Game 79 Preview: FLYERS vs. RANGERS
Interim head coach Scott Gordon's Philadelphia Flyers (37-33-8) are homeon Sunday to play David Quinn's New York Rangers (30-34-13). Game time at the Wells Fargo Center is 12:30 p.m. ET. The game will be nationally televised on NBC. The radio broadcast can be found on 97.5 FM The Fanatic with an online simulcast at FlyersRadio247.com.
This is the fourth and final meeting of the season between the Metro Division teams, and the second and final game in Philadelphia. The Flyers are 3-0-0 to date.
With both teams mathematically eliminated from qualifying for the Stanley Cup playoffs, it is a meaningless game in terms of impacting any team's playoff standing. With the Flyers nine points ahead of the Rangers, it also does not have draft lottery odds implications. Philly and the Florida Panthers are tied with 82 points but the Flyers have played one fewer game and have 34 ROW to Florida's 32.
Flyers Outlook
The Flyers are 22-11-2 over their last 35 games but just 3-6-0 in the last nine, and lost with regularity to playoff-bound teams during that recent stretch. The team is coming off a 5-2 loss in Carolina on Saturday, which sealed the Flyers' fate of missing the playoffs for the third time in the last six seasons. This season is perhaps the most disappointing of the lot.
Carter Hart will get the start in goal for the Flyers. Shayne Gostisbehere, a healthy scratch on Saturday, will return to the lineup against New York. Samuel Morin will not play due to the game being a back-to-back. The plan, per Gordon, is for him to dress in each of the final three games of the season and to rotate which defenseman is scratched in the remaining games.
Rangers Outlook
New York has a 12-21-5 road record this season, compared to their 18-13-8 mark at home. The Rangers' current roster is the youngest in the NHL, with an average age of 25.7 years of age. The club has scored an average of 2.71 goals per game and allowed 3.30.
Alexander Georgiev, who has made 40+ saves six times this season, will get the start in goal.
Projected Lines
FLYERS
25 James van Riemsdyk - 19 Nolan Patrick - 28 Claude Giroux 23 Oskar Lindblom - 14 Sean Couturier - 93 Jake Voracek 38 Ryan Hartman - 21 Scott Laughton - 11 Travis Konecny 12 Michael Raffl - 10 Corban Knight - 44 Phil Varone
9 Ivan Provorov - 8 Robert Hà¤gg 6 Travis Sanheim - 61 Phil Myers 53 Shayne Gostisbehere - 3 Radko Gudas…‹
72 Carter Hart [37 Brian Elliott]
Scratches:5 Sam Morin (healthy), 27 Justin Bailey (healthy), 47 Andrew MacDonald (healthy), 33 Cam Talbot (healthy), 30 Michal Neuvirth (IR, lower body).
Rangers
20 Chris Kreider - 93 Mika Zibanejad - 89 Pavel Buchnevich 90 Vladislav Namestnikov - 72 Filip Chytil - 95 Vinni Lettieri 26 Jimmy Vesey - 50 Lias Andersson - 16 Ryan Strome 48 Brendan Lemieux - 21 Brett Howden - 24 Boo Nieves…‹
76 Brady Skjei - 22 Kevin Shattenkirk 18 Marc Staal - 77 Tony DeAngelo 42 Brendan Smith - 44 Neal Pionk…‹
40 Alexandar Georgiev [30 Henrik Lundqvist]
Scratches: 23 Connor Brickley (healthy), 58 John Gilmour (healthy), 17 Jesper Fast (shoulder), 33 Fredrik Claesson (healthy), 43 Libor Hajek (shoulder).