Game Preview: Islanders at Flyers

NEW YORK ISLANDERS (20-8-4) VS PHILADELPHIA FLYERS (15-11-3)
7PM | WELLS FARGO CENTER
WATCH:MSG+ | MSG GO |NHL.TVLISTEN: 88.7FM | 103.9FM | 1050AM
With a dominant 6-1 win on Saturday night at Nassau Coliseum, the New York Islanders got back in the win column and earned their first 'W' this season over the Philadelphia Flyers. The win also evened the set of three-straight games between the two East Division clubs at 1-1.

The third meeting takes place on Monday night at Wells Fargo Center as the Islanders embark on a four game road trip (which was initially scheduled to be a five-game trip, before Tuesday's game against Boston was postponed).
The Islanders stormed out to a 4-0 lead in the first period with a power-play goal from Jean-Gabriel Pageau to get the scoring started, one tally from Jordan Eberle and two goals from Casey Cizikas. Following a scoreless second period, Anthony Beauvillier and Josh Bailey extended the Islanders' lead to six goals.
Joel Farabee scored the sole goal for Philadelphia but Ilya Sorokin picked up his seventh-straight win with 23 saves on 24 shots while Philadelphia netminder Carter Hart stopped 22 of 28 shots.

ISLANDERS NOTES:

*Update: Islanders Head Coach Barry Trotz confirmed that Noah Dobson will miss his fifth-straight game after being place on the NHL COVID Protocol list. Trotz also noted that the Islanders will utilize the same lineup that they used in Saturday's game against Philadelphia.
"Noah is still unavailable to this point, he's still in protocol," Trotz said. "We will go with virtually the same lineup. The 20 guys will be on the roster that we used last game."
• Cizikas recorded his fifth two-goal game of his career as he scored his fifth and sixth goals of the season respectively.
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• For Pageau, Eberle and Beauvillier, their goals snapped their respective goal droughts and instilled boosts of confidence. Pageau scored his first goal in 10 games and his 10th goal of the season. Both Eberle and Beauvillier lit the lamp for the first time in nine games. For Eberle the goal was his 10th of the season and the goal was Beauvillier's third. Pageau and Eberle are now tied for the second most goals among the Islanders.
• Pageau is ranked 14th overall in the NHL with a 57.2 FOW% and 263 total draws won.
• Sorokin's seventh-straight win between the pipes now established a new club record for rookie netminders. The 24-year-old Russian has only allowed 10 goals in his last seven wins. Sorokin improved his record to 7-2-1. He has a 2.08 GAA and a .915 SV%.
• While the victory was huge for the Islanders, the team rallied around and celebrated Thomas Hickey's return to the lineup for the first time in nearly two years (May 3, 2019). It's been a tough road for Hickey - personally and professionally - so his presence galvanized the Islanders, who were thrilled to have him in the lineup. Hickey posted two assists in the win.
• Following Thursday's loss, Saturday's lineup featured a few changes. Hickey joined the Islanders' blueline in place of Sebastian Aho and played alongside Scott Mayfield, thus shifting Nick Leddy to play alongside Andy Greene. Leo Komarov drew in for Kieffer Bellows and skated alongside Mathew Barzal and Eberle, while Anthony Beauvillier and Michael Dal Colle swapped spots on the wing.
• The Islanders continued their success on home ice, where they are 13-1-2. They now lead the NHL with an average of 3.81 goals at home game and have outscored opponents 61-32 at the Coliseum.
• The Islanders also continued their success when scoring first where they are 14-1-2 with the first strike and are 6-7-2 when allowing the opening goal.

FLYERS NOTES:

*Update: Brian Elliott will start in net for the Flyers with Alex Lyon backing him up and Shayne Gostisbehere will join Philadelphia's blueline in place of Nate Prosser as confirmed by Flyers Head Coach Alain Vigneault.
• With the loss, the Flyers are now 4-7-0 this month.
• Farabee's goal was his 13th of the season which is now tied with James van Riemsdyk for the most among the Flyers leaderboard. The 21-year-old sophomore now has 25 points (13G, 12A) through 28 games.
• With the lone assist on Farabee's goal, Scott Laughton now has helpers in back-to-back games. The 26-year-old winger now has 17 points (7G, 10A) through 26 games.
• Just after warmup and moments before puck drop, Philadelphia announced that center Sean Couturier was a late scratch with a lower-body injury. With the 2020 Selke winner sidelined, Michael Raffl took his place. It was previously noted that Raffl was tending to a hand injury, but still joined the lineup on Saturday.
• Hart made his 18th start of the season while his record fell to 8-7-3. The 22-year-old has a 3.83 GAA and a .875 SV%.
• On special teams, Philadelphia went 0-for-3 on the power play and 1-for-2 on the penalty kill.
• The Flyers give up the second-most goals against per game in the NHL with an average of 3.55 per night. Only the Ottawa Senators (3.91) relinquish more.
• For the second straight night, the Islanders bested the Flyers at the faceoff circle with a 60 FOW% over Philadelphia's 40. Though, the Flyers are ranked third overall in the league with a FOW% of 52.7.