5 THINGS: Flyers @ Islanders

Trying to avoid a 10-game winless streak, John Tortorella's Philadelphia Flyers (7-9-5) are in Elmont on Saturday to take on Lane Lambert's New York Islanders (14-8-0) at UBS Arena. Game time is 7:30 p.m. ET.

GAME NOTES
The game will be televised on NBCSP. The radio broadcast is on 97.5 The Fanatic with an online simulcast on Flyers Radio 24/7.
This is the first of four meetings this season between the Metro Division rivals, and the front end of a home-and-home set that will shift to the Wells Fargo Center on Tuesday. The third game will be in Philadelphia on Feb. 6 before the season series wraps up in Elmont on April 8.
The Flyers are 0-6-3 over their last nine games. The team is coming off a 4-1 loss to the visiting Pittsburgh Penguins on Friday. The Flyers had the first five shots of the game but the Penguins went on to systematically take over the game and build a 4-0 lead shortly past the midway point of the game. Carter Hart, who was blameless on the first three Pittsburgh goals, allowed a bad goal on the fourth. Felix Sandström played the final 26:23 of the game. The third period was academic, but the Flyers generated 15 shots and Kevin Hayes (6th goal of the season) broke up the shutout bid.
The Islanders, meanwhile, have won three games in a row and seven of their last 10. On Friday, the Islanders skated to a 3-2 road win over the Columbus Blue Jackets as Brock Nelson (10th goal of the season) broke a 2-2 deadock at 6:10 of the third period. The Islanders had built a 2-0 lead on goals by Oliver Wahlstrom (6th) and J-G Pageau (PPG, 6th) but the Blue Jackets pushed back for a pair of power power goals spaced 33 seconds apart to send the match to the third period knotted at 2-2. Ilya Sorokin stopped 24 of 26 shots to earn the win in net. Mathew Barzal assisted on the Wahlstrom and Pageau goals.
There is no fatigue factor advantage or disadvantage heading into this game. The Flyers and Islanders have been on identical schedules this week: games on Monday, Wednesday and Friday before paying each other on Saturday. The Flyers traveled from Philadelphia to New York, while the Islanders returned home from Columbus.
Here are five things to watch in Saturday's game:
1) The Flyers simply can't afford to chase another game
The Flyers have only scored first in six of the 21 games they've played to date, and they have a mediocre 2-2-2 record in those games. It beats the alternative, however. While the Flyers have won five times when trailing first, reality has caught up with them. The team is now 5-7-3 when yielding the first goal of a game. The more it happens, the more deflating it becomes over time to constantly have to climb out a hole on the scoreboard.
During the current winless streak, the Flyers have had problems closing out games they've led heading into the latter minutes. Two victories that were close at hand in regulation -- including one with less than two seconds remaining on the clock -- ended up as one-point nights. However, given Philly's lack of scoring in general, the odds of the Flyers holding off a late push by an opponent by the skin of their teeth are higher than the chances of being the team that generates a clutch goal in crunch time.
2) Prime chances can't be squandered
Early this season, when the Flyers were winning games despite being outshot and outchanced by wide margins, they were mustering enough offense to win by two means: the power play was connecting at roughly a 20 percent rate, and the team was opportunistic in scoring on a high percentage of its Grade A or even Grade B chances. The Flyers scored three or more goals in six of the first seven games of the season including two games in which the team mustered four or more goals.
Even then, there were alarm bells galore that the trend was unsustainable. The Flyers have actually improved some of the underlying areas of their game in November but the results have gone south. Why? First and foremost, it's because the team has been more prone to the "big breakdown" and the goalies have come up with fewer saves on chances that aren't easy but also not unstoppable. As for the offensive component, the early boost from the power play has given way to a severe dry spell in recent weeks and the opportunistic goals at 5-on-5 have become few and far between.
For example, in Saturday's game, the Flyers actually had the early jump on the Penguins. Pittsburgh turned the puck over on the game's first shift with an egregious giveaway that Hayes intercepted at the point. Hayes then fed Noah Cates for a one-timer in the slot. Jarry made the save and made four others in the opening two-plus minutes as the Flyers jumped out to a 5-0 edge in shots and a quick 3-0 edge in scoring chances. Later, just over two minutes into the second period with the Flyers trailing 2-0, Kieffer Bellows worked a mini 2-on-1 with Morgan Frost off the rush, sending Frost one-on-one with Jarry from the low slot. As Jarry moved to his right, Frost chipped the puck just wide of the net to the goalie's left. The puck came back out in front but Zack MacEwen couldn't quite stash it home. MacEwen, who was denied in the first period on an end-to-end rush attempt, later had an unsuccessful penalty shot opportunity.
Any one of these opportunities, if finished off for a goal, could change the complexion of a hockey game for the positive. There are only so many such chances to be had, however, especially when your team is the underdog. By the time Hayes scored in the third period, it really didn't matter beyond preventing a shutout. Actually, in the latter stages of the third period, a pass from Frost was partially blocked but still went directly to Owen Tippett. Tippett rang it off the post. Even if the puck had gone in, it was probably too late for the Flyers to muster two more goals in the remaining time. It might, however, have made the final few minutes a little more interesting.
Overall, the Flyers now rank dead last (32nd) in the NHL in goals per game, at 2.43. They are 31st on the power play (14.7 percent). That puts extraordinary pressure on the goaltending and team defensive play to be almost perfect.
3) Playing with sustained energy
This area was Number 1 in Friday's "Five Things" ahead of the Pittsburgh game, and still applies strongly for this game. Apart from the opening five minutes of Friday's game, the Flyers were flat and listless against the Penguins until the game was out of hand before even the second period was over. That was unacceptable.
For the Flyers to stay competitive with the Islanders on Saturday, they will need to play with much more sustained energy than one early burst that soon flatlines. If they can do so and execute to a reasonable level, they can keep the game manageable despite once again being the underdog. If not, it will become extremely tough to avoid another loss.
4) Flyers line play
Neither the Flyers nor the Islanders will skate on Saturday prior to the game. It also has yet to be determined whether Hart will start following his abbreviated outing on Friday or whether Sandström will make what was likely a scheduled start on the second game of the back-to-back set. Below are Friday's starting lines, with Max Willman sitting as the lone healthy scratch for the Flyers. The combos are subject to change.
49 Noah Cates - 13 Kevin Hayes - 74 Owen Tippett
20 Kieffer Bellows - 48 Morgan Frost - 17 Zack MacEwen
44 Nicolas Deslauriers - 58 Tanner Laczynski - 86 Joel Farabee
59 Jackson Cates - 23 Lukas Sedlak - 38 Patrick Brown
9 Ivan Provorov - 77 Tony DeAngelo
6 Travis Sanheim - 61 Justin Braun
24 Nick Seeler - 55 Rasmus Ristolainen
79 Carter Hart
32 Felix Sandström
5) Behind Enemy Lines: New York Islanders
Barzal has racked up 23 assists over the Islanders first 22 games, and he leads the team with 25 points. He's followed by Nelson's 21 points (10g, 11a), Anders Lee with 19 points (8g, 11a) and defenseman Noah Dobson (6g, 9a). Overall, the Islanders have seven players who have tallied at least five goals so far and six players with 12 or more points. Look for Semyon Varlamov to get the start in goal against the Flyers. The Islanders' starting line combinations from Friday's game are embedded below.