Game Preview: NY Islanders vs Philadelphia Flyers

The NY Islanders open up the second half of the 2022-23 season in Philadelphia as they take on the Flyers at Wells Fargo Center. 

Last Game

It has been over a week since we last saw the Islanders play a game but after a sluggish month of January, the first half of the year did end on a high note. After defeating the Red Wings 2-0, the Vegas Golden Knights rolled into UBS Arena. The Isles second line of Anders Lee, Brock Nelson, and Kyle Palmieri stayed hot as they produced the game’s first goal, with Lee notching his team leading 19th goal of the year. After Vegas tied it in the second, along with a scoreless third, we’d go to overtime, where Mat Barzal would play hero, scoring his 12th goal and the game winner. Semyon Varlamov also had a fantastic game in net, stopping 45 of 46 Golden Knights shots, including a penalty shot in the extra session. 

The Flyers also ended their first half in a positive way against a Western Conference opponent. Their performance, against the Winnipeg Jets, was only a little more dominant. A little more than 15 minutes into the game, Noah Cates opened the scoring with his 8th tally of the season. Then in the second, former Islander Kieffer Bellows scored his first goal as a Flyer to make it 2-0. Philly would add on two more in the third to win 4-0. It was also the first shutout of the year for Carter Hart who stopped all 40 shots that came his way. 

Historical Matchup

This will be the third of four meetings this season between the Islanders and Flyers. The first two were part of a home and home back in late November. Each team won their respective home game as the Isles got a 5-2 win at UBS Arena while the Flyers bounced back with a 3-1 victory of their own just three nights later at Wells Fargo Center. 

All-time the Islanders are 117-135-26-9 against the Flyers. The teams have also met five times in the playoffs. The Flyers have won three of the five series, with New York’s only victories coming in the 1979-80 Stanley Cup Final and 2019-20 Eastern Conference Semifinals. 

Players to Watch

Isles fans have been asking GM Lou Lamoriello to get a goal scorer to play alongside Mat Barzal for the last four years. Well it finally happened as tonight, Bo Horvat will make his Islanders debut. We expect Horvat to play on the first line so look for Mat Barzal to really break out again after slumping his way towards the first half finish line. 

Owen Tippett is starting to show signs of his potential with the Flyers as the team continues to develop young talent. The 23 year old has already set career highs in goals and assists, and with still 31 games left on the schedule, this could turn into a real breakout season for Tippett if he continues to shine. 

Projected Lines

Islanders

Josh Bailey-Bo Horvat-Mat Barzal
Anders Lee-Brock Nelson-Kyle Palmieri
Zach Parise-JG Pageau-Simon Holmstrom
Matt Martin-Casey Cizikas-Ross Johnston

Adam Pelech-Ryan Pulock
Alexander Romanov-Scott Mayfield
Sebastian Aho-Noah Dobson

Ilya Sorokin
Semyon Varlamov

Flyers

James van Riemsdyk-Morgan Frost-Owen Tippett
Joel Farabee-Noah Cates-Travis Konecny
Kevin Hayes-Scott Laughton-Kieffer Bellows
Nicolas Deslauriers-Patrick Brown-Justin Braun

Ivan Provorov-Cam York
Travis Sanheim-Tony DeAngelo
Nick Seeler-Rasmus Ristolainen

Carter Hart
Felix Sandstrom

Lineups via DailyFaceoff