Flyers look to end losing skid vs. well rested Islanders

The Flyers (13-17-7) will play their first game in UBS Arena, new home of the New York Islanders’ (11-13-6). Mike Yeo looks to help his team put an end to their current seven-game losing streak. Connor Bunnaman enters the lineup and will play between Morgan Frost and Zack MacEwen. You can catch the action at 7:30 pm on NBCSP.

Martin Jones gets the start in goal Monday for the Flyers. In his career, Jones is 3-2-0 against the Islanders with a .921 SV% and a 1.99 GAA. His last game came on January 8th against the Sharks, where he saw 47 shots in that brutal OT loss.

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Bright Spot

Cam York has been fantastic after getting called up on January 4th against the Ducks. Since then, he’s only grown in confidence and has been an absolute treat to watch in what has been an extremely disappointing year.

York was fun to watch on Saturday night against the Rangers, and even scored his first NHL goal thanks to an extremely solid all-around play from Zack MacEwen. 

What a goddamn call by Jim Jackson on the first goal from Cam York
pic.twitter.com/oEH9shxg06

— TLY (@TheLibertyYell) January 16, 2022

Now, even with Rasmus Ristolainen back from the COVID protocol list and ready to go, we’re still seeing York in the top four. Really goes to show you just how good he’s been since the call-up.

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Islanders weird schedule

The Islanders have not played a lot of hockey since the start of the new year with COVID problems causing a lot of their games to be postponed. In order to go check their record in the last five games, you’d have to back all the way to December 19th. 

December 19th vs VGK: (4-3 L in S/O)

December 30th vs BUF: (4-1 W)

January 1st vs EDM: (3-2 W)

January 13th vs Devils: (3-2 W)

January 15th vs WSH: (2-0)

With how bad this Flyers team is, I’m not going to start trying to convince myself that the Islanders playing five games in the last 28 days could be beneficial to them. Boston was playing on a back-to-back when they beat them 3-2, and skated circles around us right out of the gate. Boston genuinely had me sitting there asking myself if the Flyers were the ones coming off a back-to-back. 

Flyers starting line-ups vs the Islanders

Joel Farabee – Claude Giroux – Cam Atkinson 

Oskar Lindblom – Scott Laughton – Travis Konecny

James van Riemsdyk – Kevin Hayes – Gerry Mayhew

Morgan Frost – Connor Bunnaman – Zack MacEwen 

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Ivan Provorov – Travis Sanheim 

Cam York – Justin Braun

Keith Yandle – Rasmus Ristolainen

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Martin Jones

I’ve already touched on how much I love the fact that Cam York is still in the top four despite Rasmus Ristolainen being back. York has shown he can handle NHL minutes since being up with the big club, and his play, despite only being a small sample size, has been far better than anything we’ve seen from this defensive core all year (could make an argument for Risto).

That’s the correct approach in my opinion with York considering the Flyers are 13 points behind Boston for the second Wild Card spot despite having two more games over them. Give York big NHL minutes because if he messes up, who cares, you’re basically out of it already.

With that being said, why am I still watching Morgan Frost on the fourth line? I’m not saying he’s been breaking the doors down with his play recently, but I certainly don’t think it’s deserved a home on the fourth line. Put him with more skilled line mates and let him create without having the fear of ending up on the fourth line, we’ve seen what him and G have.

Play him next to James van Riemsdyk and Kevin Hayes instead of Gerry Mayhew. 

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Parx Sportsbook

The Flyers to go into the Islanders’ brand-new home and hand them an L is currently +165 on Parx Sportsbook right now. If you like what you’ve seen from Cam York, the odds of the 21-year old scoring tonight are at +800. 

Mandatory Credit: Zack Hill - Flyers PR - Flyers Twitter