Islanders at Flyers preview

ISLANDERS (42-25-7) at FLYERS (36-30-8)
1 p.m. ET; NHLN, NBCSP, MSG+, NHL.TV

The Islanders, who lost 5-0 to the Boston Bruins on Tuesday and 4-0 at the Montreal Canadiens on Thursday, are three points behind the Washington Capitals for first place in the division.
The Flyers, 2-3-0 in their past five games after going 6-1-1 in their previous eight, are five points behind the Canadiens for the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Eastern Conference.

Players to watch

Islanders center Mathew Barzal has 11 points (four goals, seven assists) in seven games against the Flyers.
Flyers forward James van Riemsdyk has seven points (six goals, one assist) in a five-game point streak and 15 points (11 goals, four assists) in his past 13 games.

They said it

"We had some chances [against the Canadiens], we didn't bury them and now guys are starting to grip the stick a little bit when you go two games and you haven't scored a goal. But you've got to wipe it away." -- Islanders coach Barry Trotz
"We're just coming to the rink every day and just worrying about our group and everything that's going on in here. All that excess noise, we can't control any of that. We can't control how other teams are playing. We just have to worry about ourselves and what's in this locker room." -- Flyers goalie Carter Hart

Islanders projected lineup

Anders Lee -- Mathew Barzal -- Jordan Eberle
Josh Bailey -- Brock Nelson -- Andrew Ladd
Anthony Beauvillier -- Tanner Fritz -- Leo Komarov
Matt Martin -- Casey Cizikas -- Cal Clutterbuck
Nick Leddy -- Johnny Boychuk
Adam Pelech -- Ryan Pulock
Devon Toews -- Scott Mayfield
Robin Lehner
Thomas Greiss
Scratched: Michael Dal Colle, Ross Johnston, Tom Kuhnhackl, Thomas Hickey, Luca Sbisa, Dennis Seidenberg
Injured: Valtteri Filppula (upper body)

Flyers projected lineup

Oskar Lindblom -- Sean Couturier -- Jakub Voracek
James van Riemsdyk -- Nolan Patrick -- Claude Giroux
Michael Raffl -- Scott Laughton -- Travis Konecny
Phil Varone -- Corban Knight -- Ryan Hartman
Ivan Provorov -- Travis Sanheim
Shayne Gostisbehere -- Philippe Myers
Robert Hagg -- Radko Gudas
Carter Hart
Brian Elliott
Scratched: Cam Talbot, Andrew MacDonald, Justin Bailey, Samuel Morin
Injured:Michal Neuvirth (lower body)

Status report

Each team had a full day off Friday. … Mayfield is questionable after taking a hard hit from Canadiens forward Andrew Shaw in the third period Thursday. … Raffl could play after missing a 3-1 win against the Chicago Blackhawks on Thursday because of the flu.

Stat pack

Couturier has seven points (three goals, four assists) in a four-game point streak and 13 points (six goals, seven assists) in his past 10 games. … Giroux has six assists in a four-game point streak and 18 points (three goals, 15 assists) in his past 13 games.