PREVIEW 5:15 AM EST
The reeling Philadelphia Flyers (6-9-1) play the fifth game of their season-high six-game road trip today as they head to the Nassau Coliseum for a Presidents' Day matinee against the New York Islanders (6-7-1). The game starts at 1 p.m. EST and will be televised on Comcast Sportsnet Philadelphia.
This is the first of four meetings between the Atlantic Division teams. Last year, the Flyers were lucky enough to open the season series with a pair of less-than-stellar victories before the Islanders finally snapped a four-year, 13-game losing streak against Philly. New York and Philly then played to a 0-0 tie, with the Islanders winning via shootout. The Flyers closed out the season series with two wins, to finish 4-1-1.
The Flyers enter this game coming off a dismal performance in a 4-1 loss in Montreal on Saturday night. Apart from solid work by the penalty killing units, the Flyers did very little right against the Canadiens. Danny Briere scored Philly's lone goal.
Now the best the Flyers do on their road trip is a .500 mark. To do that, they will need to beat both the Islanders and Pittsburgh Penguins.
Despite their longstanding domination of the Islanders, today's game could be a tough one for the Flyers. New York has played good hockey in the last week, and is coming off wins over the Rangers and Devils heading into today. John Tavares tallied a hat trick against New Jersey, while Matt Moulson had a four-point game with a goal and three assists.
Penalty killing is the one of the few areas of the Flyers' team game that has turned around for the better of late. But they will face a tough test today against an Islanders' power play that is clicking at a 27.6 percent clip (2nd in the NHL).
Ilya Bryzgalov will return to the Flyers' net today. He will be opposed by Evgeni Nabokov.
The Flyers remain without Scott Hartnell (foot) and Andrej Meszaros (shoulder). Kimmo Timonen left Friday's game early with an undisclosed lower-body injury but played the next night and gritted his way through a tough night in which he was obviously laboring.
The Islanders are comparatively healthy entering today's game. Defenseman Matt Carkner (lower body) may return to the lineup today.
PROJECTED LINEUPS -- Subject to change
FLYERS
24 Matt Read - 28 Claude Giroux - 17 Wayne Simmonds
15 Tye McGinn - 10 Brayden Schenn - 93 Jakub Voracek
48 Danny Briere - 14 Sean Couturier - 9 Mike Knuble
26 Ruslan Fedotenko - 25 Max Talbot - 36 Zac Rinaldo
44 Kimmo Timonen - 22 Luke Schenn
5 Braydon Coburn- 27 Bruno Gervais
8 Nicklas Grossmann - 29 Erik Gustafsson
30 Ilya Bryzgalov
[33 Brian Boucher]
ISLANDERS
26 Matt Moulson - 91 John Tavares - 24 Brad Boyes
12 Josh Bailey - 51 Frans Nielsen - 21 Kyle Okposo
40 Michael Grabner - 10 Keith Aucoin - 13 Colin McDonald
51 David Ullstrom - 53 Casey Cizikas - 17 Matt Martin
52 Joe Finley - 2 Mark Streit
11 Lubomir Visnovsky - 47 Andrew MacDonald
3 Travis Hamonic - 37 Brian Strait
20 Evgeni Nabokov
[39 Rick DiPietro]
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