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Flyers Gameday: 3/23/19 vs. NYI

March 23, 2019, 10:31 AM ET [171 Comments]
Bill Meltzer
Philadelphia Flyers Blogger •NHL.com • RSSArchiveCONTACT
Game 75 Preview: FLYERS vs. ISLANDERS

Interim head coach Scott Gordon's Philadelphia Flyers (36-30-8) are home on Saturday to take on Barry Trotz's New York Islanders (42-25-7). Game time at the Wells Fargo Center is 1:00 p.m. EDT.

The game will be televised on NBCSP. The radio broadcast can be found on 97.5 FM The Fanatic with an online simulcast at FlyersRadio247.com.

This is the fourth and final meeting of the season series between the teams (the third within the month of March), and the second and final game in Philly. The Flyers are 2-1-0 thus far.

In Philadelphia on Oct. 27, the Flyers suffered an ugly 6-2 blowout loss to the Islanders. Brock Nelson scored twice for the Islanders, while Leo Komarov, Anthony Beauvillier, Adam Pelec and Anders Lee (power play) tallied one apiece. Michal Neuvirth stopped 16 shots off 22 shots. Robin Lehner made 22 saves on 23 shots. The Flyers went 0-for-3 on the power play, and 2-for-3 on the penalty kill.

In Uniondale on March 3, the Flyers prevailed, 4-1, despite playing with only 10 forwards for nearly the entire game. The Flyers got goals from Travis Konecny and Travis Sanheim (9th) as they took a 2-0 lead to the first intermission. The lead doubled in the middle frame on goals by Scott Laughton and Sean Couturier. Stellar goaltending from Brian Elliott (29 saves on 30 shots) was the backbone of the victory. Philly did a good overall shutdown job in the third period despite New York getting one goal back in the final five minutes.

Back in Uniondale again on March 9, the Flyers dismantled the Isles, 5-2.

Philly trailed first in the game on a fluke goal that Corban Knight accidentally deflected into his own net. They bounced right back to tie the game and then a goal in the final 3.7 seconds of the first period sent the Flyers to the locker room with a 2-1 lead. Philly scored three times on five shots in a second period that included a lengthy 5-on-3 penalty kill, extending the lead to 5-1. New York had a three-minute power play in the third period and scored a late third-period goal but drew no closer.

Jakub Voracek, in his first game back after a two-game absence due to a lower-body injury, was in beast mode throughout Saturday's game. He was excellent on the forecheck, heavy on the puck, earned two primary assists on nice plays up ice, and ornery as well.

In the third period, Islanders defenseman Johnny Boychuk steamed in toward Voracek with the puck in the Flyers zone. Rather than absorbing a big check, Voracek instead delivered a heavy hit of his own. Because the puck was not there, Voracek received an interference penalty, and because Boychuk sustained an apparent shoulder injury on the play, the refs made it a major.

The Flyers received goals from Ryan Hartman, James van Riemsdyk, Sean Couturier, Nolan Patrick and Travis Konecny. Travis Sanheim (two assists) combined with Voracek to set up the JVR and Couturier goals. Claude Giroux collected his 53rd helper of the season, while Philly also got one assist apiece from Ivan Provorov, van Riemsdyk, and Scott Laughton. Shayne Gostisbehere had two assists.

Brian Elliott earned the win with 25 saves on 27 shots, and authored some key momentum saves in the second period especially. One shot on the Isles' 5-on-3 eventually dribbled past Elliott into the net but the whistle had already blown.

New York got goals from Scott Mayfield and Nick Leddy. Mathew Barzal picked up his 37th and 38th assists of the season, while Leddy and Ryan Pulock earned one helper apiece.

Thomas Greiss started the game and went the first two periods, stopping only 10 of 15 shots. Christopher Gibson mopped up in the third period, stopping all 10 shots he faced including a JVR breakaway with the teams skating 4-on-4 on the front end of the Voracek major.

Flyers Outlook

The Flyers are 21-8-2 over their last 31 games but just 2-3-0 over their last five and 6-4-0 in the last 10. Despite a gutsy 3-1 road win in Chicago on Saturday, it would take a near miracle to make the playoffs at this point.

With eight games remaining the Flyers are six points (five standings points plus a 37-34 ROW tiebreaker disadvantage) behind the Montreal Canadiens for the lower wildcard spot in the Eastern Conference. Philly would also need to bypass the Columbus Blue Jackets, who are four points plus a 39-34 ROW tiebreaker edge ahead of them but one point behind Montreal.

On Thursday, Hart played brilliantly in Chicago with a magnificent 40-save performance that including a host of tough saves (including a breakaway stop to start four-save sequence to prevent a shorthanded goal) over the first two periods. Corban Knight (1st goal as a Flyer), James van Riemsdyk and Sean Couturier (empty net) scored for Philly.

With the team playing three times in four nights -- a road game in Washington looms on Sunday afternoon as the second half of this weekend back-to-back set -- the Flyers took an off-day on Friday. Roughly half of the team has dealt with the flu over the past week, which is another reason apart from the need for game-fatigue related rest that an off-day was much needed.

The Caps played on Friday but are idle on Saturday. Having dropped back-to-back games at home (in overtime to Tampa on Wednesday, in regulation to Minnesota on Friday), they have a day to recuperate and prepare to host the Flyers on Sunday afternoon. For Philly, it's truly a one-day-at-a-time situation. All focus has to be on dealing with the Islanders.

Islanders Outlook

After being the surprise leader of the Metro Division for a lengthy stretch, the Islanders have been inconsistent down the stretch. The club is 5-5-0 in its last 10 games and has lost back-to-back games in regulation. New York holds one game in hand over Washington, but are three points and a 39-38 ROW tiebreaker disadvantage behind.

A more immediate concern for the Isles is staying ahead of the third-place Pittsburgh Penguins for a home-ice advantage spot if the two teams play in the first round of the Eastern Conference playoffs. The two teams are in a dead heat in points (91) and ROW (38) but New York holds second place by virtue of having played one fewer game. The Penguins are in Dallas on Saturday night to take on the Stars.

It remains to be seen what, if anything, will come from the Voracek/Boychuk incident and the veteran defenseman's histrionic threats to Voracek in the aftermath. Boychuk has experienced concussion symptoms but is now at least "semi-healthy". He may or may not be in the lineup.
In the bigger picture, the Islanders primarily have to worry about winning a hockey game, as do the Flyers.

As far as the subplot goes, Voracek would fight Boychuk and get it over with if both are in the lineup. He'd be less likely to fight someone such as Matt Martin or Cal Clutterbuck but the Flyers don't really have a player on their roster that is well-suited to step in as a proxy if a player other than Boychuk is looking for a fight with Voracek.


Projected Lines (Subject to change, will be updated)

FLYERS

25 James van Riemsdyk - 19 Nolan Patrick - 28 Claude Giroux
23 Oskar Lindblom - 14 Sean Couturier - 93 Jake Voracek
38 Ryan Hartman - 21 Scott Laughton - 11 Travis Konecny
12 Michael Raffl - 10 Corban Knight - 27 Justin Bailey

9 Ivan Provorov - 6 Travis Sanheim
53 Shayne Gostisbehere - 61 Phil Myers
8 Robert Hägg - 3 Radko Gudas​

79 Carter Hart
[37 Brian Elliott]

Scratches: 44 Phil Varone (healthy), 47 Andrew MacDonald (healthy), 33 Cam Talbot (healthy), 5 Sam Morin (healthy), 30 Michal Neuvirth (IR, lower body).

ISLANDERS
27 Anders Lee - 13 Mathew Barzal - 7 Jordan Eberle
12 Josh Bailey - 29 Brock Nelson - 16 Andrew Ladd
18 Anthony Beauvillier - 11 Tanner Fritz - 47 Leo Komarov
17 Matt Martin - 53 Casey Cizikas - 15 Cal Clutterbuck​

2 Nick Leddy - 24 Scott Mayfield/55 Johnny Boychuk
3 Adam Pelech - 6 Ryan Pulock
4 Thomas Hickey - 25 Devon Toews​

40 Robin Lehner
[1 Thomas Greiss]


Scratches: 55 Johnny Boychuk (day-to-day, another D will be scratched if he is not a healthy/injury scratch), 14 Thomas Kuhnhackl (healthy), 21 Luca Sbisa (healthy), 28 Michael Del Colle (healthy), 32 Ross Johnston (healthy), 44 Dennis Seidenberg (healthy), 51 Valtteri Filppula (upper body injury, out for approximately four weeks).
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