#15 New York Islanders (16-32-6, 38 pts) at #6 Philadelphia Flyers (28-16-9, 65 pts)
Wachovia Center - 1:00 PM EST - Philadelphia, PA
TV: CSN HD, MSG Plus HD
Radio: 610 WIP, XM 206
This is the open game thread.
Live Internet Stream
Behind Enemy Lines: Lighthouse Hockey
It's not a must win today when the Flyers host the Isles in a Valentine's Day matinee, but it's damn close. Back-to-back losses against last place teams are unacceptable and Philadelphia cannot fall into that trap this afternoon.
The Islanders are clearly rebuilding, and their youth movement is led by rookie Kyle Okposo, who has 11 goals in 41 games this season.
The Isles have yet to win in February. It's a long uphill battle for them, and the Flyers need to just take care of business today. It's easy to look past one New York team to the other (better) one looming tomorrow, but the Flyers must resist the urge.
For a deeper dive into the Islanders, click over to Lighthouse Hockey.
Former Flyer Watch: Richard Park, who played with the Phantoms and Flyers in the 1998/99 season, has 10 goals on the season for the Isles. Hilary Duff's boyfriend, I mean Mike Comrie, who had a cup of tea with the Flyers in 2004, also plays for the Isles these days. Jon Sim won a Calder Cup with the Phantoms in 2004. Don't expect him to win anything with the Isles anytime soon. Mike Sillinger is on the Islander roster too. Check out the two-degrees of Mike Sillinger over at HFBoards if you haven't seen it. Coolest thing ever.
Between The Pipes: Martin Biron looks for his first win in over a month today. He's been scheduled to go in this game all week, but he's the guaranteed guy for both games this weekend now since Antero Niittymaki has the flu.
The workload has largely been given to Joey MacDonald this season since Rick Dipietro has been injured. In two games against the Flyers, MacDonald is 0-1-1 with a 2.40 GAA.
This is the game open thread. I'll be around for this one, so join me. Go Flyers.