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Flyers Gameday: 3/22/21 vs. NYI: Phantoms Return w/ a Win

March 21, 2021, 10:25 PM ET [441 Comments]
Bill Meltzer
Philadelphia Flyers Blogger •NHL.com • RSSArchiveCONTACT
GAME 30:  FLYERS VS. ISLANDERS

Alain Vigneault's Philadelphia Flyers (15-11-3) are home on Monday to take on Barry Trotz's New York Islanders (20-8-4). Game time at the Wells Fargo Center is 7:00 p.m. EDT. The game will be televised on NBCSP.

This is the fifth of eight meetings this season between the teams. Back on January 30 and 31, the Flyers (without the services of Sean Couturier) claimed 3-2 and 4-3 overtime home wins over the Islanders. On March 18 in Uniondale, the Flyers built a 3-0 lead through two periods, saw the Islanders come back to the tie the game and then restore a lead with 2:22 left to skate off with a 4-3 regulation win. On March 20 in Uniondale, the Flyers quickly fell behind, 4-0, and went to lose in a 6-1 blowout.

Flyers Outlook

In Saturday's game, the Flyers committed an eye-popping 24 turnovers: 20 via their own giveaways, four via takeaways by Islanders players.

The Flyers went with the same lineup -- with one major exception -- in Thursday and Saturday's game. Defending Selke Trophy winning center Sean Couturier took warmups on Saturday but was a late scratch due to a lower-body injury. Couturier underwent evaluation on Sunday. The Flyers will update his condition on Monday. In Couturier's absence, Michael Raffl (non-fracture hand injury) returned to the lineup after originally not being in the planned starting lineup.

For Monday's game, other lineup changes are likely. Shayne Gostisbehere could return to the lineup after being scratched in each of the last three games. Nate Prosser and Erik Gustafsson had, both individually and as a defense pair, a very rough game on Saturday.

Lineups will be updated after the morning skate in Voorhees.

Islanders Outlook

Apart from earning their first win of the season against the Flyers in four tries -- and doing so in resounding fashion -- the Islanders also got goals on Saturday from several players who had been struggling of late to puck in the net. New York was also very strong defensively at five-on-five and on the penalty kill.

As of this writing, young defenseman Noah Dobson remains in the NHL's COVID-19 protocol.

Islanders lineups will be updated on Monday.

Projected lineups

FLYERS (Saturday's lineup, will be updated)

25 James van Riemsdyk - 24 Sean Couturier - 86 Joel Farabee
21 Scott Laughton - 13 Kevin Hayes - 93 Jake Voracek
23 Oskar Lindblom - 28 Claude Giroux - 11 Travis Konecny
12 Michael Raffl - 19 Nolan Patrick - 62 Nicolas Aube-Kubel

9 Ivan Provorov - 53 Shayne Gostisbehere
6 Travis Sanheim - 61 Justin Braun
56 Erik Gustafsson - 5 Phil Myers

37 Brian Elliott
[34 Alex Lyon]


PP1: Giroux, Patrick, Farabee, Voracek, Provorov.
PP2: Hayes, Konecny, JVR, Lindblom, Gostisbehere.

Scratches: 81 Carsen Twarynski (healthy), 79 Carter Hart (healthy, will start March 23 game).

Injured reserve: 8 Robert Hägg (shoulder, 2-4 weeks from 3/17/21), 48 Morgan Frost (shoulder surgery).

COVID-19 protocol: None.

ISLANDERS

7 Jordan Eberle - 13 Mathew Barzal - 47 Leo Komarov
28 Michael Dal Colle - 29 Brock Nelson -12 Josh Bailey
18 Anthony Beauvillier - 44 Jean-Gabriel Pageau - 26 Oliver Wahlstrom
17 Matt Martin - 53 Casey Cizikas - 15 Cal Clutterbuck​

3 Adam Pelech - 6 Ryan Pulock
2 Nick Leddy - 4 Andy Greene
24 Scott Mayfield - 34 Thomas Hickey ​

30 Ilya Sorokin
[40 Semyon Varlamov]

PP 1: Barzal, Nelson, Wahlstrom, Bailey, Leddy.
PP 2: Pageau, Eberle, Bellows, Beauvillier, Pulock.


Scratches:11 Austin Czarnik (healthy), 32 Ross Johnston (healthy).

Injured Reserve: 27 Anders Lee (ACL surgery).

COVID-19 protocol: 8 Noah Dobson.

*********

Phantoms Return with a Win

Due to COVID-19 related postponements (and on in-game suspension at the first intermission), the Lehigh Valley Phantoms had only played one complete hockey game dating back to March 8. Sunday's home game game against the Wilkes Barre/Scranton Penguins marked the first time the Phantoms played at all since a 4-1 win over the Hershey Bears exactly one week earlier.

For the Phantoms, it was worth the wait, as the team improved to 8-2-2 overall with a 5-4 overtime victory against the Pens. Most of the scoring took place in a wild second period that saw the teams combine for seven goals -- four for WB/S, three for the Phantoms -- before Phantoms rookie Tanner Laczynski scored the first and second goals of his AHL career (his 5th and 6th points) to force overtime and then win the game in 3-on-3 sudden death. Veteran defenseman Derrick Pouliot assisted on both Laczynski goals.

Laczynski, who dealt with injury and an undisclosed absence this season, has started to come into his own in his first pro season.

Wade Allison, who scored a goal in his AHL debut on March 14, made it two goals in two games as he opened the scoring on the first shift of the middle frame. The goal followed a 0-0 first period that saw just a combined 10 shots (six for the Pens, four for the Phantoms). Allison also picked up his first career AHL assist on the sequence that produced a tally by older veteran Chris Mueller. Linus Sandin, returning from an upper-body injury absence, also assisted on the Mueller goal.

Flyers 2020 first-round pick Tyson Foerster likewise made it two straight games with a goal, as he scored a nice goal off the rush against goalie Shane Starrett after taking a pass from Logan Day. Isaac Ratcliffe picked up his third assist of the season on the play.

Rookie defensemen Egor Zamula and Mason Millmen earned garnered an assist apiece on this day. Rookie winger Zayde Wisdom had two shots on goal.

Felix Sandström earned the win in goal. The Swedish netminder stopped 22 of 26 shots on goal.
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