Game 65: Flyers at Islanders

I've been sick lately, so that's why there haven't been many updates. Obviously, there's some big news going on in Philadelphia sports that I'll try and get to tomorrow.

Philadelphia Flyers: 32-25-7, 71 points
New York Islanders: 31-27-7, 69 points

Martin Biron v. Rick DiPietro (I honestly don't know, but I'm not sure what else you could assume)

The Flyers begin a two day trip to New York tomorrow afternoon, when they take on the Islanders on Long Island. Fresh off a win against Ottawa last night, they'll try to further secure better playoff position in the crowded Eastern Conference. The Islanders are in the hunt too; they're just two points behind the Flyers and the 8 seed in the playoffs.

I expect Martin Biron to get another start. He played well against Ottawa and he might be finding a rhythm in net again. Ride the hot hand.

The Flyers are 3-1-0 in four meetings against New York this year. The most recent meeting, a 4-3 Islanders win, happened in the middle of that wretched losing streak. That was the Islanders first home win of 2008, and they were generally in control of the game the whole time. Despite the fact that Philadelphia has been ahead of New York for most of the year, all of their meetings have been close, with no game being decided by more than two goals.

They'll be excited to turn a page on their calendars after the month of February saw them go just 4-8-2 and fall out of the picture of elite teams. They got banged up and played bad hockey. After a couple moves and hopefully some more injured players coming back, things should start to come together again. Modry could be back as soon as tomorrow or Sunday, which means Kukkonen could be forced out of the lineup again. We have so much depth on the blue line, but really only a couple of high end guys.

Bill Meltzer will have scratches and lineup notes tomorrow, probably closer than 16 hours until gametime. I'm going up to New York for the game and have to leave very early. That's why this is up so soon.