After seeing their five-game winning streak come to an end on Wednesday on Long Island, the Philadelphia Flyers return home to take on the New York Rangers in their annual Black Friday game.
The Flyers trailed in a game for the first time since November 7th and played from behind for all but the opening 1:48 of the 3-2 loss on Wednesday to the Islanders. Today, they’ll look to rebound against a very strong Rangers club that sits atop the treacherous Metropolitan Division.
“I don’t think we played bad tonight,” said head coach John Tortorella on Wednesday. “We made a couple mistakes and they end up in our net. The biggest thing for me is just 2 or 3 guys – I think they’re going in the wrong direction as far as their play, trying to get them going again.”
Philadelphia has lacked secondary scoring from certain players that had higher expectations heading into the season, and Tortorella is anxious to see them start getting on the scoresheet and playing with more consistency.
Scott Laughton has scored just one goal this season and that came 9 games ago. Noah Cates hasn’t recorded a point of any kind in 11 games and has gone goalless since October 24th. Even rookie Tyson Foerster, who had 7 points in 8 games last season, has just 4 points in 18 games and failed to score a goal in Philadelphia’s first 16 contests.
Simply put, the Flyers need more from their depth players, especially against a team as deep and talented as the Rangers.
New York boasts a 13-3-1 record so far under former Flyers head coach Peter Laviolette in his first year behind the Blueshirts’ bench. Winger Artemi Panarin has recorded at least a point in all but two contests for the Rangers this season and sits 6th in the league in scoring with 26 points (10g, 16a). He and Chris Kreider each have 10 goals, making the Rangers only one of four teams with multiple double-digit goal scorers in the league.
Broad Street versus Broadway has usually provided fireworks in one of the most storied rivalries in the NHL. As of late, however, it hasn’t been much of a contest, as the Rangers have won 7 of the last 10 meetings, which includes the last 4 consecutively and New York swept the season series last year as well.
With a fresh, young, and exciting team that has won 5 of their last 6 games and 6 of their last 9 games, the Flyers will look to tip the scale back in their favor in another matchup between these two bitter rivals.
PHI Record: 10-8-1, 21 pts, 4th in Metropolitan
NYR Record: 13-3-1, 27 pts, 1st in Metropolitan
When: 1:00pm ET
Where: Wells Fargo Center, Philadelphia, PA
Broadcast Info: NBC Sports Philadelphia, NHL Network, 97.5 The Fanatic
Last Game PHI: 11/22/23, 3-2 L at NY Islanders
Last Game NYR: 11/22/23, 1-0 W at Pittsburgh
PHI Goalie: Carter Hart (6-4-0, .915 SV%, 2.47 GAA, 1 SO)
NYR Goalie: Igor Shesterkin (7-3-0, .908 SV%, 2.60 GAA, 0 SO)
PHI Projected Lineup
#71 Tyson Foerster – #14 Sean Couturier – #11 Travis Konecny
#74 Owen Tippett – #25 Ryan Poehling – #89 Cam Atkinson
#86 Joel Farabee – #27 Noah Cates – #10 Bobby Brink
#44 Nicolas Deslauriers – #21 Scott Laughton – #19 Garnet Hathaway
#8 Cam York – #6 Travis Sanheim
#24 Nick Seeler – #26 Sean Walker
#5 Egor Zamula – #18 Marc Staal
#79 Carter Hart
#33 Samuel Ersson
Scratches: #37 Louie Belpedio, #48 Morgan Frost
Injuries: #55 Rasmus Ristolainen
NYR Projected Lineup
#20 Chris Kreider – #93 Mika Zibanejad – #17 Blake Wheeler
#10 Artemi Panarin – #16 Vincent Trocheck – #13 Alexis Lafrenière
#50 Will Cuylle – #12 Nick Bonino – #24 Kaapo Kakko
#26 Jimmy Vesey – #21 Barclay Goodrow – #71 Tyler Pitlick
#79 K’Andre Miller – #8 Jacob Trouba
#55 Ryan Lindgren – #56 Erik Gustafsson
#6 Zac Jones – #4 Braden Schneider
#31 Igor Shesterkin
#32 Jonathan Quick
Scratches: #14 Connor Mackey
Injuries: #23 Adam Fox, #72 Filip Chytil
News and Notes
– The Flyers are 24-8-5 all-time in Black Friday contests.
– A win today would give the Flyers their second three-game home winning streak of the season.
– The last time the Flyers and Rangers played on Black Friday was November 23rd, 2018. Calvin Pickard recorded a 31-save shutout and the Flyers received goals from Travis Konecny, Jordan Weal, and Sean Couturier (2) in a 4-0 victory.
– Sean Couturier leads all active Flyers in points against the Rangers with 29 (7g, 22a) in 43 matchups.
– Owen Tippett has recorded 8 points (5g, 3a) in his last 6 games, making him the hottest Flyer as of late.
– Carter Hart will be searching for his first victory against the Rangers since March 15th, 2021. Hart is 4-5-3 with an .890 SV% and 3.15 GAA all-time against New York.
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