Courtesy Blueshirts United
Photo by Len Redkoles/ National Hockey League
Who: New York Rangers vs. Philadelphia Flyers
Where: Wells Fargo Center
When: Saturday afternoon at 1:00 PM
Watch: MSG Network beginning at 12:30 PM
Listen: ESPN-98.7 FM and NewYorkRangers.com
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The Skinny:
Coming off an impressive come-from-behind victory at The Garden on Thursday the Rangers (28-18-5, 61 pts) are back on the road Saturday afternoon, engaging in a divisional match up with the Flyers (23-18-8, 54 pts) down in Philadelphia. The Rangers will be seeking to win successive games for only the second time since late November, a win-one lose-one rut that has clearly frustrated the team and stopped it from pulling away from the pack in the Eastern Conference playoff race. New York does sit in second place in the Metropolitan Division and third in the East with 61 points, but their margin for error is slim, currently just three points out of ninth place. Divisional games are especially important this time of the year, and this one is no exception as the Rangers are seven points up on the Flyers, but Philly has two games in hand, meaning a regulation victory by the Flyers on Saturday would not be ideal for the visitors. The Rangers are 7-5-4 against division foes this season, and are only 9-13-3 overall on the road. The Flyers, who will be without center Sean Couturier for the next four weeks due to an upper body injury, are 8-5-3 within the division so far this year, and just 12-7-5 overall at the Wells Fargo Center. New York has won four of six entering play Saturday, and will likely receive a boost with the expected return of defenseman Kevin Klein, who missed only one game after suffering a fractured thumb against the Devils on Tuesday night. He practiced fully on Friday, wearing splint on his thumb. At the same time the Flyers were announcing the severity of Couturier’s injury, suffered in Thursday’s 6-3 win over the Nashville Predators. Philly recalled Nick Cousins from the minor leagues to take Couturier’s roster spot. The Rangers are not injury-free either, though. Rick Nash did not practice again on Friday and will miss his fifth consecutive contest with a bone bruise in his left leg. The Flyers enter play riding a three-game winning streak, and they are seeking their third four-game win streak this season. Philly’s power play has played a major role in this run—and beyond—with the Flyers having scored a power play goal in six straight games, totaling nine power play goals in that stretch. That is not great news for the Rangers 25th ranked penalty kill, which had given up three straight power play goals over two games before finally killing off the final two in Thursday’s 4-2 win over the Minnesota Wild.
Head To Head:
It was three weeks ago to the day that the Rangers last faced off with the Flyers, also in a Saturday afternoon matinee at the Wells Fargo Center. The Rangers won that contest, edging the Flyers 3-2 in a shootout with Mats Zuccarello netting the decisive goal. J.T. Miller and Chris Kreider scored in regulation for New York, and Henrik Lundqvist was brilliant stopping 34 of 36 shots including all five he faced in overtime before his perfect 3-for-3 performance in the shootout. These two teams also played another shootout back on October 24 down in Philadelphia, though the Flyers won that contest 3-2. In the only game played at Madison Square Garden, on November 28, Steve Mason stopped all 24 shots he faced in a 3-0 Flyers victory. So far in this season series Miller leads the Rangers with two goals, while Philly’s Wayne Simmonds has scored three goals in the three games. The Rangers and Flyers will meet once more this season—in eight days on Valentine’s Day—at MSG.
Players To Watch:
Rangers-Jesper Fast: His new linemates may be generating more of the headlines and racking up more points, but that doesn’t mean Jesper Fast has not played a major role on the Rangers most effective forward line combination the past three games. Fast, Derick Brassard and J.T. Miller have accounted for 16 points (7-9-16) in three games since being put together by head coach Alain Vigneault. Fast is the only one of the three forwards not to have scored a goal in that span, but he does have three assists, and his hard work on the fore check and as the defensive conscious of that line combo earned high praise from both Brassard and Vigneault following Thursday’s win. In fact Brassard exclaimed, “I love playing with that guy” when he unsolicited began extolling Fast’s ample virtues post game. When asked about Fast after Thursday’s game Vigneault gushed about how much he trusts the 25 year-old Swede in every game situation he is put into. Blessed with an outstanding hockey I.Q.. Fast already has established career-highs in goals (7), assists (11) and points (18) this season, while smoothly transitioning routinely from a top-six to bottom-six role among the forwards.
Flyers-Wayne Simmonds: Ever since coming to the Flyers in a trade with the Los Angeles Kings prior to the 2011-12 season Wayne Simmonds has been a major thorn in the Rangers side each and every time these two Metropolitan Division rivals meet. Case in point was the two-goal game he produced against the Blueshirts back on November 28 at The Garden and the game-tying goal he scored that forced overtime when these two teams last met on January 16 down in Philly. Whether it’s at even strength, or especially on the power play where he thrives, Simmonds is a handful to contain—and it’s not just the Rangers who struggle with his great combination of size, strength, speed, and intensity. Simmonds is coming off back-to-back two-goal games, and has notched two goals in three of his last four contests. He also brings a five-game point-scoring streak into Saturday’s match, totaling nine points (6-3-9) in that span. Simmonds has recorded five multiple-goal games this season—including that one against the Rangers—and now leads the Flyers with 18 on the season, eight of which have come on the power play. That has helped make up for his slow start this season, one in which he tallied only one goal in the season’s first 13 games. Now Simmonds is well on his way to his fourth 20-goal season, with the Rangers running into him during his hottest stretch of the year.
Where: Wells Fargo Center
When: Saturday afternoon at 1:00 PM
Watch: MSG Network beginning at 12:30 PM
Listen: ESPN-98.7 FM and NewYorkRangers.com
********************************************
The Skinny:
Coming off an impressive come-from-behind victory at The Garden on Thursday the Rangers (28-18-5, 61 pts) are back on the road Saturday afternoon, engaging in a divisional match up with the Flyers (23-18-8, 54 pts) down in Philadelphia. The Rangers will be seeking to win successive games for only the second time since late November, a win-one lose-one rut that has clearly frustrated the team and stopped it from pulling away from the pack in the Eastern Conference playoff race. New York does sit in second place in the Metropolitan Division and third in the East with 61 points, but their margin for error is slim, currently just three points out of ninth place. Divisional games are especially important this time of the year, and this one is no exception as the Rangers are seven points up on the Flyers, but Philly has two games in hand, meaning a regulation victory by the Flyers on Saturday would not be ideal for the visitors. The Rangers are 7-5-4 against division foes this season, and are only 9-13-3 overall on the road. The Flyers, who will be without center Sean Couturier for the next four weeks due to an upper body injury, are 8-5-3 within the division so far this year, and just 12-7-5 overall at the Wells Fargo Center. New York has won four of six entering play Saturday, and will likely receive a boost with the expected return of defenseman Kevin Klein, who missed only one game after suffering a fractured thumb against the Devils on Tuesday night. He practiced fully on Friday, wearing splint on his thumb. At the same time the Flyers were announcing the severity of Couturier’s injury, suffered in Thursday’s 6-3 win over the Nashville Predators. Philly recalled Nick Cousins from the minor leagues to take Couturier’s roster spot. The Rangers are not injury-free either, though. Rick Nash did not practice again on Friday and will miss his fifth consecutive contest with a bone bruise in his left leg. The Flyers enter play riding a three-game winning streak, and they are seeking their third four-game win streak this season. Philly’s power play has played a major role in this run—and beyond—with the Flyers having scored a power play goal in six straight games, totaling nine power play goals in that stretch. That is not great news for the Rangers 25th ranked penalty kill, which had given up three straight power play goals over two games before finally killing off the final two in Thursday’s 4-2 win over the Minnesota Wild.
Head To Head:
It was three weeks ago to the day that the Rangers last faced off with the Flyers, also in a Saturday afternoon matinee at the Wells Fargo Center. The Rangers won that contest, edging the Flyers 3-2 in a shootout with Mats Zuccarello netting the decisive goal. J.T. Miller and Chris Kreider scored in regulation for New York, and Henrik Lundqvist was brilliant stopping 34 of 36 shots including all five he faced in overtime before his perfect 3-for-3 performance in the shootout. These two teams also played another shootout back on October 24 down in Philadelphia, though the Flyers won that contest 3-2. In the only game played at Madison Square Garden, on November 28, Steve Mason stopped all 24 shots he faced in a 3-0 Flyers victory. So far in this season series Miller leads the Rangers with two goals, while Philly’s Wayne Simmonds has scored three goals in the three games. The Rangers and Flyers will meet once more this season—in eight days on Valentine’s Day—at MSG.
Players To Watch:
Rangers-Jesper Fast: His new linemates may be generating more of the headlines and racking up more points, but that doesn’t mean Jesper Fast has not played a major role on the Rangers most effective forward line combination the past three games. Fast, Derick Brassard and J.T. Miller have accounted for 16 points (7-9-16) in three games since being put together by head coach Alain Vigneault. Fast is the only one of the three forwards not to have scored a goal in that span, but he does have three assists, and his hard work on the fore check and as the defensive conscious of that line combo earned high praise from both Brassard and Vigneault following Thursday’s win. In fact Brassard exclaimed, “I love playing with that guy” when he unsolicited began extolling Fast’s ample virtues post game. When asked about Fast after Thursday’s game Vigneault gushed about how much he trusts the 25 year-old Swede in every game situation he is put into. Blessed with an outstanding hockey I.Q.. Fast already has established career-highs in goals (7), assists (11) and points (18) this season, while smoothly transitioning routinely from a top-six to bottom-six role among the forwards.
Flyers-Wayne Simmonds: Ever since coming to the Flyers in a trade with the Los Angeles Kings prior to the 2011-12 season Wayne Simmonds has been a major thorn in the Rangers side each and every time these two Metropolitan Division rivals meet. Case in point was the two-goal game he produced against the Blueshirts back on November 28 at The Garden and the game-tying goal he scored that forced overtime when these two teams last met on January 16 down in Philly. Whether it’s at even strength, or especially on the power play where he thrives, Simmonds is a handful to contain—and it’s not just the Rangers who struggle with his great combination of size, strength, speed, and intensity. Simmonds is coming off back-to-back two-goal games, and has notched two goals in three of his last four contests. He also brings a five-game point-scoring streak into Saturday’s match, totaling nine points (6-3-9) in that span. Simmonds has recorded five multiple-goal games this season—including that one against the Rangers—and now leads the Flyers with 18 on the season, eight of which have come on the power play. That has helped make up for his slow start this season, one in which he tallied only one goal in the season’s first 13 games. Now Simmonds is well on his way to his fourth 20-goal season, with the Rangers running into him during his hottest stretch of the year.
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