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Flyers Gameday: 1-15-22 vs NYR; Phantoms Point Streak at Nine |
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Game 37 Preview: Flyers vs. Rangers
Interim head coach Mike Yeo's Philadelphia Flyers (13-16-7) will host Gerard Gallant's New York Rangers (24-10-4) on Saturday evening. Game time at the Wells Fargo Center is 7:00 p.m. ET (NBCSP, 93.3 WMMR).
Winless in their last six matches (0-4-2), the Flyers enter this game coming off a 3-2 road loss to the Boston Bruins on Thursday. The Rangers just completed a four-game western road trip in which they went 2-2-0. On Thursday, New York skated to a 3-0 shutout victory in San Jose.
With a Wings lacrosse game in the afternoon at the Wells Fargo Center, the Flyers will hold their 10:30 a.m. morning skate at the FTC in Voorhees. They did not practice on Friday. Neither did the Rangers, who returned from California and rested the remainder of Friday.
Update: Rasmus Ristolainen has exited COVID protocol but is not yet ready to play. He participated in the morning skate. The projected lineup is:
86 Joel Farabee - 28 Claude Giroux - 89 Cam Atkinson
25 James van Riemsdyk - 13 Kevin Hayes - 20 Gerry Mayhew
23 Oskar Lindblom- 21 Scott Laughton - 11 Travis Konecny
59 Jackson Cates - 48 Morgan Frost - 17 Zack MacEwen
6 Ivan Provorov - 61 Justin Braun
45 Cam York - 6 Travis Sanheim
3 Keith Yandle - 24 Nick Seeler
79 Carter Hart
[35 Martin Jones]
In today's Five Things feature on the Flyers' site, there is a lengthy discussion in the "Inside the Numbers" section about why the Rangers -- who have similarly unimpressive analytics to the Flyers, and actually rank below Philly in a few areas such as 5-on-5 team Corsi -- have managed to be a top team in the standings yet the Flyers have struggled.
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Phantoms Extend Point Streak to Nine
Returning to action after the COVID-related postponements of their previous two games, the Lehigh Valley Phantoms skated a 4-3 road victory over the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins on Friday evening.
The Phantoms trailed 1-0 early before latter first period (power play, 2nd goal of the season) and early third period (3rd) tallies by Linus Sandin put them ahead. Cal O'Reilly (one goal, two assists on the night) added some insurance. The Pens drew back within 3-2 with 3:37 remaining in regulation but Adam Clendening (5th) notched an empty-net goal to restore a two-goal margin and seal the win. Pittsburgh scored an essentially meaningless goal in the final seven seconds to trim the final margin of defeat from 4-2 to 4-3.
Wade Allison made his return to the Lehigh Valley lineup after missing roughly a month with an elbow injury. He came out with his usual high-energy, physical style but struggled for shooting lanes. The Phantoms also had defenseman Egor Zamula (returned from the Flyers) back in the lineup.
Lehigh Valley got outshot by whopping 42-16 margin. Making his second appearance for Lehigh Valley, Garrett Metcalf made 39 saves to take 3rd-Star honors for the game.
The Phantoms (10-11-7) and Penguins (9-15-4) will rematch on Saturday with the scene shifting to the PPL Center. Look for Felix Sandström to get the start in goal.
Philadelphia Flyers Blogger •NHL.com • 
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