Today, the Philadelphia Flyers (3-3-1) play the New York Islanders (4-3-0) at the Xfinity Mobile Arena. The opening faceoff is scheduled for 12:30pm/ET.
On Thursday, the Flyers came up short in their defeat to the Ottawa Senators, 2-1. Tyson Foerster remained red-hot in this game, scoring his 3rd of the season just 29 seconds into the game. However, from that point on, the Flyers would not score again. Rick Tocchet pointed to the interior game as an issue for the Flyers.
“Yeah, we didn’t have an interior game tonight. That was a major factor. A lot of guys didn’t want to commit to going to the net, and then obviously the stick penalties. I think we had five stick penalties .” – Rick Tocchet; 10/23/2025
Matvei Michkov had a few decent scoring chances but could not find the back of the net, including a breakaway from the penalty box. Tocchet‘s take on Michkov’s game:
“Yeah I mean, he’s shooting the puck, keep shooting it. Hopefully things will go for him.” – Rick Tocchet; 10/23/2025
The Flyers (23rd) rank below the Islanders (15th) in the NHL standings. New York holds the edge on offense (total goals scored – 27). They rank 4th in the league for goals scored per game (3.86), and are tied 17th on the power play (20%). Philadelphia remains the better team at faceoffs (52.7%) and ranks 8th in the NHL in that category. The Flyers are also the better defensive team (9th in the NHL with 2.57 goals allowed per game), including their 10th-ranked penalty kill (86.2%). However, as Thursday’s game played out, you can be a great defensive team (allowing just 2 goals against) but if you cannot score more than 1 goal, you are not going to win a lot of games. Additionally, when you’re taking as many penalties as the Flyers are, it’s hard to get your offense into a rhythm.
“It’s been like that, the first three games of the year were five penalties. Then you got to play guys that kill penalties. Then guys are tired. So you know, we want to play five on five and then all of sudden, you know, the fourth line doesn’t get out there. So it just, you know, you just can’t take stick penalties. You just cant ” – Rick Tocchet; 10/23/2025
Injury Report: Philadelphia Flyers
Injury Report: New York Islanders
Where: Xfinity Mobile Arena
When: 12:30pm/ET
Last Game PHI: 10/23/25; 2-1 L; at Ottawa Senators
Last Game NYI: 10/23/25; 7-2 W; vs. Detroit Red Wings
Philadelphia Flyers
Samuel Ersson will likely start today’s matinee. Ersson’s last start came in the Flyers’ 4-1 loss to the Winnipeg Jets. In that game, Ersson allowed four goals and finished with a .714 SV%. Although he likely wanted one of those goals back, most people pin that loss on the Flyers’ skaters. In the end, it is up to Ersson today to make the extra save against a hot, high scoring Islanders team. Despite being put in a tough position, Ersson acknowledged that it’s still his job to get it done.
“Like I say, before every game is a different challenge. This is a challenge within itself obviously. So just got to do a better job with it obviously. So, I think that’s it. Just got to do a better job with the shots I get.” – Samuel Ersson; 10/16/2025
If the Flyers want to score more, look no further than Michkov and Travis Konecny. Through 7 games, each player has just 1 goal on the season. Last year offered a plethora of heroics between these two players. Although Konecny’s goal scoring challenges became a bit of a narrative for the second half of his season, he was still scoring points with assists. Michkov, more or less, continued scoring goals and points throughout the year. In 3 of their 4 losses, it was the difference of 1 goal. Additionally, in 2 of those 3 losses, the Flyers scored just 1 goal. It’s easy to wonder what the outcome of these games would be if these players were picking up their end of the slack.
There should be no changes to the lineup from Thursday’s game except for Ersson starting. Travis Sanheim relinquished his #1 overall position in time on ice for the NHL. The TOI leader for all defensemen is none other than Quinn Hughes, playing an average of 26:39 compared to Sanheim’s 26:22 minutes per game. However, the difference is just 17 seconds, and it goes to show how good Sanheim has been for the Flyers.
Lineup: Philadelphia Flyers
#74 Owen Tippett – #14 Sean Couturier – #11 Travis Konecny
#71 Tyson Foerster – #27 Noah Cates – #10 Bobby Brink
#46 Trevor Zegras – #22 Christian Dvorak – #39 Matvei Michkov
#29 Nikita Grebenkin – #18 Rodrigo Ābols – #19 Garnet Hathaway
#8 Cam York – #6 Travis Sanheim
#24 Nick Seeler – #9 Jamie Drysdale
#13 Adam Ginning – #47 Noah Juulsen
#33 Samuel Ersson
(#80 Dan Vladař)
Lineup: New York Islanders
#29 Jonathan Drouin – #14 Bo Horvat – #51 Emil Heineman
#11 Anthony Duclair – #13 Mat Barzal – #21 Kyle Palmieri
#27 Anders Lee – #44 J-G Pageau – #10 Simon Holmström
#32 Kyle MacLean – #53 Casey Cizikas – #7 Maxim Tsyplakov
#3 Adam Pelech – #6 Ryan Pulock
#48 Matthew Schaefer – #24 Scott Mayfield
#41 Marshall Warren – #77 Tony DeAngelo
#30 Ilya Sorokin
(#33 David Rittich)
