intermission with a 1-0 lead but power play and shorthanded goals by Montreal in the second period gave the Canadiens a 2-1 lead. Anders Lee tied the game midway through the third period. The Habs then went ahead for good after they turned a Taylor Beck shorthanded goal into a power play goal. The Islanders took a too-many-men-on-the-ice penalty late in regulation and pulled Thomas Greiss (23 saves on 26 shots) for an extra attacker to skate five-on-five. Montreal tacked on a power play empty netter.
Tavares (10 goals, 18 points) leads the Isles both in goal-scoring and overall point-scoring. Kyle Okposo (four goals, 18 points) tops the squad with 14 assists. Frans Nielsen (15 points) and Brock Nelson (14 points) have scored eight goals apiece. Overall, the Islanders have eight players, including defenseman Johnny Boychuk, with double-digit point totals. Jaroslav Halak (11 games) and Greiss (10 games) have split the goaltending duties.
Eric Boulton (lower body) and Thomas Hickey (lower body) are both on injured reserve.
Key team stat comparisons (NHL overall ranking)
Non-shootout goals per game: Flyers 1.76 (30th), Islanders 2.81 (10th)
Non-shootout goals against per game: Flyers 2.81 (22nd), Islanders 2.48 (10th)
5-on-5 Goals For/Against Ratio: Flyers 23/32, Islanders 33/30
Power play efficiency: Flyers 15.6% (24th), Islanders 16.4% (23rd)
Penalty killing efficiency: Flyers 79.2% (18th), Islanders 81.8% (11th)
Shots per game: Flyers 30.6 (10th), Islanders 29.7 (17th)
Shots against per game: Flyers 33.0 (29th), Islanders 29.1 (14th)
Faceoff percentage: Flyers 49.9% (17th), Islanders 50.6% (12th)
Projected lineups (based on last game, will be updated after morning skate)
Flyers
12 Michael Raffl - 28 Claude Giroux - 10 Brayden Schenn
24 Matt Read - 14 Sean Couturier - 17 Wayne Simmonds
76 Chris VandeVelde - 78 Pierre-Edouard Bellemare - 93 Jakub Voracek
58 Taylor Leier - 21 Scott Laughton - 36 Colin McDonald
15 Michael Del Zotto - 3 Radko Gudas
55 Nick Schultz - 22 Luke Schenn
23 Brandon Manning - 53 Shayne Gostisbehere
35 Steve Mason
[30 Michal Neuvirth]
Scratches: Evgeny Medvedev (healthy scratch), Vincent Lecavalier (healthy scratch), R.J. Umberger (suspected foot injury), Mark Streit (LTIR, displaced pubic plate), Ryan White (IR, suspected shoulder injury), Sam Gagner (lacerations near left eye).
Islanders
29 Brock Nelson - 91 John Tavares - 21 Kyle Okposo
27 Anders Lee - 51 Frans Nielsen - 12 Josh Bailey
86 Nikolay Kulemin - 84 Mikhail Grabovski - 56 Taylor Beck
17 Matt Martin - 53 Casey Cizikas - 15 Cal Clutterbuck
2 Nick Leddy - 3 Travis Hamonic
44 Calvin de Haan - 55 Johnny Boychuk
37 Brian Strait - 50 Adam Pelech
41 Jaroslav Halak / 1 Thomas Greiss
Scratches: Marek Zidlicky (healthy), Steve Bernier (healthy), Jean-Francois Berube (healthy), Thomas Hickey (IR, lower body), Eric Boulton (IR, lower body).
Philadelphia Flyers Blogger •NHL.com • 
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