PREVIEW 7:45 AM EST
Coming off a dud of a game on Sunday after two straight wins, the Philadelphia Flyers (2-4-0) head to the Big Apple to take on one of their bitterest rivals, the New York Rangers (2-3-0). Tonight's game at Madison Square Garden starts at 7 p.m. EST and will be televised locally on CSN Philadelphia.
This is the second of five meetings between the teams this season. Last Thursday in Philadelphia, the Flyers broke an eight-game losing streak against the Blueshirts with a 2-1 victory. Wayne Simmonds and Jakub Voracek hustled up just enough offense to win the game. Ilya Bryzgalov was stellar in goal, especially during a two-minute-long 5-on-3 penalty kill in the third period.
In the games against the Rangers and Florida Panthers, the Flyers seemed to be on the right track toward fixing their early-season problems on both ends of special teams. However, the issues returned with a vengeance in Sunday's 5-1 loss to Tampa Bay.
Another over-arching problem for the Flyers in the early season has been a lack of discipline. The team has taken the most minor penalties and overall penalty minutes in the NHL through their first six games of the regular season. That's a recipe for a losing record when the club has had so much difficulty killing penalties.
In last week's game against the Rangers, Peter Laviolette was able to roll all four lines. The Flyers had fresher legs on that night than New York, which was on the second game of back-to-backs. John Tortorella shortened his bench both against the Bruins the previous night and then against the Flyers. Philly ended up winning most of the battles.
Tonight, the Rangers enter the game coming off two nights of rest. The Flyers had the day off yesterday. New York is coming off an emotionally uplifting win against Toronto on Saturday. The Rangers fell behind 2-0 but exploded for five unanswered goals.
Last week, the Flyers line of Sean Couturier, Max Talbot and Voracek along with the defensive pairing of Braydon Coburn and Nicklas Grossmann shut down the dangerous Rangers top line of Brad Richards, Rick Nash and Marian Gaborik at even strength. That feat has been elusive for the rest of the NHL thus far. Repeating the effort will be key to victory for Philadelphia tonight, along with Bryzgalov matching Henrik Lundqvist (who was the Rangers' best player by far in the game last Thursday) save for save.
Kimmo Timonen, who is coming off back surgery, has yet to display more than flashes of the form that made him a four-time NHL All-Star and three-time winner of the Barry Ashbee Trophy. However, his new partner, Luke Schenn, had monster games against the Rangers and Panthers. That pairing needs to have a big game tonight as well.
Scott Hartnell suffered a foot injury in last week's game against the Devils. He managed to finish that game, but will be lost to the Flyers until March. Defenseman Andrej Meszaros had a strong effort against the Rangers last Thursday until suffering a separated shoulder on a clean second period hit by New York captain Ryan Callahan. On the flip side, Danny Briere has since returned from a wrist fracture but is still not 100 percent.
Zac Rinaldo (laceration from a skate cut) is expected to skate this morning and could return to the lineup. If so, either Tom Sestito or Tye McGinn will be scratched. McGinn, who has played well thus far, can be returned to the Phantoms without waivers. Sestito, who dressed against the Rangers last week and also played well, would require waivers before an AHL assignment.
Steady defenseman Michael Sauer is out indefinitely for the Rangers due to a concussion. The team still has a formidable top four on defense without him, but is as shallow on its third pairing as the Flyers are without Meszaros. Rangers rookie Chris Kreider has an ankle injury but would likely be a healthy scratch anyway as he has been in Tortorella's doghouse.
PROJECTED LINEUPS (subject to change; will be updated later if necessary)
FLYERS
17 Wayne Simmonds - 28 Claude Giroux - 24 Matt Read
25 Max Talbot - 14 Sean Couturier - 93 Jakub Voracek
9 Mike Knuble - 10 Brayden Schenn - 48 Danny Briere
36 Zac Rinaldo - 26 Ruslan Fedotenko - 32 Tom Sestito
44 Kimmo Timonen - 22 Luke Schenn
8 Nicklas Grossmann - 5 Braydon Coburn
6 Andreas Lilja - 27 Bruno Gervais
30 Ilya Bryzgalov
[49 Michael Leighton]
Rangers
10 Marian Gaborik - 19 Brad Richards - 61 Rick Nash
62 Carl Hagelin - 21 Derek Stepan - 24 Ryan Callahan
14 Taylor Pyatt - 22 Brian Boyle - 36 Benn Ferriero
17 Mike Rupp - 15 Jeff Halpern - 45 Arron Asham
27 Ryan McDonagh - 5 Dan Girardi
18 Marc Staal - 4 Michael Del Zotto
44 Steve Eminger - 6 Anton Stralman
30 Henrik Lundqvist
[43 Martin Biron]
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