3 Storylines: Flyers @ Islanders, January 17

The 13-17-7 Flyers visit the 11-13-6 New York Islanders on Monday for the first matchup of a back-to-back set. They’ll be looking to snap a dreaded seven-game losing streak.

Here’s three storylines along with projected lineups:

York making a spark

Back in August, prospect Cam York was very aware of what happens throughout an 82-game season. Injuries and opportunities.

While his chances of making the Flyers’ season-opening roster flew away in the offseason when general manager Chuck Fletcher revamped his blue line, York wasn’t discouraged.

“It’s a long year, like it’s 82 games and the schedule is really tight,” York said at development camp. “There’s going to be a lot of guys coming in and out of the lineup. If you block a shot wrong, you’re out eight games. That’s eight games that people need to fill.”

York has gotten his opportunity in January and is making the most of it. The 21-year-old has earned the right to stay in the Flyers’ lineup for at least now.

“He’s doing a great job right now of staying in the moment,” Flyers interim head coach Mike Yeo said last Wednesday. “That would be my biggest advice to him. As a young player, you have to prove that you have that consistency. We’ve all seen what he’s capable of. Now you have to make sure that doesn’t slip.

“We’ve all been around the league, watched a lot of hockey, watched a lot of young players come up and quite often they give you a burst and sometimes they slip off. Sometimes they either maintain where they’re at or they continue to grow.”

Coming off his first career NHL goal, through five games York has also recorded an assist, six shots, nine blocked shots, and seven hits in 21:39 minutes per game.

“He’s not shying away from any aspect of the game as far as his play without the puck or his confidence with the puck,” Yeo said. “As long as he continues to do that, obviously he makes things real challenging for us. Our goal and our job is to make sure we put players on the ice that are going to give us a good chance to win. And his job as a player is to prove that he’s one of those guys.”

Risto returns

Rasmus Ristolainen will make his return to the lineup after a stint on the NHL’s COVID protocol list.

Since the NHL-mandated holiday break, the Flyers are 1-5-2 with 2.13 goals per game without him.

OT matchups

Including the playoffs, the Flyers have gone to OT nine times in their last 15 matchups with the Islanders.

New York has played seven fewer games than the Flyers so far and are 6-3-1 in their last 10.

Tonight is the first meeting of the season between the teams.

Projected lineups

Flyers projected lineup

Joel Farabee — Claude Giroux — Cam Atkinson

James van Riemsdyk — Kevin Hayes — Gerry Mayhew

Oskar Lindblom — Scott Laughton — Travis Konecny

Morgan Frost — Connor Bunnaman — Zack MacEwen

Ivan Provorov — Travis Sanheim

Cam York — Justin Braun

Keith Yandle — Rasmus Ristolainen

Martin Jones

Carter Hart

Scratched: Jackson Cates, Kevin Connauton, Nick Seeler

Injured: Ryan Ellis (lower body), Sean Couturier (upper body), Derick Brassard (hip), Nate Thompson (shoulder)

Islanders projected lineup

Anders Lee — Mathew Barzal — Josh Bailey

Kieffer Bellows — Brock Nelson — Anthony Beauvillier

Zach Parise — Jean-Gabriel Pageau — Oliver Wahlstrom

Matt Martin — Casey Cizikas — Cal Clutterbuck

Adam Pelech — Scott Mayfield

Zdeno Chara — Noah Dobson

Robin Salo — Andy Greene

Ilya Sorokin

Semyon Varlamov

Scratched: Sebastian Aho

Injured: Kyle Palmieri (lower body)

Suspended: Ross Johnston

COVID-19 protocol: Ryan Pulock