Looking to take a six-game winning streak into Thanksgiving, John Tortorella's Philadelphia Flyers (10-7-1) are in Elmont on Wednesday evening to take on Lane Lambert's New York Islanders (6-6-5). Game time at UBS Arena is 7:30 p.m. ET.
The game will be televised on NBCSP with Jim Jackson and Scott Hartnell on the call. The radio broadcast, with Tim Saunders and Todd Fedoruk on the call, is on 93.3 WMMR with an online simulcast on Flyers Radio 24/7.
Wednesday's game is the first of three meetings this season between the Metropolitan Division teams. The teams will rematch at UBS Arena this Saturday (Nov. 25). Subsequently, the scene will shift to the Wells Fargo Center on April 1. Last season, the teams met four times. The Flyers went 1-3-0, winning on home ice (3-1) on Nov. 29, 2022.
Here are five things to watch in Wednesday night's game.
1. The importance of scoring first
On a leaguewide basis so far in the 2023-24 season, the team that scores first goes on to win 71.4 percent of the time. Year after year, that is usually the case.
The NHL's elite teams still find ways to win more than half of their games if they give up the game's first goal and need to score back-to-back goals at some point in order to take a lead. Overall, though, being the team that leads first in a game tends to stack the deck in their favor.
The Flyers, who have not trailed a game at any point over their current five-game winning streak, are 10-1-0 when scoring first. Their .909 winning percentage when leading first ranks second in the NHL (the St. Louis Blues are 8-0-0 in such games). The Flyers' lone loss when leading first came at the hands of the defending Stanley Cup champion Vegas Golden Knights. Conversely, the Flyers are winless (0-6-1) when they fall behind first.
The Islanders' season to date has been an anomaly in terms of expected winning percentage when scoring first. New York has had problems protecting and building on leads. They enter this game with a 5-1-5 record over the 11 games the Isles have scored first. When trailing first, Lambert's club is 1-5-0.
After many years of struggling in first periods -- regardless of their coach or personnel -- the Flyers have been the NHL's highest-scoring first period club so far this season. Entering this game, the Flyers and Tampa Bay Lightning are tied with 25 goals scored in the first period. The Flyers are 9-2-0 when taking a lead to the first intermission.
The Islanders are 4-0-2 when leading at the first intermission. They are 0-1-1 when trailing after one period, and 2-5-2 when tied heading into the second period.
2. Will Staal return to the lineup?
Based on Tuesday's practice, the odds are strong that the Flyers will stay with the same forward lineup Tortorella used in the game against Columbus on Sunday. In net, Carter Hart figures to back between the pipes after being rested in Sunday's 5-2 win (the second game of a back-to-back).
There may be one change on the Flyers' blueline. With Marc Staal having been officially activated from the Injured Reserve list, the veteran defenseman took reps alongside Egor Zamula at Tuesday's practice.
Afterwards, Tortorella said that he'd make a decision on Wednesday as to whether Staal would be back in the lineup for the Islanders game. Louie Belpedio took reps at Tuesday's practice with Rasmus Ristolainen as his partner. There was good news on the injury front, as Ristolainen (who has yet to play this season) was cleared for contact and replaced a yellow no-contact practice jersey with the black one typically worn by the defensemen. However, Ristolainen isn't quite ready to play yet.
3. Flyers power play vs. Islanders PK
The Flyers tallied a pair of power play goals (Owen Tippett and Tyson Foerster) against Vegas on Saturday and then went 1-for-4 against Columbus on Sunday. After three games out of the lineup as a healthy scratch, Bobby Brink marked his return with a power play goal from the left circle after moving in a stride off the half boards.
Entering Wednesday's game, the Flyers rank 28th in the NHL in power play efficiency. The team has gone 7-for-61 (11.5 percent). Philly has yielded one shorthanded goal.
The Islanders have had a tough season so far on the penalty kill. The club enters Wednesday's game ranked 31st in the NHL at 69.5 percent. Opposing power plays are 18-for-59. The Islanders have scored three shorthanded goals to date: two by Simon Holmström and one by Casey Cizikas.
4. Flyers PK vs. Islanders power play
The Flyers' penalty kill, which has been a fairly consistent strength of the club through the season's first 18 games, enters Wednesday's game ranked tied for 13th leaguewide at 81.7 percent success. Opposing power plays are 11-for-60 against the Flyers.
On Sunday against Columbus, the Flyers not only went 4-for-4 on the PK and scored a shorthanded goal by Ryan Poehling on a 2-on-0 breakaway, but also held the Bue Jackets without a single power play shot on goal.
Related note: It's worth keeping an eye on the Flyers' ability and willingness to block shots both on the PK and at 5-on-5. Over the team's two recent wins against Carolna and Vegas, Philly blocked a combined 54 shot attempts. Against Columbus, the Flyers blocked 18 shot attempts (led by five blocks made by defenseman Nick Seeler). For the season, the Flyers rank seventh in the NHL with an average of 17.5 blocked shots per 60 minutes.
Poehling's shorthanded goal was the fifth of the season for the Flyers. Travis Konecny and defenseman Sean Walker have tallied two apiece.
The Islanders' power play enters this game ranked 10th in the NHL at 22.9 percent (11-for-48). New York has yielded one shorthanded goal.
5. Behind Enemy Lines: New York Islanders
The Islanders have had three nights off since concluding a western road trip (1-1-2) that saw the team play four games in six nights. The trip ended on a positive note as the Isles took the bonus point from a 5-4 shootout win in Calgary. Oliver Wahlstrom scored the winning goal in the skills competition.
The victory over the Flames ended a seven-game winless streak for the Islanders. To date, the Islanders are 3-3-3 at home. They are 3-3-2 on the road. Three of the Islanders' six wins have come in games where they shut out their opponent.
In the game against Calgary, goalie Ilya Sorokin made 35 total saves for New York. Brock Nelson notched a goal and an assist. Hudson Fasching (first goal of the season), Kyle Palmieri and Mathew Barzal tallied once apiece.
For the season, defenseman Noah Dobson (5g, 10a) and playmaking forward Mat Barzal (4g, 11a) share the team lead with 15 points apiece. They are followed by Bo Horvat (5g, 9a), Nelson (5g, 9a), Palmieri (4g, 6a), Pierre Engvall (1g, 7a), and Cizikas (3g, 3a). Veteran captain Anders Lee (2g, 1a, minus-7) is off to a tough start. So is defenseman Ryan Pulock (1g, 4a, minus-five).
Veteran checking forward Cal Clutterbuck, a longtime thorn in the Flyers' side, will play in his 1,000th career NHL regular season game. A player measured more by his physicality and grit than his offense (138 career goals, 280 points), Clutterbuck has chipped in two goals and four assists in the season's first 17 games.
It would not be a surprise if Clutterbuck engages in battles on Wednesday between (and possibly after) the whistles with the Flyers' Garnet Hathaway. The two agitating forwards are quite familiar with one another from Hathaway's years in Washington.
In net, Sorokin has made 11 starts this season. He's posted a 4-3-4 record, 3.32 GAA and .906 save percentage with one shutout. Fellow Russian netminder Semyon Varlamov has started the other six games, going 2-3-1 with a 2.18 GAA, .934 save percentage and a pair of shutouts to his credit.
Schedule-wise, the Islanders have a more taxing schedule this week than the Flyers, although New York is the home team against Philly both on Wednesday and Saturday. That's because, in their respective Black Friday games, the Flyers are back home for an afternoon game (against the Rangers) while the Islanders must travel to Ottawa for a Friday evening game against the Senators before returning to Elmont to host the Flyers.
One of the reasons the Flyers have had trouble with the Islanders in recent years has been Philly's struggles to work around New York's own shot-blocking prowess. Getting shots through has been a frequent problem for Philly against the Islanders under Lambert and predecessor Barry Trotz. This year, New York ranks 5th in the NHL at a rate of 17.64 blocks per 60 minutes.
