The Flyers and Islanders will be back at it this evening as they resume their playoff series.
After the players took a stand on Wednesday, the league was on hold for a few days. Players took time to learn and reflect on what has been transpiring around the world. While they continue to do that, they will take back to the ice. For the Flyers, their second round series resumes.
What would’ve been a back to back on Wednesday and Thursday, it will instead be this weekend. The time off, not only to reflect, gave Carter Hart extra time to rest after a busy time. He had appeared in games on six of the last 10 days.
That included three in four nights. There was some questions about his status for Thursday’s game. With the two days off, he will no doubt he back in the Flyers net. This may also give him the chance to play Sunday as well. That will depend on how much he faces this evening and how long the game takes.
One would have to think the Islanders go back to Semyon Varlamov. After posting back to back shutouts, he was pulled 15 minutes into Game 2. Shortly before that, he had set the Islanders playoff shutout streak record. He should be well rested and ready to get back in the net.
Thomas Greiss wasn’t tested much until the overtime period. He hadn’t played in almost a month before that. But there is no reason to believe he will take the net this weekend. The same should go for Varlamov as it will Hart.
The Flyers will have to be much better at keeping the Islanders at bay. After take a 3-0 lead in the first period, they were unable to create or sustain any pressure. Slowly but surely, the Islanders crawled back into the game and would force overtime.
While the Flyers evened up the series that night, it wasn’t an easy task. The momentum had been all on the Isles side after their first goal in the second.
The biggest positive to comes from that game was players like Kevin Hayes, Sean Couturier and Claude Giroux coming through. Hayes grabbed the first two goals of the game while Couturier had the third. And while he still hasn’t scored yet, Giroux had the primary assist on Couturier’s goal.
Giroux is third on the team in assists and tied for fourth in points. So while he doesn’t have a goal yet, he is still finding other ways to contribute. You do hope that he is able to find the back of the net soon. That will almost certainly do wonders for his confidence. Same for Travis Konecny.
It is easy to see the frustration that Konecny has every time he shoots the puck and it doesn’t go in. He grabbed an assist in the last game, his first point since Game Four against Montreal. But he would love nothing more than to score.
The Flyers will needs those types of players to continue the momentum they had from the previous game. They’ve shown they can score, now it’s time to put their money where their mouth is.