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Rangers meet Flyers in a Black Friday matinee in Philly |
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The Rangers look to end their four-game losing streak in an afternoon match in Philly against the Flyers. New York will again be without Chris Kreider and Filip Chytil while the lineup will be the same as Wednesday versus the Hurricanes. The Blueshirts have a quick turnaround with a Saturday contest against Montreal at home.
Lines vs. Philadelphia
Panarin - Trocheck - Lafreniere
Cuylle - Zib - Berard
Edstrom - Kakko - Smith
Vesey - Carrick - Brodzinski
Lindgren- Fox
Miller - Trouba
Jones - Schneider
Shesterkin
Quick
Flying Chytil cross-country to and from New York and Western Canada looks even more foolish now. He didn't play both games on the trip after he arrived, which we all expected. But he has now been sidelined all three games since they returned to the east coast. This begs the question of what exactly is the injury, if confirmed not to be a concussion by an independent evaluator, and certainly has to put that diagnosis somewhat in doubt.
Second, coach Peter Laviolette needs to give out ice time to those who deserve it. If the kids are playing better, sit the vets and go with the neophytes. Playing time shouldn't just be based on salary or name on the back of the jersey, at least during the current losing streak. That's especially so since the problems have not just been for a game or two for a few of those players, but gone on for a while.
New York's special teams are in a rut. They failed to score again on the man-advantage, the seventh straight game where they failed to light the lamp on the power play, Overall, they are in an 0-for-14 rut and down to a 20.4% success rate, middle of the pack. We have discussed previously how PP1 is now doing the job, even after Alexis Lafreniere has replaced Kreider on that unit due to CK20's injury. It may be time to give PP2 a longer looksee to determine if they can stem this tide, because right now, the first unit looks out of sorts.
New York Rangers Blogger • 
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