GAME 27: FLYERS @ RANGERS
Alain Vigneault's Philadelphia Flyers (14-9-3) are in Manhattan on Wednesday to take on David Quinn's New York Rangers (11-12-4). 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 meeting of the season between the teams, and the second half of a back-to-back. On Monday at MSG, the Flyers claimed a 5-4 overtime victory.
James van Riemsdyk (13th), Ivan Provorov goal (4th), Joel Farabee (PPG, 12th), Claude Giroux (PPG, 6th) and Jakub Voracek (4th, overtime winner) scored for the Flyers. Sean Couturier had two assists and Farabee (1g, 1a) and Voracek (1g, 1a) also had multi-point games. Carter Hart (20 saves) earned the win in goal.
Artemi Panarin (6th), Colin Blackwell (6th), Julien Gauthier (2nd) and Kevin Rooney (5th) scored for the Rangers. Panarin also set up the Blackwell goal, but lost the puck to Voracek on the end-of-game sequence in overtime. Keith Kinkaid (25 saves on 30 saves) took the loss for the Rangers.
The Flyers went 2-for-5 on the power play and 3-for-3 on the penalty kill.
Flyers Outlook
The Flyers enter Wednesday's game three points behind the Boston Bruins (with one game in hand) in the battle for fourth place in the East Division and six points (three games in hand) behind the Pittsburgh Penguins. While the Flyers were idle on Tuesday, Boston avenged a loss on Monday to Pittsburgh with a 2-1 victory.
Philly did not practice on Tuesday with the exception of the Taxi Squad players. Lineups will be updated after Alain Vigneault speaks on Wednesday. At minimum, it would stand to reason that the pairing of Shayne Gostisbehere and Nate Prosser would be broken up for the rematch and another player (Robert Hà¤gg or Erik Gustafsson) would enter the lineup in Prosser's place.
Michael Raffl returned to the lineup on Monday from a hand injury. Nicolas Aube-Kubel, who committed the mental mistake in Saturday's game against Washington of not realizing when he was supposed to start a shift (leaving the Flyers playing 4-on-5 for 14 seconds) and took a bad penalty in Monday's game, skated just 5:16 and 11 shifts in Monday's game. The still-scuffling Oskar Lindblom skated 7:53 over 12 shifts.
Brian Elliott, who looked quite fatigued from recent extended use and struggled in Saturday's game against the Capitals, took a rest day on Monday with Alex Lyon backing up Hart. Elliott is expected to be available to dress for Wedneday, as his absence last game was not injury related.
Rangers Outlook
The Rangers are 1-3-1 in their last five games. They've played the Flyers tough so far, though, with a pair of games that went beyond regulation as well as a one-goal regulation loss in Philadelphia.
At least as of Tuesday, defenseman Adam Fox (a huge absence for New York) along with forwards Pavel Buchnevich and Phi Di Giussepe remained in COVID-19 protocol. Each player's respective availability for Wednesday's game depends on the nature of the reason why each is in the protocol.
With Igor Sheshterkin still sidelined due to a groin issue, Alexandar Georgiev is the expected starter on Wednesday. Kinkaid had been on a nice little run since joining the Rangers but turned in a pedestrian performance against the Flyers on Monday.
Projected lineups
FLYERS
25 James van Riemsdyk - 14 Sean Couturier - 86 Joel Farabee 21 Scott Laughton - 13 Kevin Hayes - 11 Travis Konecny 21 Michael Raffl - 28 Claude Giroux - 93 Jake Voracek 10 Andy Andreoff - 82 Connor Bunnaman - 19 Nolan Patrick
9 Ivan Provorov - 61 Justin Braun 6 Travis Sanheim - 5 Phil Myers 8 Robert Hà¤gg - 56 Erik Gustafsson
37 Brian Elliott [79 Carter Hart]
PP1: Giroux, Patrick, Farabee, Voracek, Provorov. PP2: Hayes, Couturier, Konecny, JVR, Gostisbehere.
Scratches: 8 Robert Hà¤gg, 56 Erik Gustafsson (healthy), 53 Shayne Gostisbehere (healthy), 23 Oskar Lindblom (healthy), 62 Nicolas Aube-Kubel (healthy).
Injured reserve: 48 Morgan Frost (shoulder surgery).
COVID-19 protocol: None.
RANGERS
20 Chris Kreider - 93 Mika Zibanejad – 24 Kaapo Kakko 10 Artemi Panarin - 16 Ryan Strome - 43 Colin Blackwell 13 Alexis Lafreniere - 72 Filip Chytil - 12 Julien Gauthier 48 Brendan Lemieux - 17 Kevin Rooney - 21 Brett Howden …‹
79 K'Andre Miller - 8 Jacob Trouba 55 Ryan Lindgren - 25 Libor Hajek 51 Tarmo Reunanen - 42 Brendan Smith…‹
71 Keith Kinkaid [40 Alexandar Georgiev] …‹ PP1: Strome, Zibanejad, Kreider, Panarin, Trouba PP2: Lafreniere, Chytil, Kakko, Gauthier, Miller
Scratches: 21 Brett Howden (healthy), 27 Jack Johnson (healthy).
IR: 31 Igor Shesterkin (groin).
COVID-19 protocol: 23 Adam Fox, 89 Pavel Buchnevich, 33 Phil Di Giuseppe.
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Quick Hits: March 17, 2021
1) Phantoms Update: The Lehigh Valley Phantoms (7-2-2) will host the Binghamton Devils (2-5-3) at the PPL Center in Allentown on Wednesday. The suspended game in Newark between the Phantoms and Devils from March 10 at the Prudential Center -- tied 1-1 at the first intermission before the rest of the game was suspended due to a Devils' player in the starting lineup entering COVID-19 protocol -- will be completed in Newark on Monday, April 26, 2021 at 6:00 P.M. ET. The game will start from the point at which it was suspended.
2) NCHC Frozen Faceoff Championship Game: North Dakota (21-5-1) captured a 5-3 win over St. Cloud State (17-10-0) on Saturday. Flyers prospect Gavin Hain, one day after scoring the overtime winner in the semifinal against Denver (10-13-1), tallied a third-period power play goal against St. Cloud State to tie the game at 2-2 before his team struck for two additional, closely spaced goals to build a 4-2 lead on the way to victory. Flyers 2019 second-round pick Bobby Brink (Denver) ended his sophomore collegiate season with 11 points (2g, 9a) in 15 games played.
3) Here are several good recent Flyers Alumni related postcasts to check out.
* Kimmo Timonen was the guest on Derek Settlemyre and Riley Cote's "Nasty Knuckles" Podcast.
4) March 17 Flyers Alumni birthdays: Ryan Parent (1987), Ryan White (1988), Cliff Schmautz (1939-2002).