Interim head coach Brad Shaw’s Philadelphia Flyers (32-37-9) will play their penultimate home game of the 2024-25 season as they host Patrick Roy’s New York Islanders (34-33-11) at Wells Fargo Center on Saturday afternoon. Game time for the matinee is 12:30 p.m. EDT.
The game will be televised on NBCSP. The radio broadcast is on 97.5 The Fanatic with an online simulcast on Flyers Radio 24/7.
This is the fourth and final meeting of the season series between the teams. The Flyers and Islanders faced off three times back in January with the Flyers going 1-2-0: a 5-3 win in Elmont (Jan. 16), a 3-1 loss in Elmont the following week (Jan. 24), and a 3-0 shutout loss at home on Jan. 30.
The Flyers are 4-1-0 in the five games since Shaw succeeded John Tortorella behind the bench. The Islanders are 2-2-1 over their last five games.
Here are the RAV4 Things to watch on Saturday afternoon plus an x-factor heading into the game.
1. High-scoring game?
Both the Flyers and Islanders have been playing high-scoring games of late. The Flyers are coming off an 8-5 win over the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden on Wednesday. The Isles dropped a 7-6 overtime decision to the Nashville Predators on Tuesday and then were on the wrong end of a 9-2 final against the Rangers on Thursday.
The Islanders are not yet mathematically eliminated from the Stanley Cup playoffs but the odds of a postseason berth are remote with eight points and tiebreaker disadvantage separating the Islanders from the Montreal Canadiens. New York is also two points behind the Columbus Blue Jackets, New York Rangers and Detroit Red Wings. The Flyers, who are in 9th place in the Eastern Conference, have been eliminated.
2. Quest for 80 points: Travis Konecny
The Flyers’ leading scorer, enters Saturday’s games with 75 points (24 goals, career-high 51 assists) in 78 games played. Konecny needs five points over the season’s final four games to achieve the first 80-point season of his NHL career.
Over the last quarter century, 80-plus point seasons have been accomplished nine times by Flyers players: Claude Giroux (four times), Jakub Voracek (twice), Mark Recchi (once), Jeff Carter (once), and Mike Richards (once). Simon Gagne missed by a single point in 2005-06.
3. Michkov watch
Flyers rookie winger Matvei Michkov is tied with San Jose’s Macklin Celebrini for the NHL goal-scoring lead (24 tallies apiece) among rookies this season. Montreal Canadiens defenseman (six goals, 58 assists) leads in overall scoring with 64 points to Celebrini’s 62 and Michkov’s 59.
Michkov, 20, currently ranks 10th all-time in rookie scoring by a Flyers player. With a point against the Islanders on Saturday, Michkov could tie Peter Zezel for 9th. Over the final four games, Michkov needs five points to tie Hockey Hall of Famer Bill Barber’s 64 points in 1972-73. He’d need seven to catch Pelle Eklund’s 1985-86 rookie season output.
4. Tyson Foerster on a goal binge
Flyers winger Foerster has six tallies and one assist for seven points in the last five games. He’d need three more over the season’s final four games to increase his full-season total from 20 as a rookie to 25 in his second year.
Foerster, 23, has already topped last season’s point total by six (33 to 39) and became the first Flyer since Simon Gagne to hit the 20-goal milestone in both his rookie and second NHL seasons.
X-factor: Special Teams
The Flyers rank 30th in the NHL on the power play at 14.8 percent. The Philly penalty kill ranks 18th at 78.0 percent.
New York’s power play ranks 31st in the NHL at 12.8 percent. Their penalty kill also ranks 31st at 71.8 percent.
Both the Flyers (9) and Islanders (8) have been prone to coughing up shorthanded goals this season. Only the Boston Bruins (13) and Tampa Bay Lightning (12) have yielded more than the Flyers. Tampa, however, ranks 5th in the NHL with a 26.1 percent efficiency rate on their power play, which mitigates the damage to some degree.
The Islanders have scored nine shorthanded goals of their own this season, tied for the 5th most in the league. After leading the NHL in shorthanded goal by a significant margin last season, Philly ranks tied for 21st this season with four shorthanded goals
