PREVIEW 1:00 AM EDT
With six games and four home matches remaining in the 2013 season, the Philadelphia Flyers (18-21-3) return to the Wells Fargo center to take on the New York Rangers (21-16-4). The game starts at 7:30 p.m. and will broadcast locally on CSN Philly and nationally on NBC Sports Network.
This is the fifth and final meeting between the teams this season and the third in Philadelphia. The Flyers won the first game of the season series, 2-1, but have lost each successive meeting by scores of 2-1, 4-2, and 5-2. The Rangers, in fact, have won 10 of the last 11 games they've played against the Flyers.
Last night in Montreal, Philly snapped a four-game losing streak in which it had scored a combined three goals. In a 7-3 romp over the Northeast Division leading Canadiens, Flyers got a hat trick from Scott Hartnell, one goal and two assists apiece for Jakub Voracek and Claude Giroux, as well as tallies from Erik Gustafsson and Wayne Simmonds (which appeared to have been tipped in by Sean Couturier, but was still credited to Simmonds as of this writing).
The match in Montreal was a chippy affair marked by several questionable hits and loose defensive play on both sides for much of the game. The second period in particular resembled the Flyers-Penguins playoff series of last year. Even in this down season, the Flyers have shown they can score in bunches when other teams give them time and space -- and the opposing goalie is not in good form. It's when the checking gets and they have had to fight for real estate on the ice that the Flyers' offense has disappeared.
The Flyers got out to a 2-0 lead last night only for Montreal to come back to tie the game early in the second period. But the Flyers immediately regained the lead and went on to pile on the goals.
Ilya Bryzgalov turned back 25 of 28 shots against Montreal. One of the goals came on a bad rebound, but he also came up with a few tremendous saves when Montreal was threatening to turn the momentum of the game. Steve Mason will likely be in goal against the Rangers.
While the Flyers will be playing in back-to-back games and for the third time in four nights, the Blueshirts have been off since Saturday. The Rangers are coming off a 1-0 overtime win over the Islanders. Dan Girardi broke the scoreless deadlock by pinching all the way up the ice, taking a lead pass from Derick Brassard and snapping a right circle shot home. Henrik Lundqvist, who has been a brick wall in net of late, recorded the 29-save shutout. In the team's past seven games, New York is 5-1-1.
The usual caveat of playing against the Rangers: Do not put your team in position to try and chase the game. This season, New York has the NHL's fourth-best record (13-2-1) when scoring first. Trying to stage a third-period comeback is futile. When leading after two periods since the 2010-11 season, the Rangers are 71-0-3, including a mark of 12-0-0 in the lockout-shortened 2013 season.
Another critical key when facing the Rangers: Your goaltender cannot allow anything remotely soft, because chances are strong that Lundqvist and the shot-blocking oriented team in front of him won't provide any gift goals in return. New York's team goals against average of 2.44 ranks 4th in the NHL (the Flyers are 25th at 3.02). It is in the goal-scoring department, where the Rangers rank an anemic 28th in the NHL at 2.34 goals per game, that the Blueshirts are lacking. If you make the Rangers earn their goals, you've got a good chance at scratching out a win with a couple greasy-but-good goals at the other end.
When the Flyers play the Rangers, Philly often seems to fall behind and make partial comebacks -- or even forge a tie -- but to make a critical mistake or two thereafter that the Rangers capitalize on to take the lead for good. The Flyers need to break that pattern if they are to do damage to the eighth-seeded Rangers playoff hopes.
The Flyers' already-depleted bluelines suffered another loss last night in Montreal. The Flyers lost veteran acquistion Kent Huskins to a concussion as a result of a suspendable elbow to the head by Ryan White. The team has already lost Nicklas Grossmann (concussion), Braydon Coburn (separated shoulder) and Andrej Meszaros (torn rotator cuff) for the rest of the year. According RDS' Ren Lavoie, the reason why Bruno Gervais was scratched in Montreal was a lower-body injury and not a coach's decision. His availability for the Rangers game is unknown as of this writing.
Last night, Luke Schenn played a monstrous game against Montreal, logging 33:23 of ice time, blocking four shots and delivering a credited five hits. Kimmo Timonen recorded a pair of assists -- the 38-year-old veteran ranks 4th among all NHL defensemen with 27 points -- and skated 28:58 worth of ice time.
Up front, the Flyers will be without Max Talbot (broken leg) and Zac Rinaldo (high ankle sprain) for the remainder of the season. Recent acquisitions Adam Hall and Jay Rosehill have been starting in their places.
For the Rangers, defensemen Marc Staal (eye) and Michael Sauer (concussion) remain out of the lineup along with recently acquired forward Derek Dorsett (collarbone).
PROJECTED LINEUPS (subject to change)
FLYERS
12 Simon Gagne - 28 Claude Giroux - 93 Jakub Voracek
19 Scott Hartnell - 10 Brayden Schenn - 48 Danny Briere
24 Matt Read - 14 Sean Couturier - 17 Wayne Simmonds
26 Ruslan Fedotenko - 18 Adam Hall - 37 Jay Rosehill
44 Kimmo Timonen - 29 Erik Gustafsson
38 Oliver Lauridsen - 22 Luke Schenn
27 Bruno Gervais or callup - 3 Kurtis Foster
35 Steve Mason
[30 Ilya Bryzgalov]
RANGERS
61 Rick Nash - 21 Derek Stepan - 24 Ryan Callahan
62 Carl Hagelin - 19 Brad Richards - 22 Brian Boyle
29 Ryane Clowe - 16 Derick Brassard - 36 Mats Zuccarello
14 Taylor Pyatt - 8 Darroll Powe - 45 Arron Asham
27 Ryan McDonagh - 5 Dan Girardi
4 Michael Del Zotto - 6 Anton Strålman
17 John Moore - 44 Steve Eminger
30 Henrik Lundqvist
[43 Martin Biron]
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