GAME 75 PREVIEW: FLYERS VS. RANGERS

Dave Hakstol's Philadelphia Flyers (37-25-12) are home on Thursday to host Alan Vigneault's New York Rangers (32-33-8) at the Wells Fargo Center. Game time is 7:00 p.m. EDT. The game will be televised on NBCSNP.

This is the third of four games this season between the teams, and the first of two in Philadelphia. The season series will conclude on April 7 at the Wells Fargo Center; the final game of the 2017-18 regular season for the Flyers.

The Flyers suffered a 5-1 loss at Madison Square Garden on Jan. 16. On Feb. 18 at MSG, the Flyers and Rangers engaged in a bizarre, fight-filled contest that saw Philly pull away in the third period to turn the game into a 7-4 blowout.


FLYERS OUTLOOK

The Flyers enter this game trailing the Columbus Blue Jackets by one point in the battle for the automatic playoff spot that comes with third place in the Metro Division. In the event of a points tie, the teams are currently in a dead heat in the ROW category (35-35). The teams are also in a dead heat in the secondary tiebreaker of points gained from head-to-head games (5 apiece). In the tertiary tiebreaker, total goal differential, Columbus has the lead.

The Blue Jackets play head to head with the Florida Panthers on Thursday night. As long as the Flyers move back ahead of Columbus, it is irrelevant how many points Florida finishes with this season because they are not a Metro Division team. Only if the Flyers are in a wildcard spot (as they currently are) does Florida become competition for a playoff spot.

Thus, the best-case scenario for the Flyers on Thursday would be to defeat the Rangers in regulation or overtime and for the Panthers to beat the Blue Jackets in regulation. In that situation, the Flyers would re-take third place on points and also regain the ROW tiebreaker edge over Columbus at 36-35. Even a three-point game, if it goes in Florida's favor, would put the Flyers back in third place in the Metro via tiebreaker if the Flyers earn a ROW against the Rangers.

Less advantageous but still improving the Flyers position in the wildcard playoff race would be a Flyers ROW paired with a Columbus ROW. That would maintain the status quo in the Metro but give the Flyers a seven-point (plus a 36-34 ROW tiebreaker) edge on Florida for a wildcard spot. The Panthers will still hold three games in hand. The New Jersey Devils, in action on Friday in Pittsburgh, are four points (and 35-32 ROW) behind the Flyers.

A Columbus shootout win and a Flyers ROW would keep the Blue Jackets one point ahead of the Flyers but restore a ROW edge for Philly if it comes down to a points tiebreaker. In that scenario, the Flyers would have a six-point (and 36-34 ROW) edge on Florida. However, the Panthers would move into the lower wildcard spot and knock the Devils below the cutoff line.

All these scenarios are dependent first on the Flyers taking care of their own business. The team isn't going to be playing too long into April if Philly doesn't stop letting so many points that are within reach slip away into the night. The Flyers drag a 2-6-2 record in March into Thursday's game.

On Tuesday in Detroit, the Flyers lacked urgency for two periods against the Red Wings team that had come in with a 10-game winless streak (0-9-1). Philly rallied in the third period to erase 3-1 and 4-3 deficits to twice the game. After Wayne Simmonds ticked a shot off the inside of the goal post and the Flyers subsequently earned a power play that carried over into overtime, Detroit took over again after an awful 4-on-3 power play for Philly. Lucky to get the game to a shootout, the Flyers lost 1-0 in the skills competition.

On the positive side for Philadelphia, Sean Couturier finally got his elusive 30th goal of the season (and 100th career goal) after a 15-game goal drought. During the team's third period comeback, they got goals from Matt Read (1st), Shayne Gostisbehere (power play, 13th) and Travis Konecny (20th). In the shootout, Jakub Voracek, Jordan Weal and Nolan Patrick were unsuccessful.

Claude Giroux collected three assists. During regulation, Giroux passed Eric Lindros for 5th on Flyers' all-time scoring list. Lindros, Philly's all-time points-per-game leader got his 659 points in 486 games. Giroux passed him by three in his 730th game.

Making his return to Detroit after being traded to the Flyers shortly prior to the NHL trade deadline, Petr Mrazek was pulled at 9:57 of the second period. Coming off a generally strong performance against Washington on Sunday, Mrazek never really seemed to be in a rhythm on this night. He let in one outright soft goal --a Luke Glendening shorthander -- and another potentially stoppable one among the three he yielded on 19 shots.

As he did last Thursday against Columbus (as well as his start in Carolina on Saturday), Alex Lyon did a strong job in relief. He stopped 11 of 12 shots, with his best work coming in overtime. The rookie also gave his team a chance in the shootout, stopping two of the three shots that he faced.

In addition to shootout woes, which have far more often than not been an issue for the Flyers ever since they were foisted upon the NHL in 2005, the current-season Flyers have had three other major issues rear their head repeatedly.

For whatever reason, the Flyers have been chronic slow starters offensively. The team has only scored 51 first-period goals this season, while yielding 63. Entering game 75, the Flyers have only held a lead after the first period 14 times (9-1-4 record). They've trailed 27 times (6-15-6) and have been tied 33 times (22-9-2).

By comparison, the Flyers have outscored opponents by a margin of 87-78 in second periods and 74-67. The Flyers are 8-7 in the 15 games decided in overtime and 2-7 in the nine that have gone to a shootout.

Although the Flyers penalty killing has been much improved of late, except for an 0-for-2 stumble in a home loss to Vegas, the team's overall 75.7 success percentage and paltry 73.7 percent on home ice is unacceptably poor. So, too, are the 10 shorthanded goals the Flyers have yield to the opposition when Philly is on the power play. The Flyers have mustered just three shorthanded goals of their own; also near the bottom of the NHL.

For most of the season leading up to March, the Flyers ranked in the top four in the NHL in terms of fewest 5-on-5 goals allowed. This month, however, the club has been bleeding 5-on-5 goals against at an alarming rate. Overall, Philly is still on the positive side of the ledger with a 137-131 goal differential. At four-on-four, coverage breakdowns have been a bit too common and the Flyers have only scored twice while yielding five goals.

The third and final prime cause of why the Flyers have been so inconsistent this season: a downturn in their home record. The past three seasons, the Flyers were a good to very good home team (53 points in 2014-15, 54 points in 2015-16, 55 points in 2016-17) but struggled to win on the road. This year it's been the opposite. The road record is much improved (19-12-6) but the team has collected a disappointing 40 points (18-13-6) with four home games remaining.

The maximum the Flyers could earn at home this season is 48 points, which would require them to run the table in their remaining games. This is despite a 3-1-0 start to the season at home, a 4-1-0 homestand in December and a 3-1-0 homestand in January for a 10-3-0 record (20 of 26 possible points) during those stretches. The Flyers have otherwise been poor on home ice with an 8-10-6 record apart from the aforementioned homestand. Philly is 2-4-0 in their six home games to date in March.

RANGERS OUTLOOK

Sellers at the trade deadline and in self-professed rebuilding mode, the Rangers have posted a better record (5-3-2) than the Flyers (3-5-2) over their respective last 10 games. New York has proven to be a tough out for opposing teams and is still a better team than the Detroit squad the Flyers had to scramble against in Tuesday's third period just to scratch out a single point.

The Rangers enter this game coming off a 5-3 loss to Carolina. The team survived a scare when iconic veteran goalie Henrik Lundqvist lost his mask and fell hard to the ice after taking colliding with Columbus forward Matt Calvert and teammate John Gilmour. Although Lundqvist thankfully did not hit his head, he landed hard on his tailbone. Still feeling considerable discomfort in his back, neck and foot, Lundqvist will not dress for Thursday's game in Philly.

Among the Rangers who've been win the team all season, playmaking forward and frequent Flyers nemesis Mats Zuccarello leads the team with 49 points (15 goals, 34 assists). Mika Zibanejad (25 goals, 43 points) and Kevin Hayes (21 goals, 37 points) have both cracked the 20-goal milestone this season.

Acquired from Tampa Bay in the deal that sent Ryan McDonagh and J.T. Miller to the Lightning, Vladislav Namestnikov has three points (two goals, one assist) in 10 games for the Rangers. Overall, he was 22 goals and 47 points in 72 games this season.

The Rangers give up an average 35.0 shots per game, which keeps their goalies very busy. That is why Lundqvist has managed a quite respectable .915 save percentage despite a goals against average (2.94) and record (25-24-6) that are unimpressive, especially against his career standards.

On Thursday night, the Flyers will get their first-ever look at 22-year-old rookie Rangers goaltender Alexandar Georgiev. He has made seven appearances to date and has done well overall, posting a 3-2-1 record and .922 save percentage against a 2.94 GAA. Serially inconsistent veteran goalie Ondrej Pavelec, who had been on IR due to a sprained MCL, is now available to play and will back up Georgiev.

The Rangers have generated atrocious 5-on-5 results this season, as they are deep under water (135 goals scored, 165 yielded) in that vital category. The Rangers' power play remains good, at 21.9 percent (7th in the NHL) and the penalty kill has also done fine (82.8 percent, 7th). However, when a team digs that deep of a hole for itself at 5-on-5, being in the top one-third on special teams won't rescue its overall record.

Unlike the Flyers' eye-popping fluctuations between their first and second period bottom lines, the Rangers have been consistent. Unfortunately for the Blueshirts, it's not the sort of consistency that a team wants. The Rangers have been outscored 77-62 in first periods and 65-77 in second periods.

The team is even in third periods (74-74) but has only led 21 times heading into the final stanza (20-0-1 record). The Rangers are also above statistical .500 when tied after two periods (7-6-3). They've managed 14 points (5-27-4) when trailing after two periods but the more telling number is the sheer number of games (36 of 73 to date) that the team has had to try to play comeback hockey in the final period.

PROJECTED LINEUPS

FLYERS

28 Claude Giroux - 14 Sean Couturier - 11 Travis Konecny
54 Oskar Lindblom - 19 Nolan Patrick - 93 Jakub Voracek
40 Jordan Weal - 51 Valtteri Filppula - 17 Wayne Simmonds
15 Jori Lehterä - 21 Scott Laughton - 24 Matt Read

9 Ivan Provorov - 53 Shayne Gostisbehere
47 Andrew MacDonald - 6 Travis Sanheim
23 Brandon Manning - 3 Radko Gudas

39 Alex Lyon
[ 34 Petr Mrazek]

Scratches: 20 Taylor Leier (healthy), 22 Dale Weise (healthy), 8 Robert Hägg (semi-healthy), 29 Johnny Oduya (healthy), 12 Michael Raffl (upper body), 37 Brian Elliott (IR, core muscle surgery), 30 Michal Neuvirth (lower body).


RANGERS

90 Vladislav Namestnikov - 13 Kevin Hayes - 36 Mats Zuccarello
20 Chris Kreider - 93 Mika Zibanejad -17 Jesper Fast
26 Jimmy Vesey - 23 Ryan Spooner - 89 Pavel Buchnevich
8 Cody McLeod - 28 Paul Carey - 51 David Desharnais ​

76 Brady Skjei - 58 John Gilmour
18 Marc Staal - 44 Neil Pionk
46 Rob O'Gara - 25 Ryan Sproul​

40 Alexandar Georgiev
[31 Ondrej Pavelec]

Scratches: 12 Peter Holland (healthy), 22 Kevin Shattenkirk (IR, knee surgery), 30 Henrik Lundqvist (back and neck soreness), 47 Steve Kampfer (IR, hand), 77 Anthony DeAngelo (sprained ankle).

Join the Discussion: » 473 Comments » Post New Comment

» Phantoms Take Game 1 vs. WBS, Farabee to Worlds

» Flyers Re-Sign Fedotov to Two-Year Contract

» Musings and Quick Hits: Flyers Power Play, Phantoms vs WBS Preview

» Quick Hits: Flyers Daily, Phantoms, TIFH

» Quick Hits: Phantoms Playoff Series Set