The Philadelphia Flyers are back home and just in time for snow to cover a whole portion of the continent, creating some international chaos and misery. Well, that is also about having to face the New York Islanders — a matchup that we have come to know and despise as two mediocre teams bonking each other on the head.
Puck drop: 7:00 p.m.
How to watch/listen:
📺: NBCSP
📻: 93.3 WMMR
Pregame reading
- There’s a whole lot of trade talk lately, so we decided to get in on the action. The NHL will have a roster freeze during the Olympics, providing a nice little soft trade deadline beforehand. So, will the Flyers get involved? If they do, here are three players we could see traded in the next couple of weeks. [BSH]
- More trade stuff! Seattle Kraken center Shane Wright is reportedly available and the Flyers should be one of the teams circling him as an option to fix their problem. [BSH]
- Jamie Drysdale was apparently a player who spoke up during the Flyers’ win over the Colorado Avalanche. How the young defenseman is finding his game in Philadelphia in addition to his voice. [BSH]
Pregame watching
By the numbers
Philadelphia Flyers – 24-17-9 (4th in Metro)
Goals: Trevor Zegras (19)
Assists: Travis Konecny (28)
Points: Trevor Zegras (46)
New York Islanders – 27-19-5 (3rd in Metro)
Goals: Bo Horvat (21)
Assists: Mathew Barzal (30)
Points: Mathew Barzal (41)
Projected lineups
Trevor Zegras — Christian Dvorak — Travis Konecny
Denver Barkey — Sean Couturier — Owen Tippett
Matvei Michkov — Noah Cates — Bobby Brink
Nikita Grebenkin — Lane Pederson — Carl Grundstrom
Cam York — Travis Sanheim
Nick Seeler — Jamie Drysdale
Emil Andrae — Rasmus Ristolainen
Sam Ersson
(Dan Vladar?)
Jonathan Drouin — Bo Horvat — Emil Heineman
Anders Lee — Mathew Barzal — Anthony Duclair
Maxim Shabanov — Jean-Gabriel Pageau — Simon Holmstrom
Casey Cisikas — Calum Ritchie — Kyle MacLean
Matthew Schaefer — Scott Mayfield
Adam Pelech — Tony DeAngelo
Adam Boqvist — Isaiah George
Ilya Sorokin
(David Rittich)
Storylines to watch
Matvei Michkov building momentum
Matvei Michkov is coming off what is almost certainly his best performance of the season. Two goals and three points against the NHL’s best Colorado Avalanche and just looked to be more active. He worked his game and was just the actual Michkov that we remember falling in love with a year ago. Now we need to see if he can string two of those games together. It is against an opponent that won’t just let him walk all over them, but Michkov does have four points (all assists) in the six games against the Islanders in his career.
Sam Ersson keeps the crease
Sam Ersson has been so good on the Flyers’ road trip last week that even if Dan Vladar is coming back off injured reserve, the starter will be on the bench. The younger Swede will be in between the pipes at home against the Islanders and it’s certainly deserved after he has been able to withhold some of the NHL’s best teams and earning some big wins in the process.
Will this be a sign of more of a shared crease in the future? Not sure, but it’s certainly good for those holding Ersson stock and still holding out hope that he will be on this team beyond this season.
Another shootout win guaranteed?
In the two previous games against the Islanders this season, the Flyers have earned a 4-3 shootout win. It’s almost destiny that these two teams will just mid-out each other; just trying to not lose as much as possible and hope that they are the team that ends up with two of the (assumed) three points. Will we get the exact same situation happening tonight? The Flyers have been on a little bit of a defensive kick, so can they prevent the Islanders from scoring even more? Maybe.
