Islanders-Flyers preview: Last chance to play spoiler

The Islanders have this one last opportunity to make any kind of impact on the NHL playoff race when they face the Flyers on Tuesday night at Barclays Center.

The Flyers can clinch a playoff berth with a win over the Islander or if the Panthers lose to the visiting Predators. The Islanders, out of the playoffs for the second straight year, then finish up their season against two teams already eliminated from playoff contention, the Rangers on Thursday night at Barclays Center and the Red Wings on Saturday night at Detroit.

“You’ve certainly got to be up for it,” Islanders coach Doug Weight said. “You don’t like to play the spoiler, but you want to try to make it difficult on anybody you play. These last three games our focus is on trying to play the right results and getting good results but, yeah, that enters your mind for sure.”

The Islanders (32-37-10), in last place in the Metropolitan Division, have lost two straight after Saturday night’s 4-3 defeat at New Jersey and are just 3-12-4 since Feb. 19. Goalie Thomas Greiss will make his second straight start after making 31 saves against the Devils as he returned from an ankle injury that had kept him out since Feb. 16.

Right wing Josh Bailey will return to the lineup after missing two games with an upper-body injury. Right wing Cal Clutterbuck will also be able to play after taking an elbow to his mouth on Saturday, needing stitches and then missing the third period to go through concussion protocol.

Left wing Anders Lee needs one goal to become the Islanders’ first 40-goal scorer since Jason Blake in 2006-07. On Tuesday, Lee was named the recipient of the Sid Payne Good Guy Award for cooperation with the media as voted upon by the Islanders’ chapter of the Professional Hockey Writers’ Association.

The Flyers (40-26-14), holding the Eastern Conference’s first wild-card spot, have won two straight after Sunday’s 4-3 overtime victory over the visiting Bruins. They are 5-0-3 since March 17 and are just two points behind the second-place Penguins.

Here are the projected lineups:

Islanders

Anders Lee-John Tavares-Josh Bailey

Anthony Beauvillier-Mathew Barzal-Jordan Eberle

Andrew Ladd-Brock Nelson-Tanner Fritz

Ross Johnston-Chris Wagner-Cal Clutterbuck

Nick Leddy-Johnny Boychuk

Thomas Hickey-Ryan Pulock

Scott Mayfield-Adam Pelech

Thomas Greiss (11-8-2, 3.85 goals-against average, .891 save percentage)

Flyers

Claude Giroux-Sean Couturier-Travis Konecny

Oskar Lindblom-Nolan Patrick-Jakub Voracek

Jordan Weal-Valtteri Filppula-Wayne Simmonds

Jori Lehtera-Scott Laughton-Matt Read

Ivan Provorov-Shayne Gostisbehere

Travis Sanheim-Andrew MacDonald

Brandon Manning-Radko Gudas

Petr Mrazek (14-12-6, 2.97, .903)

By Andrew Gross

andrew.gross@newsday.comAGrossNewsday

Andrew Gross joined Newsday in 2018 to cover the Islanders. He began reporting on the NHL in 2003 and has previously covered the Rangers and Devils. Other assignments have included the Jets, St. John’s and MLB.