5 THINGS: Flyers vs. Islanders

John Tortorella's Philadelphia Flyers (7-10-5) open a four-game homestand on Tuesday as they host Lane Lambert's New York Islanders (15-8-0) at the Wells Fargo Center on Tuesday evening. Game time is 7:30 p.m. ET.

The game will be streamed on ESPN+/Hulu. The radio broadcast is on 97.5 The Fanatic with an online simulcast on Flyers Radio 24/7.
The Flyers are currently mired in a 10-game winless streak (0-7-3) that has seen the team claim just three of 20 possible points. The club has lost back-to-back and four of their last six in regulation to fall below "hockey .500" for the season. The Islanders are riding a four-game winning streak and have won seven of their last 10 games. Tuesday's game is the second of four meetings between the teams this season, and the first of two at the Wells Fargo Center. The third game will be in Philadelphia on Feb. 6 before the season series wraps up at UBS Arena in Elmont, NY, on April 8.
This past Saturday, the Flyers and Islanders faced off in Elmont. The Islanders prevailed, 5-2. The first period was evenly played, and the Flyers were the better team in the second period. The game went to the second intermission tied at 2-2. In the third period, the Islanders pulled away. Islanders defenseman Ryan Pulock racked up four assists. Zach Parise scored two power play goals. For the Flyers, Kevin Hayes had two helpers, while Lukas Sedlak had a goal and an assist.
The teams traded off alternating goals in the first and second periods. Adam Pelech (3rd goal of the season) got the Islanders off to a 1-0 lead at 4:33 of the first period. At 15:27, Sedlak (2nd) tied the game. In the second period, Joel Farabee (5th) gave the Flyers a 2-1 lead at 9:28. Parise scored a power play goal (6th) at 16:38 to make it 2-2. In the third period, the Islanders took a 4-2 lead on closely spaced goals by Brock Nelson (11th) and Anthony Beavillier (5th). A second Parise power play goal (7th) made it 5-2.
Here are five things to watch in Tuesday's rematch:
1. Different goalie matchup
In Saturday's game in New York, Felix Sandström opposed Semyon Varlamov. Sandström stopped 18 of 23 shots, taking the loss. Winning goalie Varlamov denied 25 of 27 Flyers shots. Sandström did not play poorly -- none of the New York goals were "soft", per se -- but he was unable to come up with clutch saves at key moments. The final Islanders goal was scored on a well-placed shot by Parise but was scored high to the short side from the bottom of the circle but to the outside of the faceoff dot.
On Tuesday, the goalie matchup will switch from a battle of the backups to a clash between the respective No. 1 netminders: Carter Hart (6-5-4, 2.85 GAA, .915 save percentage) will take on Ilya Sorokin (10-5-0, 2.85 GAA, .933 save percentage).
In his last start, a 4-1 loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins on Friday, Hart was pulled about 13 minutes in the second period after Pittsburgh took a 4-0 lead. He was blameless on the first three Penguins goals. The final leaked in a jam play at the post from just behind the goal line. He wasn't pulled due to that goal specifically but, rather, as a wakeup call to the rest of the team.
Goaltending and team play are symbiotic: One can elevate -- or drag down -- the other. Early this season, when the Flyers got off to a 7-3-2 start through 12 games, spectacular goaltending compensated for struggles in other areas of the game. Since that time, the goaltending itself has been OK but not great. The team itself has allowed too many goals where the goalie was given little to no chance at making a save. In turn, there's also been a gradual increase in the volume of medium danger chances -- not easy saves but far from impossible -- that have ended up in the net. It's also been a matter of timing within games.
The situations and timing of when saves get made and when goals go in, how the team has been playing in front of the goalie throughout the game are the true underlying factors in assessing goalie performance because they cut to the heart of staying competitive. In some ways, these factors matter more than statistics (including save percentage and the now-trendy "goals saved above expected" metric). Stats can be the symptom rather than the cause.
For instance, if a team has been giving up back-door goals due to coverage breakdowns on the weak side, a goalie may start to cheat off the post just a little earlier because he's aware of the back-door plays where he was unable to get over in time to the other side. All of the sudden, a few more short-side goals wind up in the net, too. That's an example of team play dragging down the goaltending. On the flip side, if the team in front of the goalie isn't confident of getting a save if there's a turnover that leads to a transition play for the opposition, already existing scoring difficulties can get worse. That's a case of goalie play bringing team play down with it.
Specific to Hart and the Flyers, most of the team's recent losses have been team play dragging down the goalies. Early on, the goaltending was so good that it provided an avenue for the team to scratch out enough offense to win. Meanwhile, the team defense was at least good enough at that time -- despite high volume and difficulty of saves based on shot locations -- that Hart could at least see and track the puck. Of late, there have been too many deflection goals (several of which deflected off Flyers' players), screened shots and backdoor goals. These have inflated the team goals against average, dragged down the goalie's save percentage and made the team's scoring issue stand out even more. It's a vicious cycle.
Oddly enough, earlier this season, Hart was prone to allowing a few early-game goals that he'd have liked to have back. Then he'd settle in and deliver lights-out goaltending the rest of the net despite his net being under siege. The end product was one of great goaltending because all of the saves on medium-danger and high-danger chances were canceling out the early-game misplay. Right now, though, there's virtually no margin for error.
2. Don't get buried on special teams
This has been an all-too-common theme in "5 Things" and the "Postgame 5" of late: throughout the 10-game winless streak, the Flyers have been operating at a severe deficit on both sides of special teams. Both the power play and the penalty kill are struggling mightily. On the PK in particular, there have been several slip-ups in the waning seconds after most of the segment had been going well. That happened again last game on the New York goal that made it 2-2 late in the second period after Philly had outplayed the Islanders by a wide margin for much of the period on the whole and most of the individual OK in question.
Bottom line: The Flyers went 0-for-2 on the power play last game, while the Islanders were 2-for-3. Nearly as much as the two Islanders goals (both at 5-on-5) in a 23-second span in the third period that turned a tied game into a two-goal deficit, the Flyers' ongoing power play and penalty killing struggles contributed heavily to yet another winnable game turning into a loss; and a multi-goal loss at that.
Entering Tuesday's game, the Flyers' PK has dropped to 73.5 percent on the season (ranked 25th leaguewide in the NHL), The power play comes in at 14.3 percent, which ranks last in the 32-team league. At home, the Flyers are a mere 4-for-32 (12.5 percent) on the man advantage. The Islander come into this at 23.5 percent on the power play (ranked 10th in the NHL) and 82.7 percent (ranked 4th).
3. Hitting the "mental reset button"
The Flyers hit the skids at just about the worst possible time in the schedule: a jam-packed slate of games, including multiple back-to-back, three-in-four, four-in-six stretches. An already depth-challenged roster is riddled with an exceptionally high number of injuries. Meanwhile, the Flyers have been catching numerous opponents who've been settling into a good groove just as Philly has been struggling. The last Flyers win, which came at the expense of the St. Louis Blues by a 5-1 score back on Nov. 8, happened at a point when Philly had been playing fairly well and the Blues were severely struggling. That team has since righted its ship, winning seven of its last 10.
Due to the jam-packed schedule, the Flyers have had scant opportunity to practice. That's not an excuse for losing. Every team has stretches during the season where a compacted game and/or travel schedule precludes regular practice. What it does do, however, is that it makes it tougher to correct problems that pop up in the interim. Video sessions help a bit but only so much. Habits are built in practice. The Flyers problem this season has nothing to do with work ethic. It's a hard-working team. Rather, there's a deficit in bonafide top-end talent and depth that affects lineup slotting. This forces the team to execute plays at a very high level of consistency if it is to win.
The Flyers had a total off-day on Sunday, followed by a practice day on Monday. That represents the first two-night break in the game schedule since Nov. 6 and 7. It was vital for the Flyers to take advantage of that mini-break to hit the "mental reset button" and treat Tuesday's game as an opportunity to close out November on a positive note, turn the page, and overachieve during the remaining homestand against a series of tough opponents. What's already happened is too late to change. What lies ahead is too far away to worry about. It also doesn't matter what anyone outside the locker room thinks about the team. The Flyers players need to focus everything from within and break the task down to bite-sized pieces.
It's much easier said than done but it's the immediate challenge the Flyers face both on the physical (x-and-o) and mental sides of the equation.
4. Flyers Line Play: No injury returnees quite yet
The Flyers got some much-needed encouraging news at practice on Monday. Cam Atkinson (upper-body injury) and Scott Laughton (upper body) participated throughout the session on a "fifth line" with healthy extra forward Jackson Cates. Neither will be ready to play in this game against the Islanders. However, Atklinson could be back (in his words) "sooner rather than later". He's missed all 22 games to date but could be ready to play within the next couple of games barring any setbacks. Laughton is also nearing a return, hopefully within the next week. Additionally, Travis Konecny (right hand) and James van Riemsdyk (right index finger surgery) participated in rehab skating sessions before practice on Monday.
Defenseman Tony DeAngelo has been dealing with a lower-body issue (believed to be his foot after a painful shot block in Friday's game against Pittsburgh). He took a maintenance day on Monday. DeAngelo participated in Tuesday's morning skate at the Flyers Training Center in Voorhees, but had to depart early. On Monday, the Flyers recalled Egor Zamula from the AHL's Lehigh Valley Phantoms. Assuming DeAngelo is unable to play in this game, the projected starting line combinations are below. Otherwise, the defenseman who comes out of the lineup could be Justin Braun. In any event, Zamula is slated to start on right-defense alongside Nick Seeler for this game.
86 Joel Farabee - 23 Lukas Sedlak - 13 Kevin Hayes
74 Owen Tippett - 48 Morgan Frost - 20 Kieffer Bellows
44 Nicolas Deslauriers - 49 Noah Cates - 17 Zack MacEwen
71 Max Willman - 58 Tanner Laczynski - 38 Patrick Brown
9 Ivan Provorov - 55 Rasmus Ristolainen
6 Travis Sanheim - 61 Justin Braun
54 Egor Zamula - 24 Nick Seeler
79 Carter Hart
32 Felix Sandström
5. Behind Enemy Lines: New York Islanders
The Islanders had an optional morning skate at the Wells Fargo Center on Tuesday. Eight skaters participated along with projected starting goalie Sorokin and backup netminder Varlamov. The only other expected lineup change involves an injury to Kyle Palmieiri. Palmieri did not accompany the team on the trip to Philadelphia.
The Islanders got their desired outcome against the Flyers on Saturday, and there wasn't much suspense about who'd win after New York received the Nelson and Beauvillier goals a mere 23 seconds apart early in the third period. However, for two periods, the Flyers gave New York all it could handle and the Islanders were outplaying in the second period in particular. It wasn't the Islanders' "A" game, despite the outcome. They'll look to elevate their game on the road in the rematch.
Saturday's game got chippy at times. That's not uncommon in the first game of a back-to-back set, especially if there's a multi-goal gap come the third period. That's how things played out on Saturday. Ordinarily in today's NHL, if there's any carryover effect, it will play itself out early in the first period of the rematch game before things settle down for the rest of the night (barring a separate triggering incident). Even more commonly, there's no carryover effect at all in the second game. However, the Islanders have been one of NHL's more pugnacious teams in the recent era, particularly along the lower portion of the lineup. So there's a chance of another round of fisticuffs with Deslauriers, MacEwen and Seeler playing against Lambert's team.
Per Newsday's Andrew Gross, the Islanders' projected lineup is as follows based on Monday's practice line combos.