5 THINGS: Flyers vs. Islanders

GAME NOTES
In the back half of a home-and-home set, interim head coach Mike Yeo's Philadelphia Flyers (13-18-7) will rematch with Barry Trotz's New York Islanders (12-13-6). The venue shifts to the Wells Fargo Center. Game time is 7:00 p.m. ET (NBCSP, 97.5 The Fanatic).

On Monday night at the brand new UBS Arena in Elmont, NY, the Islanders defeated the Flyers by a 4-1 score. The game was scoreless in the first period and remained 0-0 past the midpoint of regulation. The Islanders soon for tallies by Brock Nelson (team-high 11th of the season) and Casey Cizakas (1st) spaced 2:44 apart. Later, a puck-luck goal on an attempted pass by Travis Konecny (6th) of the season cut the deficit to 2-1. In the third period, Anthony Beauvillier (6th) extended the New York lead to 3-1. Matt Martin (1st) tacked on an empty net goal.
For the Flyers, Martin Jones stopped 27 of 30 shots in a losing cause. Ilya Sorokin was beaten only on the fluky Konecny goal and won the game with 26 saves on 27 shots.
The Flyers drag an eight-game winless streak (0-6-2) into this game. The Islanders have won two of their three games since a 12-day schedule hiatus earlier this month due to the pandemic-related postponement of a four-game road trip.
Here are five things to watch in this game:
1. Hart gets the start.
The Flyers have had many things go wrong this season: underachievement by players expected to step up, exposure of a lack of depth, defensive inconsistency, an offense prone to brief hot streaks and long droughts, miserable luck with key players sustaining long-term injuries, and more.
One thing that has gone right, for the most part, has been the goaltending. Carter Hart and Jones have respectively kept the Flyers in games when given a reasonable chance to make saves. There have only been a smattering of games where goaltending letdowns were a primary factor in a Flyers' loss.
Hart, who deserved a better fate in 3-2 losses to the Bruins and New York Rangers, will get the nod in the return game against the Islanders. Jones did his part in the front end of the home-and-home. He was victimized by being screened by his own defenseman (Rasmus Ristolainen), a lost puck battle and eventual deflection goal, and a tally in which the skaters in front were guilty of puck-watching rather than defending.
Trotz, who returned behind the Islanders' bench on Monday after a bout with COVID-19, is old-school in terms of rarely revealing in public who will start the next game in goal. Sorokin, who was excellent in Monday's game, has made the bulk of the starts this season. However, with this game being the second half of a back-to-back, the Islander may opt to give veteran Semyon Varlamov the start in Philadelphia.
2. AWOL offenses.
The Flyers' offense, which had struggled mightily from late October through the abrupt end of Alain Vigneault's head coaching tenure, came alive for a few weeks after Yeo took over as interim head coach. Since the team returned from its Christmas break, however, goals have once again been very hard to come by for the Flyers. There have been various other issues as well -- on both sides of the puck.
Here are the vital stats for the Flyers in the team's last seven games dating back to Jan. 1.
Record: 0-6-1
GPG: 1.86
GAA: 4.14
PP%: 15.0%
PK%: 58.8%
Team Corsi (5-on-5): 47.2%
Expected goals (5-on-5): 46.96%
SOG/GP: 28.4
SA/GP: 33.9
Taking the sample size back to the start of Yeo's tenure on Dec. 6, these are the overall numbers:
Record: 5-8-3
GPG: 2.75
GAA: 3.50
PP%: 19.5%
PK%: 72.3%
Team Corsi (5-on-5): 46.7%
Expected goals (5-on-5): 46.04%
SOG/GP: 29.3
SA/GP: 35.6
In terms of individual players, these are the team leaders dating back to the start of Yeo's tenure.

Despite the Islanders' four-goal game against the Flyers on Monday -- which saw both Cizikas and Martin end goal droughts of 40-plus games -- New York has struggled mightily all season to put the puck in the net. With an average 2.29 goals scored per game, the Islanders rank 30th in the 32-team NHL.
3. Inside the Numbers
Here are the Flyers and Islanders' updated records when scoring/trailing first in a game. When trailing first, the Flyers are 2-16-2. When leading first, Philly is 11-2-5. The Islanders are 7-1-1 when leading first. New York is 2-9-2.
Entering Monday's game, no NHL team was more anemic at 5-on-5 than the Islanders. The Isles still rank last in the NHL with just 46 goals scored at 5-on-5 this season. However, New York scored three 5-on-5 goals against the Flyers in the front end of the home-and-home plus a 5-on-6 empty netter. The Flyers rank 25th in the NHL with 65 goals scored at 5-on-5.

The Flyers have now allowed 81 opposing 5-on-5 goals this season; ranking 21st in the NHL. The team that's allowed the fewest 5-on-5 goals in the NHL this season: Trotz's Islanders (55).
4. Behind Enemy Lines: New York Islanders
As the Islanders showed on Monday, they remain a team with generally solid defensive structure and strong goaltending. There isn't as much speed or offensive pop from the back end as there was in previous recent editions -- which has had a carryover effect to production up front -- but it's still a team that makes opponents earn their goals. The Islanders' biggest problem, Monday's game aside, has been finishing off their own chances.
Nelson and team captain Anders Lee are the only two Islanders' players with double-digit goals. Mathew Barzal (7g, 15a) is the lone New York player with 20-plus points. Noah Dobson leads the defense corps with 14 points (5g, 9a).
5. Players to Watch: Giroux and Barzal
Flyers captain Claude Giroux had five shots on goal in Monday's game at UBS Arena. However, he's gone pointless in the three games since his return to the lineup from COVID-19 protocol.
The Flyers still heavily rely on their 34-year-old captain to make plays and produce at crucial junctures of games. Much of the time, if Giroux can't do it, no one else will. In the Flyers' 13 wins this season, Giroux has 15 points. In 22 losses (regulation, overtime, shootout) when he's been in the lineup, Giroux has 14 points.
Barzal has been relatively quiet since the Islanders' hiatus ended. He has one point in the last three games. Apart from one mismatch shift where Trotz got the Barzal line out against Philly's fourth line, Barzal was largely contained in Monday's game: 1 shot on goal, zero points across 15:06 of ice time in 18 shifts. It's only a matter of time, however, before the Islanders' leading scorer finds a rhythm again.
In 61 career regular season games against the Islanders, Giroux has compiled 64 points (21g, 43a). Barzal has played 20 career regular season games against the Flyers, producing 22 points (7g, 15a).