The Game: 7:30 PM EST, NBCSP+, ESPN+, 93.3 WMMR
Nothing good can last and, last night, we saw the Flyers’ point streak come to an end: they fell 6-1 to a New York Rangers squad that’s finding its footing again after a miserable autumn stretch.
Oh, and having Igor Shesterkin back in net after an injury helps a lot.
Tonight, the Flyers will face the New York Islanders for the second time this month; in their last meeting, the Flyers lost Ryan Poehling to injury (and Maxim Tsyplakov will not be present tonight, as he’s serving a suspension for that hit), but dominated the final two periods to win 5-3. With any luck, the Flyers will be able to do that again.
The Islanders, meanwhile, are looking to get on a win streak, as they’ve won their last two games: 4-1 and 3-1 over the San Jose Sharks and Columbus Blue Jackets, respectively. The Isles have three games in hand on the Flyers too, so this is a big game for both teams as the Metropolitan Division continues to be a jumbled mess. Part of the Islanders’ recent success can be attributed to Mathew Barzal, who’s got seven points in his last five games and has looked much more like himself since returning from injury. Good news for the Flyers is that Noah Dobson, the top defenseman for the Islanders, will be sidelined with injury; New York’s had a lousy power play all season, and it stands to get lousier without Dobson quarterbacking it (pay no attention to the two power play goals the Isles scored on the Flyers last week, their first since early December).
Storylines to Watch
Travis Konecny could take Metro scoring lead
Did you know Travis Konecny is second in scoring in the Metropolitan Division? I didn’t until this morning! With an assist on last night’s lone goal, TK has 55 points to Jack Hughes’s 56 on the season in one less game played. Konecny had three points against the Islanders in their last matchup–all assists–so another multipoint effort today would put him atop the Metro’s scoring standings. Not bad for a player on a team with no power play scoring! To be fair, TK’s 12 power play points this year is already more than the nine (9!!) he scored in 76 (!!) games last season.
The new-look fourth line
At time of writing, we’re assuming Scott Laughton will remain out of the lineup tonight, which means we get another look at the Anthony Richard-Rodrigo Abols-Garnet Hathaway fourth line this evening. Against the Rangers last night, they were pretty effective! Abols, in particular, has impressed in his two games with the Flyers, and he seemed to be buzzing around the Rangers’ net every shift yesterday. He’s still looking for his first NHL point but, if he keeps playing like that, it’s only a matter of time.
The race to the…top? Bottom? We’re not sure anymore
According to Tankathon, the Flyers sit at ninth in the draft standings with a .510 points percentage; directly ahead of them, in eighth, are the Islanders with .489. The Penguins are in seventh with a .480 points percentage. Even if the Flyers fall to the bottom of the Metro, they probably aren’t going to draft higher than seventh barring a lottery win–the Western Conference teams (and Buffalo Sabres) are that bad, though the Nashville Predators have won five in a row and have a cushy schedule the remainder of the season.
For reference, the two eastern wildcard spots, by points percentage, are held by the Rangers and the Ottawa Senators–and both of them have a .542 points percentage. The Flyers are on the precipice of going either way: a good week puts them in the playoffs, a bad one puts them higher in the draft lottery. It’s looking less and less likely they get into the postseason, but they’re not as far away as the standings might lead you to believe.
Projected Lineups
Philadelphia Flyers
Owen Tippett – Morgan Frost – Travis Konecny
Joel Farabee – Sean Couturier – Matvei Michkov
Tyson Foerster – Noah Cates – Bobby Brink
Anthony Richard – Rodrigo Abols – Garnet Hathaway
Cam York – Travis Sanheim
Egor Zamula – Rasmus Ristolainen
Nick Seeler – Jamie Drysdale
Ivan Fedotov
(Sam Ersson)
New York Islanders
Anders Lee – Bo Horvat – Mathew Barzal
Anthony Duclair – Brock Nelson – Kyle Palmieri
Casey Cizikas – JG Pageau – Simon Holmstrom
Pierre Engvall – Kyle Maclean – Marc Gatcomb
Adam Pelech – Ryan Pulock
Alexander Romanov – Scott Mayfield
Dennis Cholowski – Iasiah George
Ilya Sorokin
(Marcus Hogberg)
Gameday Tunes
Happy twigs album release day!!
Stats courtesy Natural Stat Trick