It’s another weekend on Long Island.
The Flyers (32-27-8, 72 points) try to close the gap in their pursuit of a playoff spot as they take on the New York Islanders (39-21-7, 85 points) for the second time in six days.
The Flyers have more road wins against the Islanders than any other NHL team (29-10-1) dating back to the 2002-03 season.
Let's take a look at Saturday's essentials:
• When: 7 p.m. ET with Flyers Pregame Live at 6:30 p.m.
• Where: Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum
• Broadcast: NBC Sports Philadelphia
• Live stream: NBCSportsPhiladelphia.com and the NBC Sports MyTeams app
• The Flyers have a winning record against every division outside of the Metropolitan, with a mark of 8-10-2. This game against the Islanders is the fifth game out of seven straight they’ll play within their division. They’re 2-2-0 in the first four games of this seven-game Metro stretch.
Since Jan. 5, the Flyers have a power play and a penalty kill both ranked in the top 10. The PP ranks sixth with a success rate of 24.0 percent and the PK comes in at 10th, at 83.1 percent.
NHL
• Does winning faceoffs really matter? The Flyers lead the NHL in faceoff percentage at 55.4 percent. However, they’ve lost all five games this season when winning 69 percent or more faceoffs, including their most recent game against the Washington Capitals.
• Claude Giroux brings a season-high six-game point streak into Saturday’s game against the Islanders. Giroux is averaging nearly two points a game during the streak, with three goals and eight assists to go along with a plus-11 rating. Interim head coach Scott Gordon believes the move back to wing has helped free up Giroux’s offensive game.
Sometimes to be successful, to maximize a player, you have to have the right components on a line with the other personnel, and I’m not really sure we really have that with ‘G’ at center. I just felt like he had to do a lot of the heavy lifting and I think that’s a lot to ask. If he’s playing with different guys, maybe it’s different as a center.
- Gordon
• Coming off his shortest outing of the season, Brian Elliott will start for the sixth time in the last seven games. He was pulled just 4:18 into the second period after allowing four goals in Wednesday's 5-3 loss to the Capitals.
• Jakub Voracek is expected to return to the Flyers' lineup after missing the past two games with a lower-body injury. Voracek is riding a four-game point streak that has seen him total nine points (three goals, six assists) in that span.
• The Islanders knocked off the Ottawa Senators on Tuesday, giving head coach Barry Trotz his 800th career victory. Trotz became the fourth coach in NHL history to win that many games, joining Scotty Bowman (1,244), Joel Quenneville (890) and Ken Hitchcock (842).
• The Flyers and Islanders wrap up their four-game regular-season series Saturday, March 23, at the Wells Fargo Center.
Projected lineup
Forwards
James van Riemsdyk-Nolan Patrick-Claude Giroux
Oskar Lindblom-Sean Couturier-Jakub Voracek
Michael Raffl-Scott Laughton-Travis Konecny
Phil Varone-Corban Knight-Ryan Hartman
Defensemen
Ivan Provorov-Travis Sanheim
Robert Hagg-Radko Gudas
Shayne Gostisbehere-Philippe Myers
Goalies
Brian Elliott
Cam Talbot/Carter Hart
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