The Game: 7:30 p.m. EST, ESPN+, Hulu, 97.5 The Fanatic
A less exciting contest than the previous outing with these two teams can’t possibly transpire, can it?
If you witnessed last Friday’s contest between the Islanders and the Flyers at UBS Arena, you could probably hear the toilets flush in the concourse level it was that quiet and uneventful. It was a game where both teams, according to coach John Tortorella, “sucked.” Not fun to watch, even less fun as it was a loss. But the Flyers, coming off a two-game, home-and-home split with New Jersey, are seeing New York for the third time in a rather short span of time.
Whether the Flyers are able to ramp up their game following Wednesday night’s tilt in New Jersey remains to be seen. The big elephant in the room is the status of Owen Tippett after taking the open-ice hit in the second period. It’s doubtful he’ll be back tonight. But regardless, if the Flyers hope to get two points, they have to ensure their goaltender is given an easy night. That and the goalie must not suck either.
Storylines to watch
Avoid the Maxim
Maxim Tsyplakov rattled the Flyers earlier this month with a predatory hit on Ryan Poehling. Poehling has not played since then and Tsyplakov received a three-game suspension. It’s important for the Flyers to let cooler heads prevail (att least to start the game) and focus on getting the win. If they spend all night trying to goad or seek revenge on Tsyplakov it will see them short-handed more often than not.
That’s not to say to avoid the Islanders fourth-liner at all costs. But there’s more important aims Thursday night than trying to settle a score. A four-point game and a regulation win should be the focus, not much else.
Who is in goal?
The idea for last night’s game and the one this evening was to have Ivan Fedotov play against the Islanders and Ersson go the distance against the Devils. That didn’t happen, leaving both playing a chunk of the game. It’s might have been unclear briefly during the game who would get the nod against the Islanders. That was resolved when coach John Tortorella told the media following the Devils’ game that Fedotov was in Thursday night. Some might question the decision to pull Ersson but it’s better to get him out of a bad situation and keep whatever confidence he has in tact. Getting him lit up after having a decent run wouldn’t help anyone.
Bobby Brink bonanza
Bobby Brink looks a bit like Tyson Foerster did last year in battling for the puck and doing the little things. He also looks like he’s got a bit more confidence now with a few goals in the last few weeks. It would be huge if Brink could somehow go on a Tippett-ish streak and put together a three-game or four-game scoring streak together. It would help the Flyers maybe get some traction on the horde of teams in this current Eastern Conference wildcard mess. And it could be a case of Brink getting more confident in his own play.
Don’t lose on special teams
Philadelphia is better on the penalty kill and the power play than the Islanders. That fact might only exist for one or two competitors the Flyers face all season given how bad they have been overall in both facets of those special teams. The Islanders were zero for three in their last meeting and hopefully for Philadelphia they take three fewer penalties and perhaps fluke in a power play goal.
Again, to have a historically bad power play and a goaltending tandem that hasn’t been even decent most of the year is not good. The fact they are still in the mix for a wildcard spot is perhaps the biggest surprise so far this year.
Projected Lineups
Note: At the time of writing there has been no update on Owen Tippett. These are very projected lineups.
Philadelphia Flyers
Travis Konecny — Morgan Frost — Olle Lycksell
Joel Farabee — Scott Laughton — Matvei Michkov
Tyson Foerster — Noah Cates — Bobby Brink
Garnet Hathaway — Sean Couturier — Anthony Richard
Travis Sanheim — Jamie Drysdale
Cam York — Rasmus Ristolainen
Nick Seeler — Erik Johnson
Ivan Fedotov
(Sam Ersson)
New York Islanders
Anders Lee — Bo Horvat — Mathew Barzal
Anthony Duclair — Brock Nelson — Kyle Palmieri
Casey Cizikas — Jean-Gabriel Pageau — Simon Holmstrom
Maxim Tsyplakov — Kyle MacLean — Marc Gatcomb
Adam Pelech — Scott Perunovich
Alexander Romanov — Tony DeAngelo
Isaiah George — Scott Mayfield
Ilya Sorokin
(Jakub Skarek)
