UPDATE 10:30 AM

Paul Holmgren announced that Danny Briere is out of the lineup today due to what is being deemed "lower-body soreness" and said it's a day-to-day injury. My immediate suspicion is that he has a groin pull. Briere noticeably lack skating jump in Friday's game.

****

PREVIEW 9 AM EDT

With the exception of their shootout win in Dallas on March 19, their comeback against the Washington Capitals nearly two weeks ago and their stirring victory in Pittsburgh this past Tuesday, the Flyers (46-22-10) have continually failed since the All Star break to sustain any sort of focused collective effort. Today's 12:30 matinee at the Wells Fargo Center against the New York Rangers (41-32-5) is a gut check game for the Flyers.

The Flyers will be playing for the third time in four days. That's tough any time of the season, but particularly this time of year and especially when the final game of that stretch is an early afternoon game. The Rangers have had two days off since their last game.

This makes it especially important for the Flyers to manage their energy wisely today to make sure they don't run out of gas. Also keep in mind that the Rangers have a perfect record when leading after two periods (27-0-0), have made 11 successful comebacks (7 wins, 4 OT/SO losses) when trailing after two periods and that the Flyers have not been a very good third period team of late.

Philly got no help on the scoreboard last night. The Capitals and Penguins both erased deficits to win their respective games. As a result, Washington moved ahead of the Flyers for the top spot in the Eastern Conference and the Penguins came back within two points of the Flyers for first place in the Atlantic Division. The Flyers need a win today to reclaim first place in the conference and reduce their magic number to clinch the division to two points.

The last time the Flyers played the Rangers on a Sunday afternoon (March 6 at Madison Square Garden), the Blueshirts humiliated them with a 7-0 drubbing. Heading into this game, the Rangers are coming off an ugly loss of their own -- a 6-2 defeat by the Islanders on Thursday. Prior to that, the Rangers were shut out, 1-0, by Buffalo goalie Jhonas Enroth. Overall, though, the Rangers are 6-3-1 in their last 10 games.

Apart from the disastrous game at MSG the last time the clubs met, the Flyers have fared well in the season series with the Rangers this year. They won the first four meetings. Claude Giroux (1 G, 5 A) has led the Flyers in scoring against the Blueshirts this season, followed by Jeff Carter (2 G, 2 A) and Ville Leino (2 G, 2 A). Coming off a good game in his return to the lineup against New Jersey, Nikolay Zherdev (3 goals in 4 games against NYR) appears likely to get another crack at playing against his former Rangers teammates today.

Sergei Bobrovsky has had four strong starts and one disastrous one in his last five starts, including three consecutive solid outings. He'll be in goal today against Henrik Lundqvist, who had been brilliant of late until giving up four goals and getting pulled in the last game.

Ryan Callahan has been the top scorer for the Rangers against the Flyers this season, tallying four goals and five points. Derek Stepan has three goals. Oddly, Marian Gaborik is thus far pointless in the season series. A pair of ex-Flyers -- Vaclav Prospal and Ruslan Fedotenko -- have histories of tormenting their old club. Prospal scored against the Islanders and has points in two of the last three games. Fedotenko has just three points (all assists) in his last 14 games, but often tends to step up against Philly no matter how the rest of his season has been going.

The Flyers recalled Danny Syvret from the Phantoms this weekend. He could play today either in place of Kimmo Timonen (nagging hip injury) or Nick Boynton.


PROJECTED LINEUPS (subject to change)

FLYERS

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

Coburn - Timonen
Carle - Meszaros
O'Donnell - Syvret/Boynton

Bobrovsky
[Boucher]


RANGERS

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

Staal - Girardi
McDonagh - Sauer
McCabe - Eminger

Lundqvist
[Johnson]

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