UPDATE 11:15 AM ET
Claude Giroux did not participate in the morning skate but will play in the game. Steve Mason gets the start in goal.
Vincent Lecavalier did not participate in the morning skate. The Flyers released a statement from Ron Hextall that there would more infornation about it in Wednesday. Apparently, the situation has nothing to do with Lecavalier agreeing to waivers, a trade, an AHL conditioning assignment or retirement. That leaves only an injury-related announcement of some sort.
PREVIEW: FLYERS VS. ISLANDERS
Looking for their fifth win in six games, Dave Hakstol's Philadelphia Flyers (11-11-5) host Jack Capuano's New York Islanders (15-8-5) on Tuesday night. Game time at the Wells Fargo Center is 7:00 p.m. ET. The game will be televised on Comcast Sportsnet Philadelphia.
This is the second of five meetings between the Metropolitan Division teams. The clubs will rematch on January 9 (Philadelphia), January 23 (Brooklyn) and March 21 (Brooklyn). On Nov. 25 in Brooklyn, the Flyers got off to a good start but a late first-period shorthanded goal and an early second period even strength deflected goal in tight proved to be the turning point of a 3-1 Islanders' win.
The Flyers last played on Saturday, hosting the Columbus Blue Jackets. This game marks the start of one of the season's toughest three-in-four stretches, as the Flyers will be on the road to play the St. Louis Blues on Thursday and a rested Dallas Stars team on Friday.
The Islanders also last played on Saturday, ending a succesful three-in-four with five of six possible points in a 2-1 road overtime loss to the Ottawa Senators. The schedule is much lighter this week. After this game, New York gets three nights off before visiting Columbus.
Flyers Outlook
The Flyers have won four of their last five games and five of their last seven. The team has taken at least one point in eight of the last 11 (6-3-2) games. However, the team is coming off a terrible performance in a 4-1 home loss to Columbus on Saturday.
Claude Giroux leads the Flyers with nine goals, 13 assists and 22 points in 27 games. He is followed by Wayne Simmonds (seven goals, eight assists), Jakub Voracek (one goal, 14 assists) and Brayden Schenn (six goals, 11 points). In 11 games since his recall from the AHL, offensive-minded rookie defenseman Gostisbehere has contributed four goals (three on the power play, two in overtime), four assists and eight points.
On Tuesday, Radko Gudas will serve the final game of a three-game suspension from the NHL for a high hit on Ottawa center Mika Zibanejad. With Luke Schenn out for approximately two weeks after suffering a left ankle/foot injury late in the third period of the Dec. 5 game, the Flyers have
recalled Andrew MacDonald from the AHL's Lehigh Valley Phantoms.
Voracek skated on Giroux's line at practice on Monday but Hakstol indicated afterwards that Brayden Schenn will at least temporarily remain on the right wing on the top line with Voracek staying on the third line with Pierre-Edouard Bellemare and Chris VandeVelde.
Sam Gagner (concussion, laceration) has been out since the Nov. 23 game against Carolina. He was retroactively placed on the injured reserve list. Gagner hopes to be available to play next week. Defenseman Mark Streit is on long-term injured reserve for surgery to repair a displaced pubic plate. Streit is expected to miss approximately six weeks from Nov. 17. He has resumed skating on his own.
Islanders Outlook
The Islanders enter this game coming off a strong overall stretch of hockey as they defeated the New York Islanders 2-1 via shootout last Wednesday, managed the same feat against the visiting St. Louis Blues on Friday and then got edged out, 3-2, in overtime the next night in Ottawa. Overall, the Islanders have earned at least one point in eight of the last 10 games (6-2-2) and are 5-0-2 in the last seven.
New York's special teams have been in a strong groove as of late. Entering this match, the Islanders' penalty kill has successfully navigated 20 of its last 21 kills (95.2 percent) over the last seven games. In the same span, the New York power play has connected on five of its last 14 (35.7 percent) opportunities.
Last season, the Islanders scored at an impressive clip but did not play enough of a two-way style to be well-constructed for a deep playoff run. The team has now adhered to more of a structured two-way approach. It took time to adjust but now seems to be paying dividends. The club still has its share of offensive weapons, too, and remain in the top one-third of the league in scoring output. In the meantime, after ranking 23rd in goals against average last year, the Isles have rocketed up the ranking to sixth overall thus far in 2015-16.
John Tavares leads the Islanders in scoring, bringing 22 points (12 goals, 10 assists) in 25 games into this contest. He's followed by Kyle Okposo (six goals, 15 assists, 21 points in 28 games), Frans Nielsen (nine goals, 10 assists), Brock Nelson (eight goals, seven assists), Josh Bailey (six goals, seven assists) and Mikhail Grabovski (five goals, eight assists).
The Islanders are expected to stay with the same lineup they've featured in recent games. Jaroslav Halak will get the start in goal against the Flyers.
Last time the Islanders played the Flyers, there were two fights in the game. Most notably, after boarding Philadelphia's Michael Raffl in the first period, Islanders' offensive minded defenseman Nick Leddy found himself in the unfamiliar position of fighting Giroux one period later. Shortly thereafter, aggressive checking forward Matt Martin fought Simmonds.
Jean-Francois Berube (lower body) remains on IR. Eric Boulton (lower body) practiced in full on Monday but is not expected to play in this game. Steve Bernier and Brian Strait are both available to play.
Key team stat comparisons (NHL overall ranking)
Non-shootout goals per game: Flyers 1.96 (29th), Islanders 2.71 (T-10th)
Non-shootout goals against per game: Flyers 2.70 (19th), Islanders 2.32 (6th)
5-on-5 Goals For/Against Ratio: Flyers 32/42, Islanders 47/44
Power play efficiency: Flyers 17.1% (23rd), Islanders 20.0% (12th)
Penalty killing efficiency: Flyers 80.4% (17th), Islanders 85.0% (4th)
Shots per game: Flyers 30.3 (9th), Islanders 29.6 (15th)
Shots against per game: Flyers 32.0 (29th), Islanders 28.9 (14th)
Faceoff percentage: Flyers 50.0% (T-14th), Islanders 49.7% (17th)
Projected lineups (subject to change, will be updated)
Flyers
12 Michael Raffl - 28 Claude Giroux - 10 Brayden Schenn
24 Matt Read - 14 Sean Couturier - 17 Wayne Simmonds
76 Chris VandeVelde - 78 Pierre-Edouard Bellemare - 93 Jakub Voracek
20 R.J. Umberger - 21 Scott Laughton - 25 Ryan White
15 Michael Del Zotto - 47 Andrew MacDonald
55 Nick Schultz - 82 Evgeny Medvedev
23 Brandon Manning - 53 Shayne Gostisbehere
35 Steve Mason
[30 Michal Neuvirth]
Scratches: Vincent Lecavalier (healthy(?)), Mark Streit (LTIR, displaced pubic plate), Sam Gagner (IR, concussion/laceration), Radko Gudas (NHL suspension), Luke Schenn (left foot/ankle).
Islanders
29 Brock Nelson - 91 John Tavares - 21 Kyle Okposo
27 Anders Lee - 51 Frans Nielsen - 12 Josh Bailey
86 Nikolay Kulemin - 84 Mikhail Grabovski - 18 Ryan Strome
17 Matt Martin - 53 Casey Cizikas - 15 Cal Clutterbuck
2 Nick Leddy - 3 Travis Hamonic
44 Calvin de Haan - 55 Johnny Boychuk
14 Thomas Hickey - 28 Marek Zidlicky
41 Jaroslav Halak
[1 Thomas Greiss]
Scratches: Steve Bernier (healthy), Brian Strait (healthy), Eric Boulton (lower body), Jean-Francois Berube (IR, lower body).
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