NEW YORK — New York Islanders forward Maxim Tsyplakov was suspended for three games without pay on Friday for an illegal check to the head of Philadelphia Flyers forward Ryan Poehling. Poehling left the game Thursday night in the first period with an upper-body injury and didn’t return.

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.

NHL Player Safety has suspended Islanders forward Maxim Tsyplakov for three games after his hit on Ryan Poehling Thursday night. Tsyplakov was initially given a major penalty on the play before a review deemed the hit clean.

- The Flyers stand in fifth place in the Metropolitan Division with 44 points, three points ahead of the Islanders (41 points), though New York has two games in-hand. - The Flyers picked up five of a possible six points in their last three games (2-0-1) after a six-game winless skid (0-5-1).

Flyers center Ryan Poehling suffered an upper-body injury Thursday night when he took a hard hit from Islanders forward Maxim Tsyplakov.