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Flyers Gameday: 4/10/15 @ NYI |
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PREVIEW: FLYERS @ ISLANDERS
In the final game of the 2015-16 regular season and with a playoff wildcard spot locked up, Dave Hakstol's Philadelphia Flyers (40-27-14) are in Brooklyn on Sunday to play a make-up game against Jack Capuano's New York Islanders (45-26-10). Game time at Barclays Center is 7 p.m. EDT. The game will be televised locally on TCN Philadelphia.
This is the fifth meeting of the season between the teams, and the Flyers' fourth trip to Brooklyn including the snowed-out game of Jan. 23 for which the Flyers were already at Barclays Center awaiting their morning skate when they learned of the cancellation. Each team has won two games of the season series to date.
The Islanders took the first two games: 3-1 in Brooklyn on Nov. 25 and 4-3 via shootout in Philadelphia on Dec. 8. The Flyers dominated and shut out an injury-riddled Islanders team, 4-0, at the Wells Fargo Center on Jan. 8. On March 21, the Flyers earned an impressive 4-1 road win in Brooklyn that was among the capstone performances of the stretch drive.
The Flyers are playing for the fourth time in five nights and for the sixth in nine nights. Late on Saturday afternoon, the Flyers defeated a scaled-down version of the Pittsburgh Penguins, 3-1, at the Wells Fargo Center. New York is also on the second half of a back-to-back and are playing their fifth game in seven nights. The Islanders lost 4-3 in overtime in Buffalo on Saturday.
Flyers Outlook
For one night, the pressure is off the Flyers. They know where they will finish (fifth in the Atlantc Division, lower wildcard seed) and whom their first round playoff opponent will be; the President's Trophy winning Washington Capitals.
The schedule for the first round has not yet been announced. However, the series cannot start before Thursday. On Wednesday, the NBA's Washington Wizards have a home game at the Verizon Center. Thus, the Flyers-Caps series will start either on Thursday or Friday.
The Flyers are 14-5-3 over their last 22 games. Philly will finish the season with a 23-10-8 home record (54 points; one more than last season). The only thing the Flyers have to play for on Sunday is to try to finish the year with a statistical winning record on the road. The Flyers enter the finale in Brooklyn with a 17-17-6 (40 points) on the road. The team had just 31 points on the road (10-20-11 record) last season.
In Saturday's 3-1 win over Pittsburgh, the Flyers got a pair of goals by Wayne Simmonds. Pierre-Edouard Bellemare sealed the victory with a breakaway goal to deposit the puck into an empty net. Jakub Voracek, Claude Giroux, Shayne Gostisbehere and Mark Streit earned one assist apiece.
Steve Mason stopped 18 of 19 shots, with nine saves in the first period. None were bigger than a spectacular glove save on Kael Mouillierat on a point blank chance with Pittsburgh leading 1-0 late in the first period.
Mason made 12 consecutive starts down the stretch and played brilliantly in 10 of the games and solidly in the other two. He will most certainly get a rest in Brooklyn before a team-wide off-day on Monday and the start of pre-playoff practice on the Tuesday. Mason appeared in 54 games this season, posting a 23-19-10 record, 2.51 goals against average, .918 save percentage and four shutouts (five regulation shutouts).
The question is who will start on Sunday. Although Michal Neuvirth returned ahead of schedule from a knee injury, he did so with no real practice time due to the tightly packed slate of games.
With all the back-to-back games, the Flyers only had one practice (April 5) over the past week and even that one was only about 25 minutes in duration. Neuvirth has appeared in 31 games, posting a 17-8-4 record, 2.28 GAA, .925 save percentage and three shutouts.
If Hakstol elects to be conservative with Neuvirth, the start on Sunday could go either to veteran insurance policy Ray Emery. Emery has not dressed for a game since signing on April 1 but was signed in case of an emergency. By contractual terms, now-former Yale goaltender Alex Lyon will have the first year of his two-year entry level contract burned by being on the NHL roster over the final week of the season.
It also remains to be seen which regular position players will be rested for the finale. Giroux has taken several maintenance days down the stretch. Voracek has largely struggled since returning from a foot injury. Various defensemen are banged up to different degrees.
The finale is an opportunity to get R.J. Umberger, who may be bought out by the Flyers over the summer, into a game. Jordan Weal has hardly played this season, either in Los Angeles or Philadelphia. It seems likely that Scott Laughton will play somewhere in Sunday's lineup. Evgeny Medvedev could really use some game action in case he's needed in the lineup at some point in the Washington series.
On the injury front, defenseman Michael Del Zotto suffered season-ending torn ligaments in his left wrist on February 13. The Flyers would have to go deep into the playoffs before a return could be feasible.
Rookie defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere has a very slim chance of matching Behn Wilson's franchise rookie defenseman scoring record of 49 points (set while playing in 80 games during the 1978-79 season). It would take a four-point game in Brooklyn to tie the record.
Team captain Giroux leads the Flyers with 22 goals, 45 assists and 67 points in 78 games. He is followed on the Flyers' scoring leader list by Simmonds (32 goals, 28 assists, 60 points, 147 penalty minutes), Brayden Schenn (26 goals, 31 assists, 57 points) and Voracek (11 goals, 43 assists, 54 points in 72 games). Among Gostisbehere's 16 goals, seven have come on the power play, and four in overtime and he has scored five game-winners overall to go along with 29 assists and 45 points in 63 games. Sean Couturier rounds out the top six with 11 goals, 28 assists and 39 points in 63 games.
Islanders Outlook
The Islanders' final place in the standings and first-round playoff opponent will be determined on Sunday. If they beat the Flyers, the Islanders will finish third in the Metro Division and play Pittsburgh in the first round. If they lose on Sunday, they will be the higher wildcard and play the Florida Panthers.
In their first year at the Barclays Center, the Islanders have posted a 25-10-5 home record. They will finish with a 20-16-5 road mark.
On Saturday in Buffalo, the Islanders got goals from Scott Mayfield, Alan Quine (shorthanded) and John Tavares to force OT after trailing 2-1 and 3-2 in the third period. Christopher Gibson stopped 22 of 26 shots in a losing cause.
Thomas Greiss, who has taken over as the primary starting goaltender with Jaroslav Halak injured, is available for duty on Sunday after getting rested in Buffalo. Like most NHL coaches, Capuano declined to identify his starting goalie for the next game. Capuano also sat out forward Nikolay Kulemin and defensemen Marek Zidlicky on Saturday.
New York has an extensive injury absence list. None among defensemen Travis Hamonic (lower body), Thomas Hickey (undisclosed) or Brian Strait (upper body) are likely to play on Sunday. Ditto Matt Martin (upper body), Cal Clutterbuck (lower body) and Mikhail Grabovski (upper body). Forward Anders Lee (broken left fibula) is out indefinitely. Goalie Jean-Francois Berube has a lower-body issue and Halak (groin) remains out.
Tavares leads the Islanders in scoring with 70 points (33 goals, 37 assists) in 78 games. He is followed by Kyle Okposo (22 goals, 42 assists, 64 points), Frans Nielsen (20 goals, 32 assists, 52 points), Brock Nelson (26 goals, 14 assists, 40 points), defenseman Nick Leddy (five goals, 35 assists, 40 points), the injured Lee (15 goals, 21 assists, 36 points) and Josh Bailey (12 goals, 20 assists, 32 points).
Greiss has appeared in 40 games, posting a 23-11-4 record, 2.33 goals against average and .926 save percentage with one shutout. Halak appeared in 36 games (18-13-4, 2.30 GAA, .919 SV%, three shutouts). Gibson has been in three games with two starts (1-0-1, 3.12 GAA, .893 SV%). Berube has made seven appearances (3-2-1, 2.71 GAA, .914 SV%).
Key team stat comparisons (NHL overall ranking)
Non-shootout goals per game: Flyers 2.54 (23rd), Islanders 2.78 (11th)
Non-shootout goals against per game: Flyers 2.57 (13th), Islanders 2.54 (12th)
5-on-5 Goals For/Against Ratio: Flyers 131/128, Islanders 153/145
Power play efficiency: Flyers 18.1% (18th), Islanders 18.7% (13th)
Penalty killing efficiency: Flyers 80.2% (T-22nd), Islanders 85.5% (2nd)
Shots per game: Flyers 31.0 (5th), Islanders 29.6 (17th)
Shots against per game: Flyers 30.9 (24th), Islanders 30.5 (T-20th)
Faceoff percentage: Flyers 51.1% (6th), Islanders 50.0% (17th)
Projected lineups (subject to change, will be updated)
Flyers
93 Jakub Voracek - 19 Jordan Weal - 20 R.J. Umberger
10 Brayden Schenn - 21 Scott Laughton - 89 Sam Gagner
12 Michael Raffl - 52 Nick Cousins - 24 Matt Read
76 Chris VandeVelde - 78 Pierre-Édouard Bellemare - 25 Ryan White
47 Andrew MacDonald - 53 Shayne Gostisbehere
55 Nick Schultz - 82 Evgeny Medvedev
23 Brandon Manning - 3 Radko Gudas
30 Michal Neuvirth
[29 Ray Emery]
Scratches: Steve Mason (healthy), Claude Giroux (healthy), Wayne Simmonds (healthy), Mark Streit (healthy), Michael Del Zotto (IR, wrist), Alex Lyon (healthy).
Islanders
51Frans Nielsen - 91 John Tavares - 21 Kyle Okposo
11 Shane Prince - 29 Brock Nelson - 12 Josh Bailey
38 Bracken Kearns - 18 Ryan Strome - 10 Alan Quine
36 Eric Boulton - 53 Casey Cizikas - 16 Steve Bernier
44 Calvin de Haan - 55 Johnny Boychuk
2 Nick Leddy - 6 Ryan Pulock
42 Scott Mayfield - 50 Adam Pelech
1 Thomas Greiss / 33 Christopher Gibson
Scratches: Travis Hamonic (lower body), Thomas Hickey (undisclosed), Brian Strait (upper body), Matt Martin (upper body), Cal Clutterbuck (lower body), Mikhail Grabovski (upper body), Anders Lee (broken left fibula), Jean-Francois Berube (lower body), Jaroslav Halak (groin), Nikolay Kulemin (healthy), Marek Zidlicky (healthy).
Philadelphia Flyers Blogger •NHL.com • 
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