PREVIEW: FLYERS vs. RANGERS
In the third game of a road/road/home three-in-four set, Dave Hakstol's Philadelphia Flyers (9-9-3) will host Alain Vigneault's Metropolitan Division leading New York Rangers (14-6-1) in the annual Black Friday matinee at the Wells Fargo Center. Game time is 1 p.m. ET. The game will be nationally televised on NBC.
This is the first of four meetings between the longtime rivals, and the first of two in Philadelphia. The teams will play again at the Wells Fargo Center on January 4 in a nationally televised Wednesday Night Rivalry game on NBC Sports Network. The scene shifts to Madison Square Garden on January 25 and April 2.
Flyers Outlook
The Flyers ran out gas killing too many penalties in the second half of back-to-back games and suffered a late collapse in a 4-2 road loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning after holding a 2-1 lead midway through the third period. Dale Weise and Ivan Provorov (first NHL goal) scored for the Flyers, while Steve Mason played much better than his final stats (25 saves on 29 shots) suggested.
Defenseman Michael Del Zotto, who has struggled mightily since missing the stretch drive and playoffs last season with a wrist injury and the first month of the current season with a knee issue, has been a healthy scratch in each of the last two games. The ex-Ranger may return to the lineup for Friday's tilt.
The Flyers are without two-way center Sean Couturier (left MCL injury) for four to six weeks. The team recalled Scott Laughton from the Lehigh Valley Phantoms on Wednesday.
Entering the Black Friday matinee, Flyers team captain Claude Giroux has only one point in the last six games and has gone seven games without a goal. Jakub Voracek is pointless in the last five games and pointless in six of the last seven. Wayne Simmonds, who leads the club with 10 goals, has taken over the team overall scoring lead with 18 points.
Rangers Outlook
The Rangers, who playing for the fifth time in eight days are 8-3-1 thus far in November. The team split a home-and-home set with the defending Stanley Cup champion Pittsburgh Penguins earlier this week.
New York enters this game coming off a 6-1 home blowout loss at the hands f the Penguins on Wednesday night. The Rangers took a 1-0 lead to the first intermission on a Rick Nash power play goal early in the first period but the Penguins pulled away with a five-goal outburst in the second stanza. Henrik Lundqvist (13 saves on 17 shots) was pulled midway through the game, as Antti Raanta (19 saves on 21 shots) mopped up the rest of the way.
Entering this game, the Rangers boast six players who have compiled 14 or more points so far this season. Kevin Hayes (nine goals, nine assists) leads the way, followed by J.T. Miller (eight goals, 10 assists), Michael Grabner (12 goals, four assists), Mats Zuccarello (seven goals, eight assists), the injured Mika Zibanejad (five goals, 10 assists) and Nash (nine goals, five assists). Limited to just 15 games, Chris Kreider has posted 13 points (four goals, nine assists).
The Rangers bring the NHL's fifth-ranked penalty kill (86.2 percent) into this game against the Flyers' second-ranked power play (25.7 percent). The Rangers' power play is ranked seventh (22.2 percent) while the Flyers' penalty kill is 23rd (80.3 percent) after going 10-for-11 during the two-game road trip in Sunrise and Tampa Bay.
Projected Lineups (subject to change, will be updated)
FLYERS (will be updated)
10 Brayden Schenn- 28 Claude Giroux - 93 Jakub Voracek 11 Travis Konecny - 25 Nick Cousins - 17 Wayne Simmonds 12 Michael Raffl - 78 P-E Bellemare - 24 Matt Read 76 Chris VandeVelde - 21 Scott Laughton - 22 Dale Weise
15 Michael Del Zotto - 53 Shayne Gostisbehere 23 Brandon Manning - 3 Radko Gudas 9 Ivan Provorov - 32 Mark Streit
35 Steve Mason [41 Anthony Stolarz]
Scratches: Nick Schultz (healthy), Roman Lyubimov (healthy), Andrew MacDonald (healthy), Sean Couturier (lower body, suspected left MCL), Boyd Gordon (LTIR, upper body), Michal Neuvirth (IR, lower body).
RANGERS
40 Michael Grabner - 21 Derek Stepan - 61 Rick Nash 20 Chris Kreider - 13 Kevin Hayes - 36 Mats Zuccarello 26 Jimmy Vesey - 73 Brandon Pirri - 10 J.T. Miller 21 Matt Puempel - 86 Josh Jooris - 19 Jesper Fast
27 Ryan McDonagh - 5 Dan Girardi 18 Marc Staal - 22 Nick Holden 76 Brady Skjei - 8 Kevin Klein
30 Henrik Lundqvist [32 Antti Raanta]
Scratches: Oscar Lindberg (healthy), Adam Clendening (healthy), Pavel Buchnevich (back spasms), Mika Zibanejad (broken left fibula).