Preview: Flyers @ Islanders
The Philadelphia Flyers (10-9-1) are back in Elmont, New York, on Saturday evening to take on the New York Islanders (8-6-5) for the second time in four nights. Game time at UBS Arena at 7:30 p.m. ET.
On Wednesday, the visiting Flyers generated 81 attempted shots on goal but played from behind all night and lost a
3-2 decision to the Islanders.
On Black Friday afternoon at the Wells Fargo Center, the Flyers
lost to the New York Rangers by a 3-2 score. The Flyers trailed 2-0 before the game was even two minutes into the first period and spent the rest of the day trying in vain to catch up. Sean Couturier scored the lone Flyers goal. The Flyers went 0-for-6 on the power play and looked horrid in doing so.
Noah Cates took a deflected pass to the face during the second period of Friday's game, receiving 30-plus stitched above his lip. He returned for the third period. Owen Tippett was benched for most the second period after failing to backcheck on the third New York goal (which had a series of misreads and miscues). With the Rangers ahead 3-0 (later 3-1), head coach John Tortorella threw his lines in a blender for much of the middle frame.
The Islanders, who broke a seven-game winless streak (0-4-3) and have now won each of their last three games, were in Ottawa on Friday. New York skated to a 5-3 win over the Senators.
Neither the Flyers nor Islanders will hold a morning skate on Sunday. Lines below are based on Friday's combinations and are subject to change. One almost-certain change: Samuel Ersson will get the start in net on Saturday, opposing Ilya Sorokin.
For an in-depth preview of Saturday's matchup, see today's
click here.
Potential Starting Lineups (will be updated)
FLYERS
71 Tyson Foerster - 14 Sean Couturier - 11 Travis Konecny
74 Owen Tippett 25 Ryan Poehling - 89 Cam Atkinson
86 Joel Farabee - 27 Noah Cates - 10 Bobby Brink
44 Nic Deslauriers - 21 Scott Laughton - 19 Garnet Hathaway
8 Cam York - 6 Travis Sanheim
24 Nick Seeler - 26 Sean Walker
18 Marc Staal - 5 Egor Zamula
33 Samuel Ersson
[79 Carter Hart]
ISLANDERS
10 Simon Holmström - 14 Bo Horvat - 13 Mathew Barzal
18 Pierre Engvall – 29 Brock Nelson – 21 Kyle Palmieri
27 Anders Lee – 44 J.G. Pageau – 26 Oliver Wahlstrom
20 Hudson Fasching – 53 Casey Cizikas – 15 Cal Clutterbuck
24 Scott Mayfied – 8 Noah Dobson
28 Alex Romanov – 6 Ryan Pulock
4 Samuel Bolduc - 25 Sebastian Aho
30 Ilya Sororkin
[40 Semyon Varlamov]
********
Phantoms Settle for a Point vs. Providence, Host Amerks
The Lehigh Valley Phantoms dominated long stretches of Friday evening's home game against the Providence Bruins -- especially in a lopsided first period -- but came away with only one point from a 2-1 overtime loss.
A seeing-eye power play goal by Providence's Jayson Megna late in the first period stood as the game's only goal through 54 minutes of regulation. Finally, at 14:12 of third period, Phantoms leading scorer Olle Lycksell (12th goal of the season) knotted the score with a persistent effort near the net. The assists went to Samu Tuomaala and Tanner Laczynski. Through regulation, shots on goal were 41-27 in the Phantoms' favor (16-5 in the first period alone).
In overtime, the P-Bruins benefitted from a non-call on a blatant penalty in the Lehigh Valley end of the season. The play resulted in a prime scoring chance for Providence and a desperation slashing penalty taken by Victor Mete. The P-Bruins cashed in on ensuing 4-on-3 power play as Fabian Lysell ended the game.
The Phantoms (8-6-3) extended their points streak to five straight games (4-0-1) but saw their winning streak end at four. On Saturday, the Phantoms will host the Rochester Americans (10-4-2) at the PPL Center. Game time is 7:05 p.m. ET. The game will be streamed live on AHL TV (subscription required).
Felix Sandström may get the start in goal for the Phantoms on Saturday after Cal Petersen started against Providence. On Friday, both Elliot Desnoyers (upper-body injury) and Emil Andrae (illness) returned to the Phantoms' lineup. Meanwhile, Wade Allison played arguably his best game of the 2023-24 season to date but was robbed on no fewer than three occasions by Bussi on 10-bell saves.
Friday's Phantoms lineup was as follows:
28 Olle Lycksell - 9 Tanner Laczynski - 27 Samu Tuomaala
17 Garrett Wilson - 22 Rhett Gardner - 19 Wade Allison
16 JR Avon- 91 Elliot Desnoyers - 20 Cooper Marody
15 Jordy Bellerive - 56 Jacob Gaucher - 14 Zayde Wisdom
6 Emil Andrae - 2 Helge Grans
98 Victor Mete - 12 Ronnie Attard
37 Adam Ginning - 5 Ethan Samson
40 Cal Petersen
[32 Felix Sandström]
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