Game Preview: NY Islanders vs Philadelphia Flyers

The New York Islanders are in the midst of a heated playoff race as they host the Philadelphia Flyers with less than a week to go in the regular season.

Last Game

Following consecutive losses in Tampa and Carolina, the Islanders returned home to UBS Arena and put together a much needed dominant performance from start to finish against the Lightning. After a scoreless first period, that saw the Isles outshoot the Bolts 13-3, New York broke through in the second with four goals. Adam Pelech, Brock Nelson, Kyle Palmieri, and Ryan Pulock each put one past Brian Elliott to give the Isles a 4-1 advantage heading to the third. The scoring party continued in the final 20 minutes as Simon Holmstrom and Bo Horvat each added a tally to cap off a 6-1 victory. Ilya Sorokin made 30 saves in the win.

It's been another lost season for the Flyers as they will miss the season for the third consecutive season. The struggles continued in their most recent contest, losing to the Dallas Stars, 4-1. Jason Robertson opened the scoring with just two seconds left in the first with his 44th of the year. The 23 year old would add another in the second along with goals from Joe Pavelski and Colin Miller to put the game out of reach.

Historical Matchup

This will be the fourth and final meeting this season between the Islanders and Flyers, with New York holding a 2-1 lead in the season series. The first two meetings came in late November with each team winning its home game. The third matchup was the first game after the All-Star break, also Bo Horvat's first game as an Islander, a game the Isles won 2-1, thanks to goals from Kyle Palmieri and Mat Barzal, who remains out with a lower-body injury.

All-time, the Islanders are 118-135-26-9 against the Flyers.

Players to Watch

The Islanders have been getting huge production from the Brock Nelson, Kyle Palmieri, and Pierre Engvall line. With all the moving parts this season, the team's most underrated addiction could be the acquisition of Engvall at the trade deadline. If New York wants to take control of the Wild Card race, those three will need to stay hot against the Flyers.

One of the few bright spots in 2022-23 for the Flyers has been the emergence of 24 year old, Owen Tippett. The right winger has 23 goals and 43 points this season, which ranks top three on the team in both categories. WIth the Flyers looking to play spoiler this late in the season, Tippett will be a big point of emphasis for the Isles' defense.

Projected Lines

Islanders

Anders Lee-Bo Horvat-Simon Holmstrom
Pierre Engvall-Brock Nelson-Kyle Palmieri
Zach Parise-JG Pageau-Hudson Fasching
Matt Martin-Casey Cizikas-Cal Clutterbuck

Adam Pelech-Ryan Pulock
Samuel Bolduc-Scott Mayfield
Sebastian Aho-Noah Dobson

Ilya Sorokin
Semyon Varlamov

Flyers

Travis Konecny-Morgan Frost-Owen Tippett
Joel Farabee-Noah Cates-Wade Allison
Scott Laughton-Kevin Hayes-James Van Riemsdyk
Nicolas Deslauriers-Tanner Laczynski-Brendan Lemieux

Ivan Provorov-Cam York
Travis Sanheim-Rasmus Ristolainen
Nick Seeler-Ronnie Attard

Carter Hart
Felix Sandstrom

Lineups via DailyFaceoff