While the New York Islanders and the NHL thought Tsyplakov's hit was clean, the Philadelphia Flyers certainly disagreed.

On Friday, the NHL’s Department of Player Safety announced it has suspended New York Islanders forward Max Tsyplakov for three games for his illegal check to the head of Flyers forward Ryan Poehling on Thursday night. The third game of his suspension is a rematch between the Flyers and Islanders at UBS Arena.

There was no opportunity on Friday for the Flyers to try and avenge Ryan Poehling — still out with a head injury incurred on Max Tsyplakov’s hit that knocked him out of last Thursday’s match between the Flyers and Islanders — when the teams met in their first rematch since then.

New York Islanders forward Maxim Tsyplakov has been suspended for three games without pay for an illegal check to the head of Philadelphia Flyers forward Ryan Poehling.

A few weeks ago, the Eastern Conference Playoff race seemed as crowded as possible. Only a handful of points separated teams in the last few spots from those at the bottom of the conference.

The New York Islanders (23-20-7) marched into the Wells Fargo Center and soundly defeated the Philadelphia Flyers (23-24-6) 3-0 on Thursday night.

Tonight's game between the Philadelphia Flyers and New York Islanders at Wells Fargo Center promises to be a high-energy and potentially heated affair.

A hard hit on Flyers wing Owen Tippett by Devils defenseman Brenden Dillon in the first period might have gotten the Flyers off their game somewhat. No penalty was called on the play, which resulted in the Flyers trying to exact revenge throughout the first half of the game action.

The Flyers beat the Devils for the second time in 10 days by picking up a 4-2 win Monday night at the Wells Fargo Center.

Ristolainen was the OT hero after a move and a loose puck just trickled by Red Wings goaltender Alex Lyon on a rush and a deke that got away from Owen Tippett in the blue paint. The defenseman was the one to crash in and clean it all up.

The Philadelphia Flyers grinded out a 3-1 win over the New Jersey Devils at Prudential Center on Saturday afternoon.

- The Sharks are in eighth place in the Pacific Division with 34 points and a record of 14-27-6. San Jose is 1-4-0 in their last five games. - Mikael Granlund leads the Sharks in assists (25) and points (37) in his second season with San Jose.