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Flyers Gameday: 4/2/17 @ NYR |
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PREVIEW: FLYERS @ RANGERS
Playing their third game in four nights and fourth in six, Dave Hakstol's Philadelphia Flyers (38-32-8) are in Manhattan to play Alain Vigneault's New York Rangers (46-26-6) on Sunday. Game time at Madison Square Garden is 7:30 p.m. EDT. The game will be televised nationally on NBC Sports Network.
This is the fourth and final meeting of the season between the Metropolitan Division teams and the second in New York. The Rangers claimed 3-2 (Nov. 25) and 5-2 (Jan. 4) wins at the Wells Fargo Center. Shortly before the NHL All-Star break, the Flyers earned a 3-0 shutout win at Madison Square Garden on Jan. 25.
Flyers Outlook
The Flyers have won four games in a row and five of their last six but could still be eliminated from the playoff race on Sunday. Factoring their tiebreaker disadvantage, the Flyers are seven points out of the final Eastern Conference playoff spot with just four games left on the schedule. The Flyers are just 14-21-4 on the road this season but 24-11-4 at home.
The Flyers enter this game coming off one of the most frightening and bizarre nights in memory as they defeated the New Jersey Devils, 3-0, at the Wells Fargo Center on Saturday night. Brayden Schenn (power play), Colin McDonald and Jordan Weal (power play) scored. Weal has tallied goals in four straight games.
Michal Neuvirth started the game in goal with Anthony Stolarz receiving a late afternoon callup to serve as the backup goaltender with Steve Mason taking ill during the day.
At the 7:28 mark of the first period, immediately after the Flyers scored a power play goal to take a 1-0 lead, Neuvirth collapsed in the crease. He lay on his back as emergency assistance personnel rushed to the scene. Neuvirth tended to by trainer Jim McCrossin and team orthopedic surgeon Peter DeLuca as well as EMTs on hand. Neuvirth was eventually starting moving his legs and was conscious as he was taken off the ice on a stretcher.
Stolarz came in and stopped all 26 shots he saw (a would-be Devils goal was disallowed after a coach's challenge for offside) to combine with Neuvirth on a 32-save shutout. Hakstol sent out emergency goaltender Eric Semborski to play the final half minute but, ineligible to play with Stolarz uninjured, was escorted off the ice by the officials.
Further adding to the strangeness of the night, the Flyers won a whopping 51 of 71 faceoffs (72 percent) with Claude Giroux going 22 of 26 and Valtteri Filppula winning 10 of 12.
Mason's status for Sunday is unclear as of this writing. If he cannot make the trip to New York, the Flyers will recall Alex Lyon from the Lehigh Valley Phantoms. Neuvirth will remain in Pennsylvania Hospital for one more day but appears to be fine apart from being under the weather.
In the second period of Saturday's feisty game, Radko Gudas left after taking a high hit from New Jersey's Dalton Prout. He returned briefly late in the second period but did not return for the third period. The official description was an upper-body injury.
Recently signed forward Mike Vecchione will not play in Sunday's game. He could make his NHL debut on Tuesday. Matt Read will miss the rest of the season with an upper-body injury (believed to be an arm injury suffered blocking a shot). Michael Raffl (lower-body injury) also remains out for the season.
Rangers Outlook
The Rangers will be the Eastern Conference's higher wildcard team and will almost certainly play the Atlantic Division leading Montreal Canadiens in the first round of the playoffs. The Rangers, who are just 3-3-4 over their last 10 games, have an unimpressive 19-16-4 record on home ice this season but have been excellent on the road at 27-10-2.
The Rangers are coming off a 4-3 home shootout loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins on Friday night. Nick Holden (11th, power play), Rick Nash (23rd) and Chris Kreider (game-tying goal with 12 seconds left in the third period) scored to rescue a point for New York. The Penguins went 2-for-2 in the shootout, while the Rangers were 0-for-2 (Mika Zibanejad, Mats Zuccerello).Henrik Lundqvist stopped 32 of 35 shots during the hockey game before Phil Kessel and Sidney Crosby beat him during the skills competition.
Projected lineups (Subject to change)
FLYERS
11 Travis Konecny - 28 Claude Giroux - 93 Jakub Voracek
40 Jordan Weal - 51 Valterri Filppula - 17 Wayne Simmonds
22 Dale Weise - 14 Sean Couturier - 10 Brayden Schenn
76 Chris VandeVelde - 78 Pierre-Édouard Bellemare - 36 Colin McDonald
9 Ivan Provorov - 47 Andrew MacDonald
15 Michael Del Zotto - 53 Shayne Gostisbehere
55 Nick Schultz - 23 Brandon Manning
41 Anthony Stolarz / 35 Steve Mason
Scratches: Roman Lyubimov (healthy), Matt Read (upper body), Michael Raffl (IR, lower body), Nick Cousins (day-to-day, upper body), Mike Vecchione (signed on Friday), Michal Neuvirth (hospitalized after fainting/collapsing episode on Saturday), Radko Gudas (upper body).
Rangers
20 Chris Kreider - 21 Derek Stepan - 36 Mats Zuccarello
89 Pavel Buchnevich - 93 Mika Zibanejad - 61 Rick Nash
40 Michael Grabner - 13 Kevin Hayes - 19 Jesper Fast
12 Matt Puempel - 24 Oscar Lindberg - 10 J.T. Miller
22 Nick Holden - 5 Dan Girardi
18 Marc Staal - 8 Kevin Klein
76 Brady Skjei - 42 Brendan Smith
30 Henrik Lundqvist / 45 Magnus Hellberg
Scratches: Ryan McDonagh (questionable, unspecified issue), Jimmy Vesey (healthy), Brandon Pirri (healthy), Tanner Glass (healthy), Adam Clendening (healthy), Steve Kampfer (healthy).
Philadelphia Flyers Blogger •NHL.com • 
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