5 THINGS: NYI vs. PHI

Philadelphia Flyers (36-30-8, 80pts) vs. NY Islanders (42-25-7, 91pts)
at Wells Fargo Center | Philadelphia, PA
TIME: 1:00 p.m. | TV: NBCSP | RADIO: 97.5 The Fanatic
presented by The Rothmans Institute at Jefferson Hospital
QUICK STATS
Season Series: 2-1-0
All-Time Record: 268gp (139-92-26-12)
Leading Scorers:
PHI: 79-pts, Giroux (20g-59a)
NYI: 58-pts, Barzal (17g-41a)
METRO & WILD CARD RACE
M1 - WSH: 94 pts - 7 games remaining
M2 - NYI: 91 pts - 8 games remaining
M3 - PIT: 91 pts - 7 games remaining
WC1 - CAR: 87 pts - 9 games remaining
WC2 - MTL: 85 pts - 8 games remaining
- - - - - - -
CBJ: 84 pts - 8 games remaining
PHI: 80 pts - 8 games remaining
1. THE CLIMB CONTINUES
Today's game features two opponents fighting for very different playoff implications... The Flyers (80pts) are five points back for the final wild card spot (MTL: 85pts) and could move within three points with a win and Canadiens regulation loss to Buffalo today... The Islanders (91pts) are tied with the Penguins for second place, and home ice advantage, in the Metropolitan Division race - the Penguins play at Dallas tonight... The Flyers have won two of their last three games, and have earned points in nine of their last 13 since the Stadium Series win... The Islanders comes into today's game having been shut out in back-to-back games, which were just the third and fourth time they have been shut out the entire season.

2. NY STATE OF MIND
Today's game wraps up the season series between the two clubs with each team winning on each other's home ice - the Flyers won the last two games at Long Island by a combined score of 9-3, but the Islanders won the only meeting at Wells Fargo Center, 6-1 on Oct. 27... Travis Sanheim (1g-2a) and Claude Giroux (3a) lead the Flyers with three points (1g-2a), while Anders Lee (1g-3a) and Mathew Barzal (4a) lead NY... The Flyers have scored six of their 10 goals in the second period, while the Isles have scored five of their nine in the third period in the series... In the last meeting, Jake Voracek received a five-minute major for interference on Isles d-man, Johnny Boychuk, which also resulted in a two-game suspension - Boychuk has yet to play since that game on Mar. 9.
3. KILLIN IT LATELY
The Flyers have been one of the NHL's best teams on the penalty kill since Nov. 23, ranking 5th with an 84.2% kill rate... More recently, the Flyers have the best penalty kill in the Eastern Conference, and second best in the entire NHL, since Feb. 11, operating at 88.6% by killing off 39 of 44 penalties... Overall, Ivan Provorov leads the Flyers in PK time, averaging 2:54 of SH ice time per-game.
4. DAY-O
Three of the four meetings against the Islanders this season are daytime starts, including today's game... Today is the 16th daytime start for the Flyers, who are 8-5-2 in afternoon starts, including winners of the last four... The Flyers have gone 12-for-48 (25%) on the power play in afternoon starts... The Islanders own a 6-4-0 record in daytime starts... The Flyers will also be wearing their third jerseys for the 14th time and own an 8-4-1 mark, outscoring their opponent 53-37 when wearing black.
5. PLAYERS TO WATCH:
FLYERS (C: #14 - Sean Couturier)
Couturier continues to pile up points for the Flyers - recording goals in three straight, points in four straight (3g-4a) including three multi-point games... He has led the Flyers in scoring since Nov. 1 with 68 points and since Jan. 8, he ranks sixth in the NHL in scoring with 44 points, while leading all players with a +23 rating.
ISLANDERS (C: #13 - Mathew Barzal)
The Isles have earned points in eight of their last nine games when he has recorded a point (8-0-1), and have a 9-1-1 record in their last 11 games when he scores a goal... Barzal averages over a point per-game pace against the Flyers with 11 points (4g-7a) in seven meetings, but has recorded points in every game played at the Wells Fargo Center, posting five points (1g-4a) in three games at Philly.