FLYERS @ RANGERS GAME PREVIEW (3:15 A.M. EST)
Looking to regain second place in the Metropolitan Division. the Philadelphia Flyers (38-26-7) are in the Big Apple on Wednesday night for a head-to-head clash with the New York Rangers (40-29-4). Game time is 8:00 p.m. EST. The match will be televised nationally on NBC Sports Network.
This is the fourth and final regular season meeting between the teams this season, and the second in New York. If the season ended today, the Flyers would play the Rangers in the first round of the playoffs.
The home team has won each of the first three games of the 2013-14 season series to date. In order to retake second in the Metro, the Flyers will need to snap a seven-game losing streak at Madison Square Garden. The stretch dates back to a 4-2 win at MSG on Feb. 20, 2011. Overall, the Flyers are just 4-11-1 in their last 16 games (home and road) against the Blueshirts.
On Oct. 24 of the current season, the Flyers downed the Rangers at the Wells Fargo Center by a 2-1 count. A first period shorthanded goal by Matt Read was gotten back by Brad Richards at even strength late in the opening stanza.
The score remained deadlocked at 1-1 until early in the third period when Braydon Coburn put Philly ahead to stay. A would-be tying goal by J.T. Miller was disallowed because it was kicked into the net. Steve Mason (30 saves) got the win against backup Rangers netminder Cam Talbot (25 saves). The Flyers went 0-for-4 on the power play and 2-for-2 on the penalty kill with the Read shorthander.
The victory was just the second win of the 2013-14 season for the Flyers after beginning the campaign 1-7-0. The Rangers were off to a tough start, too, and were at the end of a marathon season-opening road trip while renovations to the Garden were completed.
On Jan. 12, the clubs met at MSG, with both clubs coming in feeling much better about themselves than the first time they faced off. The Flyers were coming off a 5-1-0 road trip and sporting a 10-game winning streak at home when the Tampa Bay Lightning came to Philly and laid a 6-3 beating on them. The next night, Philly came to the Garden, fell into a quick 3-0 hole on goals by Dan Carcillo, Rick Nash and Derick Brassard. The Flyers went on to lose 4-1.
Chris Kreider made it 4-0 on a second period power play goal (the Rangers went 1-for-5 in this game). Mark Streit scored a power play goal (Flyers went 1-for-3) in the third period to break up a shutout bid for Henrik Lundqvist (37 saves). Ray Emery (31 saves on 35 shots) took the loss.
Following the Olympic break and an ugly home loss to the San Jose Sharks, the Flyers started the month of March with a 4-2 home win in a Saturday matinee against the Rangers.
Closely spaced first period goals by Vincent Lecavalier and Sean Couturier opened a 2-0 lead that the Flyers took to intermission. Philly had to kill off two early Scott Hartnell penalties and then went on to win most of the battles in the opening stanza.
The second period was a different story. The Flyers caught a break on a disallowed goal for a high stick but still spent too much time retreating and letting the Rangers dictate the play. Chris Kreider was allowed to skate to the net and tip-in a pass from point blank range to cut the deficit to 2-1. Then Derick Brassard tied the game on a power play goal that saw the defense back way too far in and Steve Mason allow Brassard's slapshot to leak through the five-hole.
The Flyers caught a break at 13:23 of the middle stanza as a bit of a broken play on the power play -- Wayne Simmonds tried to pass the puck but got snuffed out -- ended up on right back on Simmonds' stick, and he swept a quick shot past Henrik Lundqvist to restore the lead at 3-2.
The Simmonds goal helped stabilized the Flyers, along with a strong bounceback performance from Mason (33 saves on 35 shots). A big part of the reason why the Flyers won this game was that Mason outplayed Lundqvist, who was neither awful nor spectacular in the game. For Mason, the five-hole goal -- which was not entirely his fault, as Nicklas Grossmann yielded too much real estate to Brassard -- was the lone chink in his armor.
At 16:15 of the third period, Claude Giroux and Hartnell won battles down low in the offensive zone and Luke Schenn pinched in to claim the long rebound of a Hartnell shot and fire it home to seal the 4-2 victory.
After tonight's game, the Flyers return to the Wells Fargo Center for two tough games. On Friday, Philly will clash with the Toronto Maple Leafs. On Sunday, the Eastern Conference leading Boston Bruins -- arguably the best team in the NHL right now -- come to town.
FLYERS OUTLOOK
The Flyers are 8-3-1 after the Olympic break and 13-4-1 over their last 18 games. However, the team is coming off a disappointing 3-2 home loss to the Los Angeles Kings.
Philly trailed 2-0 after the second period, having been markedly outplayed. The Flyers rallied to tie the game in the third period on goals by Matt Read and Jakub Voracek. As the Flyers aggressively pursued their 12th win of the season when trailing at some point in the third period, a turnover led to a 2-on-1 rush for LA and the game-winning goal against Ray Emery.
On Wednesday night, Steve Mason will return to the Flyers net.
Offense has generally not been a problem for the Flyers since their early-season struggles. Through the first 15 games of the season, the Flyers scored just 22 goals (1.47 per game). Since that time, Philly has tallied 183 goals in 56 games (3.27 per game).
No player in the NHL has been hotter offensively than Giroux has over the last several months. However, he had a six-game point streak snapped by the Kings on Tuesday. The Flyers captain has 37 points (13 goals and 24 assists) in the 30 games played since January 4, which was the first game after the last time he was held pointless in back-to-back games.
In the first five games after the Olympic break, the Flyers yielded 21 goals. However, they have allowed just 13 in the last seven games.
Steve Downie (upper body injury, suspected concussion) had to leave Saturday's game early in the first period after a check to the head by the Blues' Patrik Berglund. He is officially day-to-day but remained off the ice at practice on Tuesday. The Flyers recalled Tye McGinn from the Adirondack Phantoms on Sunday. McGinn played in Tuesday's game against the Kings, primarily on the third line.
Both Sean Couturier and Nicklas Grossmann took maintenance days on Tuesday. Officially, both should be available for the game against the Rangers.
RANGERS OUTLOOK
The Flyers aren't the only Metro Division team that has been reeling off wins with regularity in big games of late. The Rangers bring a four-game winning streak into this game. On Tuesday, the Blueshirts rallied from deficits of 2-0 and 3-2 to defeat the Phoenix Coyotes by a 4-3 score in overtime.
Despite their run of home success against the Flyers and semi-blowout win over Philly in January, the Rangers haven't enjoyed home ice all that much this season. New York brings an unremarkable 17-16-4 home record into this game.
Since their last meeting with the Flyers, the Rangers made a major move at the trade deadline, sending team captain Ryan Callahan to the Tampa Bay Lightning in exchange for veteran superstar Martin St. Louis. While St. Louis has not had all that much individual success (no goals, three assists in 11 games) to date, he has a history of tormenting the Flyers. In 45 career regular season games against the Flyers, St. Louis has compiled 58 points (15 goals, 43 assists).
Chris Kreider (broken hand) is unavailable for the Rangers. His absence could force some line juggling by head coach Alain Vigneault. Former Flyers fighter/agitator Dan Carcillo has been a healthy scratch the last few games. He could return to the lineup for New York but there are other options as well. One such avenue may be to recall J.T. Miller.
KEY STAT COMPARISONS (NHL OVERALL RANKING)
Non-shootout goals per game: Flyers 2.84 (9th), Rangers 2.60 (18th)
Non-shootout goals against per game: Flyers 2.76 (17th), Rangers 2.41 (6th)
Even strength Goals For/Against Ratio: Flyers 0.98 (15th), Rangers 1.02 (13th)
Power play efficiency: Flyers 19.6% (10th), Rangers 18.7% (14th)
Penalty killing efficiency: Flyers 84.8% (6th), Rangers 84.4% (7th)
Faceoff percentage: Flyers 50.0% (16th), Rangers 48.9% (21st)
PROJECTED LINEUPS (Subject to change)
FLYERS
19 Scott Hartnell - 28 Claude Giroux - 93 Jakub Voracek
40 Vincent Lecavalier - 10 Brayden Schenn - 17 Wayne Simmonds
15 Tye McGinn - 14 Sean Couturier - 24 Matt Read
36 Zac Rinaldo - 12 Michael Raffl - 18 Adam Hall
44 Kimmo Timonen - 5 Braydon Coburn
8 Nicklas Grossmann - 32 Mark Streit
47 Andrew MacDonald - 22 Luke Schenn
35 Steve Mason
[29 Ray Emery]
Potential Scratches: Steve Downie (upper body), Erik Gustafsson (healthy), Jay Rosehill (healthy), Hal Gill (healthy), Chris Pronger (LTIR, post-concussion syndrome).
RANGERS
??? - 21 Derek Stepan - 61 Rick Nash
36 Mats Zuccarello - 16 Derick Brassard - 26 Martin St. Louis
62 Carl Hagelin - 19 Brad Richards - 67 - Benoit Pouliot
22 Brian Boyle - 28 Dominic Moore - 15 Derek Dorsett
27 Ryan McDonagh - 5 Dan Girardi
18 Marc Staal - 6 Anton Strålman
4 Raphael Diaz - 8 Kevin Klein
30 Henrik Lundqvist
[33 Cam Talbot]
Potential Scratches: Dan Carcillo (may be in lineup, healthy), Ryan Haggerty (healthy), Justin Falk (healthy), Chris Kreider (broken hand), John Miller (suspected concussion).
****************
Click below to follow me on Twitter:
Philadelphia Flyers Blogger •NHL.com • 
Join the Discussion:
»