PREVIEW 6:45 AM EST

The Flyers (40-18-6) are in a stretch right now where they are finding ways to lose. For the last three months, the team has had problems protecting leads. Until recently, the club usually found ways to rescue the win. Of late, however, the team has been getting badly outscored in the second and third periods and those close-call wins are turning into losses. The Flyers' lead over the Boston Bruins and Pittsburgh Penguins atop the Eastern Conference has dwindled down to two points.

Today, the Flyers will look to prevent their first four-game losing streak of the season when they travel to Madison Square Garden to take on the New York Rangers (34-29-4) in a 12:30 PM matinee game on NBC.

Philly has won all four games played in the season series to date, but the last one, a 4-2 win on Feb. 20, was a game in which Philadelphia barely hung on the third period after taking a big lead. New York's seven wins when trailing after two periods (plus three comebacks that resulted in OT/SO losses) ranks second in the NHL to the Dallas Stars.

The Rangers are feeling a little better about themselves after busting loose for a 4-1 win in Ottawa on Friday. Heading into that tilt, they had just lost all three games of a homestand, while scoring a combined three goals in the process. The Rangers clearly miss sniper Marian Gaborik (concussion). The win over the Senators moved the Blueshirts back into seventh place in the East.

For the Flyers, the effort has been there in the losses to Toronto and Buffalo, especially in the first and third periods. The biggest issue has been defensive miscues ending up in the back of their net and the inability of players to finish scoring chances in the clutch. Too often this season, Philly got away with playing only 20-30 minutes of determined hockey. In the last couple games, it wasn't so much a drop in energy but a lack of attention to detail that came up to bite them.

In the season series to date, Claude Giroux (1 G, 5 A) is the leading scorer for the Flyers, while Nikolay Zherdev has 3 goals against his former team. Derek Stepan (3 G, 1 A) has led the way offensive for the Rangers.

PROJECTED LINEUPS (subject to change)

FLYERS

Nodl - Richards - Versteeg
Hartnell - Briere - Leino
JVR - Giroux - Carter
Carcillo/Zherdev - Betts - Powe

Pronger - Carle
Coburn - Timonen
Meszaros - O'Donnell

Boucher
[Bobrovsky]


RANGERS

Dubinsky - Anisimov - Callahan
Prospal - Christensen - Fedotenko
Wolski - Stepan - Zuccarello
Avery - Boyle - Prust

Staal - Girardi
McDonagh/Eminger - Sauer
McCabe - Gilroy

Lundqvist
[Johnson]

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