Flyers Look to Right the Ship Against Islanders
The Flyers head to New York Saturday to face the Islanders, who are tied for first in the Eastern division with the Penguins and Capitals. Coming off of an embarrassing 6-1 blowout to the lowly Sabres, the Flyers need to get some momentum going into the final stretch of the season, where they will have to win a lot to have a shot at the playoffs.
Luckily a win against an Islanders team who lost their captain Anders Lee to a torn ACL back in March could spark a resurgence in a Flyers team that could use anything at this moment in time. The Flyers have had success against the team that knocked them out of the playoffs last year, however, with a record of 3-2 against the Islanders so far this year. A win for the Flyers could be pivotal in shifting the direction this team goes in for the remainder of the season.
Alain Vigneault has brought back Oskar Lindblom and Nolan Patrick into the lineup after sitting out Wednesday's horrid loss to the Sabres. Hopefully, Lindblom can bring back the magic he had during the last series with the Islanders, scoring three goals in the three-game series with them, with two in a 4-3 OT win on March 18th. Vigneault also announced that Carter Hart will get the start in net for Philadelphia, a struggling goalie who is looking to regain the form from last year's postseason. Recently waived but unclaimed Shayne Gostisbehere was working with the power-play unit in practice before Saturday's contest. A motivated Ghost could provide a spark to a power play that has been very meh overall this year, and hopefully a spark to the overall offense as well.
With a defense that has been struggling, which is an understatement, the Flyers will need to score goals to come out with two points on Saturday night. An offense that still has a lot of firepower for the Islanders will likely give the Flyers defense some trouble, so the Flyers offense will have to do all they can to take the pressure off the defense and Hart. The formula still remains the same for the Flyers as it has all year, skate and play hard. When the Flyers show up and show they want to play and play hard, they win most of the time, but more times than not we have seen a sluggish and lethargic team get ran off of the ice. If the Flyers show up ready Saturday, they have a good chance at the win, however, if we see another unmotivated performance from the team, another 6-1 loss could be on the way for a team slowly falling out of the playoff race in the East.
Game Time: 7 pm
Watch: NBC Sports Philadelphia/ ESPN+
Listen: 97.5 The Fanatic