Rick Tocchet's Philadelphia Flyers (24-17-9) are back home on Monday to take on Patrick Roy's New York Islanders (27-19-5) in a Metropolitan Division showdown. This is the third of four meetings between the teams this season.
Game time at Xfinity Mobile Arena is 7:00 p.m. EST. The game will be broadcast on NBCSP.
The Flyers won each of the first two games with the Islanders this season by identical 4-3 final scores on October 25 and November 28. Trevor Zegras had two goals and an assist in the first meeting. He later scored the winning goal in the shootout. Zegras tallied again the latter game and also later successfully converted his shootout attempt.
The Flyers took five of six possible points during their recent three-game western road trip. On Friday, Owen Tippett scored a hat trick and an assist to lead the Flyers, who dealt the Colorado Avalanche just their second regulation home loss of the 2025-26 season.
The Flyers have had the last two days off since the win in Denver. Sunday's snowstorm caused the cancellation of a scheduled practice at the FTC in Voorhees.
Meanwhile, the Islanders returned home on Saturday from a seven-game western road trip. Back in Elmont, the Islanders were blanked by the Buffalo Sabres, 5-0. Monday marks the start of a three-in-four gauntlet that will see Roy's club play a home-and-home set with the New York Rangers on Wednesday and Thursday.
Here are the RAV4 Things to watch.
1. First game off a road trip
Every game in the National Hockey League brings its own built-in challenges. The first game back from a tough road trip is one of the classic pitfalls to avoid even if the trip went well.
The Islanders had the "first game back home" trap ensnare them on Saturday. The game was scoreless at the first intermission but the Sabres rose up for two unanswered goals in the second period and three more in the third (one was an empty netter).
Roy's team now wants to make the Flyers suffer the same fate. The Flyers had an unexpected day away from the rink on Sunday, but will have a morning skate on Monday at Xfinity Mobile Arena.
The first period is a classic stumbling block for the first game back from a challenging road swing, especially the opening 10 minutes and the final minute of the frame. Puck management, line change execution, discipline and goaltending need to be on point to clear that hurdle.
2. Zegras vs. Islanders
The Flyers' leading scorer this season, Zegras' first two goals as a Flyer were scored in the Oct. 25 game. Overall against the Isles, he has three goals and four points, not to mention his two shootout conversions. Including his years with the Anaheim Ducks, Zegras has seven points in eight career matches against the Islanders.
For the season, Travis Konecny (17g, 28a) has moved within one point of tying Zegras (19g, 20a) for the Flyers' team scoring lead. Over the Flyers' last 11 games, Owen Tippett (6g, 4a) and Konecny (4g, 5a) have outpaced Zegras (4g, 3a). Christian Dvorak (3g, 4a), like Zegras, has seven points over that span.
3. Special teams
The Flyers struggled on both ends of special teams during their six-game winless skid that preceded their 2-0-1 performance on the western road trip. Both the penalty kill and the power play stabilized a bit during the trip. Now, after two days away from the rink, the Flyers need to pick up in both areas from where they left off in the rousing win over the Avalanche.
For the season, the Flyers rank 27th on the power play (16.0 percent) and 20th on the penalty kill (78.3 percent). The Islanders are 30th on the power play (15.6 percent) and eighth on the penalty kill (82.4 percent).
4. The Lee factor
Islanders captain Anders Lee scored his 300th career goal -- a dozen of which have come against the Flyers -- in the Islanders' 4-2 loss in Calgary on January 17. Goals have been tough to come by of late for the veteran power forward. The goal against the Flames is Lee's only goal since the leaguewide Christmas break. He has 11 goals and 28 points overall for the season.
Nevertheless, the veteran winger's play against the Flyers is quite often the litmus test for how his team will fare against the Flyers. First of all, the huge-framed winger (234 pounds on a 6-foot-3 frame) has long given Philadelphia fits in trying to contain him in the trenches. Lee often owns board battles down low in the attack zone and is very difficult to budge when he's set up near the net. Even when he doesn't collect a point against the Flyers, he's often involved in setting up screens and winning battles that keep the Flyers hemmed in deep. In games where the Flyers prevent Lee from playing to his strengths, there also usually is less space for the Islanders' more purely skilled forwards like Mathew Barzal to operate.
Barzal leads New York in scoring with 41 points (11g, 30a). He's followed by dynamic rookie defenseman Matthew Schaefer (13g, 21a), Konecny's cousin Bo Horvat (team-high 21 goals among his 33 points) and then by Lee (11g, 17a including a goal and an assist against the Flyers).
