Flyers can do something they couldn't do last season in 12 matchups with Islanders

The Flyers (15-10-3) will aim for a three-win road swing as they wrap up their four-game New York trip on Saturday against the Islanders (19-8-4).

Let's get into the essentials for the game:

• When: 7 p.m. ET with Flyers Pregame Live at 6 p.m. ET
• Where: Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum
• Broadcast: NBC Sports Philadelphia
• Live stream: NBCSportsPhiladelphia.com and the NBC Sports MyTeams app

• The Islanders had the Flyers' number last season. Including the postseason, regular season and preseason, New York took nine of 12 matchups from the Flyers. All three of the Flyers' victories came in overtime during the second-round playoff series, which the Islanders ended up winning in seven games.

"They beat us nine times and all 12 games they scored three or more goals," Flyers general manager Chuck Fletcher said last September after the playoff exit. "We didn’t play them well this year. Why? We’ll have to dig into it."

If the Flyers win on Saturday in their fourth matchup with New York, they'll already have more victories over the Islanders than they did all of last season. So far, the Flyers are 3-0-0 against New York, but the wins have not come easily. The Flyers have relinquished multi-goal leads in all three games and needed overtime for two of the victories. On Thursday, they survived a 3-0 blown lead for a 4-3 win secured late in regulation.

But they've gotten results. A win on Saturday would signify noteworthy progress against a team that very well could be in their way again.

Here's how the Flyers have stacked up against the four clubs ahead of them in the East Division:

• 1-3-0 vs. Capitals
• 3-0-0 vs. Islanders
• 3-2-0 vs. Penguins
• 0-3-2 vs. Bruins

• Carter Hart will start Saturday night. The 22-year-old has won consecutive starts for the first time since Jan. 28-30. Hart has a 3.70 goals-against average, but has a 2.44 GAA in a pair of outings against the Islanders.

He made 13 saves on 13 shots over 40 minutes Thursday but allowed three goals on 12 shots in the third period.

"I didn't think he had a lot of work in the first two periods," Flyers head coach Alain Vigneault said Saturday morning. "In the third period there, it wasn't easy. Their first shot found the back of the net. Obviously a team that's behind like that will be coming at you in waves and they were trying. I thought we were continuing to try to play the right way and they were able to get a couple of goals there to tie it up. But we found a way on a big faceoff in the offensive zone by [Claude Giroux's] line to win the game. I do think that Carter is trending and we're going to need him to find his game, and he's working at it."

• Vigneault is going with the same lineup from Thursday's game. 

Michael Raffl will sit for a second straight game as he appears to be dealing with some pain; he recently returned after missing four games because of a swollen right hand.

Shayne Gostisbehere will be a healthy scratch for a third straight game. Vigneault is rolling with Erik Gustafsson right now.

Projected lineup

 

Forwards

James van Riemsdyk-Sean Couturier-Joel Farabee

Scott Laughton-Kevin Hayes-Jakub Voracek

Oskar Lindblom-Claude Giroux-Travis Konecny

Carsen Twarynski-Nolan Patrick-Nicolas Aube-Kubel

Just when the Flyers were about to finally have some game-to-game consistency in their lineup ... https://t.co/M6PMCd13Gm

— Jordan Hall (@JHallNBCS) March 20, 2021

Defensemen

Ivan Provorov-Justin Braun

Travis Sanheim-Philippe Myers

Erik Gustafsson-Nate Prosser

Goalies

Carter Hart

Brian Elliott

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