Game 58 Preview: Flyers vs. Rangers
The Philadelphia Flyers (30-20-7) are home on Saturday afternoon to take on Peter Laviolette's New York Rangers (38-16-3). Game time at the Wells Fargo Center is 3:00 p.m. ET.
The Flyers enter this game coming off a 3-1 road win over the Chicago Blackhawks on Wednesday evening. Philly is 5-1-1 since the All-Star break, although their period-to-period play has been somewhat erratic. The scorching hot Rangers have won nine straight games. On Thursday, the Rangers thumped the New Jersey Devils in Newark by a 5-1 score. New York is 8-0-0 since the All-Star break. They had a close call in their Stadium Series game against the New York Islanders but pulled off a third-period comeback and overtime win.
There are some moving parts in determining the Flyers' lineup for Saturday's game. Confirmed lineups will be posted prior to gametime. Yet to be determined officially:
* At Friday's practice at the FTC in Voorhees, Cal Petersen came out to put in work well ahead of practice and took extra reps after Ersson was the first goalie off the ice. That would suggest Ersson will get the start against the Rangers and Petersen will start Sunday's game in Pittsburgh against the Penguins. However, this is not yet confirmed as of the time of this writing.
* 11F/7D or 12F/6D? The Flyers are dealing with several injuries on the blueline. Rasmus Ristolainen (upper-body injury) remains out of the lineup and is not practicing. Cam York, dealing with an upper-body issue since last week's game in Toronto, wore a yellow no-contact jersey during the first half of practice on Friday but then switched to an orange sweater and took part in power play reps during the latter portion. Jamie Drysdale, who is believed to be dealing with a nagging lower-body issue, took a maintenance day on Friday. Both York and Drysdale are expected to play on Saturday. Egor Zamula was part of the power play reps on Friday. The Flyers may continue to go with an 11F/7D rotation for Saturday's game, but that's not a lock.
* Tyson Foerster (lower-body injury) was a full participant in Friday's practice. He said afterwards that he's hoping to play in Saturday's game. I'd list him as closer to probable than as questionable, but it's unconfirmed as of yet.
* Travis Konecny had to leave practice early on Friday after accidental contact with defenseman Marc Staal. Whether it was just precautionary or something that could keep Konecny out of Saturday's game was uncertain as of the end of the practice day. Tortorella said he hadn't spoken to the trainers yet (which is his standard answer to any same-day injury question).
* Rangers rookie Matt Rempe did not receive supplementary discipline from the NHL beyond the major and match penalty he received for a check to New Jersey Devils forward Nathan Bastian's head early in the first period of Thursday's game. Rempe fought the Islanders' Matt Martin off a faceoff in the Stadium Series game last Wednesday. The Flyers may -- or may not -- dress Nicolas Deslauriers in for Saturday's game.
As with the Flyers, the Rangers are playing three games in four nights, including a weekend back-to-back (New York is on the road on Sunday to play the Columbus Blue Jackets). They, too, will split the weekend goaltending chores between their two goalies. It's unknown whether Igor Sheshterkin (who started against the Devils on Thursday) will get Saturday's game or if the Rangers opt for Jonathan Quick for the game in Philly.
For an in-depth game preview looking at team trends, matchups, stat comparisons and more, see Saturday's Five Things on PhiladelphiaFlyers.com:
Click here.
POTENTIAL LINEUPS (subject to change, will be updated)
Flyers
74 Owen Tippett - 48 Morgan Frost - 71 Tyson Foerster
86 Joel Farabee - 14 Sean Couturier - 89 Cam Atkinson
27 Noah Cates - 25 Ryan Poehling - 19 Garnet Hathaway
44 Nicolas Deslauriers - 21 Scott Laughton - (rotation)
8 Cam York - 6 Travis Sanheim
24 Nick Seeler - 26 Sean Walker
18 Marc Staal- 9 Jamie Drysdale
5 Egor Zamula
33 Samuel Ersson
[40 Cal Petersen]
PP1: Drysdale, Farabee, Frost, Foerster, Tippett
PP2: Zamula, Atkinson, Couturier, Laughton, Sanheim
Projected scratches: 11 Travis Konecny (injured in practice on Friday), 55 Rasmus Ristolainen (upper body).
Rangers
20 Chris Kreider - 93 Mika Zibanejad - 26 Jimmy Vesey
10 Artemi Panarin - 16 Vincent Trocheck - 13 Alexis Lafrenière
50 Will Cuylle - 22 Jonny Brodzinski - 24 Kaapo Kakko
84 Adam Edström - 21 Barclay Goodrow - 73 Matt Rempe
55 Ryan Lindgren - 23 Adam Fox
79 K'Andre Miller - 8 Jacob Trouba
56 Erik Gustafsson - 4 Braden Schneider
31 Igor Shesterkin
[32 Jonathan Quick]
PP1: Kreider, Trocheck, Zibanejad, Pararin, Fox
PP2: Gustafsson, Kappo, Brodzinski, Lafrenière, Trouba
Projected scratches: 6 Zac Jones (healthy), 60 Alex Belzile (healthy), 78 Brennan Othmann (healthy), 17 Blake Wheeler (IR, out for season), 72 Filip Chytil (IR, out for season).
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Phantoms Play Weekend B2B in Charlotte
Ian Laperriere's Lehigh Valley Phantoms (21-19-7) are in North Carolina this weekend to take on Geordie Kinnear's Charlotte Checkers (24-20-5) in back-to-back games at Bojangles Coliseum. Game time on Saturday is 4:00 p.m. ET. Sunday's game is at 1:00 p.m. ET. Both games will be streamed live on AHL TV (subscription required).
Currently in sixth place in the Atlantic Division, the Phantoms will need to bypass either Charlotte or the Springfield Thunderbirds (24-20-5) in the standings over Lehigh Valley's final 25 games in order to qualify for the Calder Cup playoffs. The Phantoms have two games in hand over both Charlottte and Springfield but have regulation wins tiebreaker disadvantages against both the Checkers (17-13) and Thunderbirds (16-13). As such, the Phantoms would have to finish at least one point ahead of either team to make the playoffs.
The Phantoms and Checkers have played head-to-head five times to date this season. The Phantoms are 3-2-0 in those games but lost each of the last two meetings.
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