PREVIEW 7:30 AM
Looking to get back on their feet after two ugly divisional losses, the Flyers (30-16-6) begin another challenging week of games with a meeting against the improved New York Islanders (21-22-8). Tonight's game at the Wells Fargo Center starts at 7 PM and will be broadcast on CSN Philly.
This is the fourth of six meetings between the teams this year, and the second of three in Philadelphia. The Islanders have outplayed the Flyers in all three games this season, but Philly managed to win the first two games on Long Island before it caught up with them in a 4-1 loss in Philadelphia.
The loss to the Islanders in the last game finally broke a string of Philadelphia dominance. That may be a good thing for Philly in terms of not taking this game too lightly. There are no easy games in the NHL anymore, and the Islanders just as easily could be 3-0 against the Flyers this year if they had gotten even marginally better goaltending in the first two meetings.
Peter Laviolette is faced with a tough decision for tonight's game. Does he go with Ilya Bryzgalov, who played very well in his post-All Star break outings right up until his implosion at the end of the second and early third periods of the Rangers game? Or does he go with Sergei Bobrovsky, who has performed brilliantly against the Islanders this season, but is coming off a game against the Devils in which he held the Flyers in the game for 19 minutes before being deluged by New Jersey goals?
The Flyers held an optional skate yesterday, in which roughly half of the team participated. Danny Briere (concussion) and James van Riemsdyk (concussion) both took part in the skate. JVR is still not ready to return to game action but Briere may be cleared to return tonight depending on how he feels this morning.
The Islanders have been a better team than the Flyers over the last 10 games. New York has gained points in 8 of those games (6-2-2) will the Flyers are 4-4-2 over that span. In the season series to date, Philly has had trouble stopping the quartet of Kyle Okposo (3 goals, 5 points), John Tavares (1 goal, 3 points), Matt Moulson (1 goal, 2 points) and Michael Grabner (2 goals, 4 points) from creating numerous scoring chances.
The Isles bring a banged-up defense corps into the game. Starters Travis Hamonic (facial lacerations) and Milan Jurcina (elbow injury) are out for tonight. The club has called up Aaron Ness to make his NHL debut. Veteran Steve Staios is also likely to be in the lineup. Staios was a healthy scratch last meeting. He drew the Flyers' ire for an elbow on Max Talbot in the third period of the Jan. 12 game at Nassau Coliseum.
PROJECTED LINEUPS (subject to change)
FLYERS
Hartnell - Giroux - Jagr
Schenn - Briere - Simmonds
Read - Couturier - Voracek
Sestito - Talbot - Rinaldo
Timonen - Coburn
Carle - Bourdon
Gustafsson - Meszaros
Bryzgalov/Bobrovsky
ISLANDERS
Moulson - Taveres - Okposo
Grabner - Nielsen - Parenteau
Martin - Bailey - Rhakhshani
Wallace - Pandolfo - Niederreiter
Streit - Reese
MacDonald - Ness
Eaton - Staios
Nabokov
[Montoya]
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