Flyers Game Day: April 3 @ Islanders

Bill Meltzer’s Flyers blog is powered by Phans of Philly, by Lights On Electric, by New Balance of Mount Laurel, by Cover All Exteriors, and our newest sponsors, The Mens and Boys Store and Carl’s Cards and Collectibles.st sponsors, The Mens and Boys Store and Carl’s Cards and Collectibles.

Rick Tocchet’s Philadelphia Flyers (37-26-12) are in Elmont on Friday to take on Patrick Roy’s New York Islanders (42-29-5). This is the fourth and final game of the season series between the teams.  The Flyers are 2-1-0 against the Islanders to date this season. Both wins came via shootout victories.

All three teams in closest proximity to the third-place spot in the Metropolitan Divison — the Islanders (89 points, 29 regulation wins), Columbus Blue Jackets (88 points, 27 RW) and Flyers (86 points, 23 RW) — have lost back-to-back games in regulation.

On Thursday at Xfinity Mobile Arena in Philadelphia, the Flyers lost a 4-2 contest with the Detroit Red Wings. Philly never led at any point of the night but controlled puck possession and had more scoring chances throughout the night. However, only results matter (especially by this late stage of the season). The Flyers squandered one of the two games in hand they had on the Islanders coming into the night.

In a losing cause, Tyson Foerster (11th goal of the season) marked his return to the lineup for the first time since suffering an upper body injury on December 1. Rookie right wing Porter Martone made his home debut with nine shots on goal (14 shot attempts) and the primary assist on a third period goal by Travis Konecny (27th).

Idle on Thursday, the Islanders dropped both ends of a back-to-back earlier this week. On Tuesday, Islanders led the Pittsburgh Penguins by scores of 2-0 and 3-1 early in the second period. However, Pittsburgh exploded for seven unanswered goals to defeat the Islanders by an 8-3 count. The next night,  the host Buffalo Sabres beat the Islanders, 4-3.

Islanders captain Anders Lee had an unsuccessful penalty shot attempt in the second period with New York trailing 1-0. Lee later scored his 18th goal of the season. Former Flyers center Brayden Schenn had a goal (17th) and an assist in a losing cause. Calum Ritchie (12th) had the other goal. Bo Horvat assisted on all three Islanders goals.

Where to watch

Time and broadcast: 7:00 p.m. EDT on NBCSP+ or NHL Network
Listen online: FlyersRadio 24/7
RAV4 keys to the game for Philadelphia: click here
In-game watch party (Maher Media): click here

Leading scorers: Flyers (through 75 games)

Travis Konecny — 66 points (27g, 39a)
Trevor Zegras — 61 points (23g, 38a)
Owen Tippett — 49 points (27g, 22a)
Christian Dvorak — 47 points (16g, 31a)
Noah Cates — 42 points (17g, 25a)
Matvei Michkov — 40 points (16g, 24a)
Travis Sanheim — 33 points (9g, 24a)
Sean Couturier — 32 points (10g, 22a)
Jamie Drysdale — 30 points (8g, 22a)
Cam York — 26 points (4g, 22a) in 68 games
Tyson Forster — 14 points (11g, 3a) in 22 games
Denver Barkey — 14 points (5g, 9a) in 38 games
Nikita Grebenkin — 14 points (4g, 10a) in 55 games

Goaltender stats

Dan Vladar — 46 GP, 24-13-7, 2.50 GAA, .904 SV%
Samuel Ersson — 31 GP, 13-11-5, 3.15 GAA, .867 SV%
Aleksei Kolosov — 4 GP, 0-2-0, 4.00 GAA, .830 SV%

Flyers Lineup (subject to change)

The Flyers will not hold a morning skate on Friday in Elmont. Dan Vladar will get the start in goal against the Islanders. The lines below reflect Thursday’s combinations against the Red Wings. The projections will be updated as necessary prior to game time.

Tyson Foerster – Trevor Zegras – Owen Tippett
Travis Konecny – Christian Dvorak – Porter Martone
Denver Barkey – Noah Cates – Matvei Michkov
Luke Glendening – Sean Couturier – Carl Grundstrom

Travis Sanheim – Rasmus Ristolainen
Cam York – Jamie Drysdale
Nick Seeler – Emil Andrae

Samuel Ersson
[Dan Vladar]

Scratches: Alex Bump (healthy), Garnet Hathaway (healthy), Noah Juulsen (undisclosed), Nikita Grebenkin (upper body), Garrett Wilson (healthy).

Flyers Playoff Outlook

All three teams in closest proximity to the third-place spot in the Metropolitan Division — the Islanders (89 points, 29 regulation wins), Columbus Blue Jackets (88 points, 27 RW) and Flyers (86 points, 23 RW) — have lost back-to-back games in regulation.

Third place in the Metro is the more attainable target right now than an Eastern Conference wildcard spot. To get the lower wildcard, the Flyers would have to beat out the Ottawa Senators (88 points, 33 RW), Detroit (88 points, 29 RW) and Columbus.

The Red Wings still have one head-to-head game left with the Blue Jackets. Someone is guaranteed to come away with two points. The best case scenario for the Flyers would be for Detroit to win in regulation over Columbus and then for the Flyers themselves to beat the Red Wings two nights later.

Additionally, the Senators still have one head-to-head game left with the Islanders. The Flyers really need a regulation win in Elmont on Friday. Thereafter, the Flyers will need a home win over the Bruins on Saturday (whether regulation, overtime or by shootout). That would give Tocchet’s team a fighting chance over the final five games of the regular season.

Philly is just about out of mulligans at this point. They’ve caught several recent breaks with their main competitors losing in regulation. Unfortunately, the Flyers suffered their own regulation losses to Columbus, Washington and Detroit. Rather than helping themselves and making gains on rivals, Philly has made its own path very complicated.

Starting with Thursday’s game against Detroit, the Flyers began a stretch of eight games in 13 nights (four home, four away). Those are very tough conditions in which to all but run the table.