Flyers at Islanders preview

FLYERS (40-25-14) at ISLANDERS (32-37-10)
7 p.m. ET; MSG+ 2, NBCSP+, NHL.TV

The Flyers, 5-0-3 in their past eight games, can clinch if they defeat the Islanders in any fashion and if the Florida Panthers lose to the Nashville Predators in any fashion. Philadelphia can also clinch if it gets one point and Florida loses in regulation.
The Flyers, who hold the first wild card into the playoffs from the Eastern Conference, are two points behind the second-place Pittsburgh Penguins in the Metropolitan Division and tied in points with the third-place Columbus Blue Jackets. Columbus has a better goal differential (plus-14 to plus-3), which is the fourth tiebreaker.
The Islanders, 3-12-4 in their past 19 games, have been eliminated from playoff contention.

Players to watch

Flyers forward Claude Giroux has 12 points (three goals, nine assists) in a seven-game point streak. He has 47 points (16 goals, 31 assists) against the Islanders, more than he has against any other NHL team.
Islanders center John Tavares has 17 points (four goals, 13 assists) in his past 14 games.

They said it

"We couldn't get a win in 10 games, and we kind of battled back and followed that with six wins in a row, and then we kind of started playing our game and kind of find our identity a little bit. To be able to get 100 points as a team, it'd be great." -- Flyers forward Claude Giroux
"It's not tough to come to the rink, it's still playing hockey and all those good things. But it's just tough knowing you're out of it. I think that's what tough, that you've kind of got to grind these last few games out. … It's just a tough situation in general where we've been out of it for this long." -- Islanders forward Anders Lee

Flyers projected lineup

Claude Giroux -- Sean Couturier -- Travis Konecny
Oskar Lindblom -- Nolan Patrick -- Jakub Voracek
Jordan Weal -- Valtteri Filppula -- Wayne Simmonds
Jori Lehtera -- Scott Laughton -- Matt Read
Ivan Provorov -- Shayne Gostisbehere
Travis Sanheim -- Andrew MacDonald
Brandon Manning -- Radko Gudas
Petr Mrazek
Alex Lyon
Scratched:Robert Hagg, Taylor Leier, Michael Raffl, Dale Weise, Johnny Oduya
Injured: Brian Elliott (lower body), Michal Neuvirth (lower body)

Islanders projected lineup

Anders Lee -- John Tavares -- Josh Bailey
Anthony Beauvillier -- Mathew Barzal - Jordan Eberle
Andrew Ladd -- Brock Nelson -- Tanner Fritz
Ross Johnston -- Chris Wagner -- Cal Clutterbuck
Nick Leddy -- Johnny Boychuk
Thomas Hickey -- Ryan Pulock
Adam Pelech -- Scott Mayfield
Thomas Greiss
Jaroslav Halak
Scratched:Brandon Davidson, Dennis Seidenberg
Injured:Casey Cizikas (upper body), Nikolay Kulemin (upper body), Calvin de Haan (upper body), Shane Prince (lower body), Alan Quine (lower body)

Status report

The Flyers did not hold a morning skate. … Raffl could return at left wing on the fourth line in place of Laughton, with Lehtera moving from left wing to center. … Bailey will play after missing the past two games with an upper-body injury.

Stat pack

The Islanders must win to have a chance to finish above .500 at Barclays Center for a third straight season. They have one win in their past nine home games (1-8-0).