The Philadelphia Flyers avoided a three-game losing streak after triumphing over the Chicago Blackhawks on Wednesday to a 3-1 final. Travis Konecny, who will miss today’s game after suffering an injury in practice on Friday, restored the lead with a wicked wrist shot over a minute into his shift.
Philadelphia will look for more support from Flyers fans after New York Rangers fans infamously invading the Wells Fargo Center last year. In that game, the Flyers blew a lead in the 3rd period and lost in overtime, resulting in a 3-2 final.
Unfortunately, the Flyers were unable to get their get back against the Rangers this season the first time around. Philadelphia and New York faced off on Black Friday, where the Rangers won 3-1. Despite outshooting them in the end by 37-19, it wasn’t enough to over come a two-goal deficit. The two biggest problem in this game was giving up two goals within the first.
Flyers avoiding second half slump
Since returning from the All-Star break, the Flyers are 5-1-1, which included four consecutive victories before losses to Toronto and New Jersey before Wednesday’s win in Chicago.
The Flyers are currently seven points ahead of Washington for third place in the Metropolitan Division and even with their recent winning ways, they must be weary of what lies ahead.
Philadelphia’s schedule, including today, features the Rangers, Penguins, Lightning, Capitals, Senators, Blues, Panthers, and Lightning again in the next two weeeks. Despite a couple lowly teams in that mix, most of that slate features divisional rivals and teams with Stanley Cup aspirations, and standings points will come at a premium. March 8th is also when the trade deadline hits, so any roster moves that could shape the Flyers’ future and their playoff hopes will come into fruition by then.
Rangers undefeated in February
Since the All-Star break, New York is 8-0-0 and has won nine in a row overall dating back to January 27th. In the month of February, Artemi Panarin leads all Rangers with 10 assists and 12 points, while Chris Kreider leads with 6 goals, respectively.
The Rangers have only played twice on the road and once at a neutral site but have won three of those matchups away from Madison Square Garden, including a 5-1 thrashing of their rival New Jersey Devils on Thursday. The Rangers are always a dangerous club, but this month they are simply on another level and seemingly can’t be stopped.
Special Teams
Across their last 20 games, the Flyers’ power play is operating at a 19.4% rate, going 12-for-62 in that stretch. Overall, they’re still 31st in the league at 13.3%, but they’ve shown a lot of improvement and that will be important in trying to beat the Rangers, who possess the sixth-best penalty kill in the league.
As for Philadelphia’s penalty kill, it’s been business as usual and they still rank second in the NHL at an 86.5% kill rate. It would be wise not to test a New York power play that scores on 25.8% of their opportunities, but the Flyers have a group more than capable of stopping them if need be.
Beating the Rangers
As mentioned before, staying out of the box will be key in beating a Rangers team that can score in bunches in so many different ways.
If the Flyers can also get pucks on net and test Igor Shesterkin early and often, they can get him to crack. His stats haven’t been nearly as impressive as we’re used to seeing and beating him early could be the deciding factor. Take the lead, keep applying pressure, and don’t take penalties. It’s easier said than done, but the Flyers can definitely do it.
PHI Record: 30-20-7, 67 pts, 3rd in Metropolitan
NYR Record: 38-16-3, 79 pts, 1st in Metropolitan
When: 3:00pm ET
Where: Wells Fargo Center, Philadelphia, PA
Broadcast Info: ABC, ESPN+, 97.5 The Fanatic
Last Game PHI: 2/21/24, 3-1 W at Chicago
Last Game NYR: 2/22/24, 5-1 W at New Jersey
PHI Goalie: Samuel Ersson (16-10-4, .900 SV%, 2.58 GAA, 3 SO)
NYR Goalie: Igor Shesterkin (24-12-1, .907 SV%, 2.74 GAA, 1 SO)
PHI Projected Lineup
#74 Owen Tippett – #14 Sean Couturier – #89 Cam Atkinson
#86 Joel Farabee – #48 Morgan Frost – #71 Tyson Foerster
#25 Ryan Poehling – #27 Noah Cates – #19 Garnet Hathaway
#44 Nicolas Deslauriers – #21 Scott Laughton
#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
Scratches: None
Injuries: #11 Travis Konecny, #55 Rasmus Ristolainen
NYR Projected Lineup
#20 Chris Kreider – #93 Mika Zibanejad – #26 Jimmy Vesey
#10 Artemi Panarin – #16 Vincent Trocheck – #13 Alexis Lafrenière
#50 Will Cuylle – #38 Jonny Brodzinski – #24 Kaapo Kakko
#84 Adam Edström – #21 Barclay Goodrow – #73 Matt Rempe
#79 K’Andre Miller – #8 Jacob Trouba
#55 Ryan Lindgren – #23 Adam Fox
#56 Erik Gustafsson – #4 Braden Schneider
#31 Igor Shesterkin
#32 Jonathan Quick
Scratched: #6 Zac Jones, #60 Alex Belzile
Injuries: None
News and Notes
– The Rangers have won eight of the last ten matchups against the Flyers, including the last five in a row.
–The Flyers are 136-131-37-12 all-time against the Rangers.
– Samuel Ersson will face the Rangers for the first time in his career this afternoon.
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