I am in the pressroom at the Wells Fargo Center prior to the Flyers meeting with the New York Rangers this afternoon at 1 PM. The Flyers (30-24-6, 66 pts) are eighth in the Eastern Conference but lost to the San José Sharks, 7-3, on Thursday night, their first game back from the Olympic break. New York is currently tied for third in the Eastern Conference in ROW (29) and have a 17-6-1 record in their last 24 games. The Rangers hold a ten game edge in all time meetings with the Flyers at 120-110-37-7 (63-47-23-4 at MSG; 57-63-14-3 in Philadelphia). This is the third of four meetings between the two this season with each team having won their earlier home contests. The Rangers are 18-10-0 on the road and the Flyers 16-11-1 at home. Today’s game will be the first of ten at home for the Flyers in March against only four on the road and first of seven straight games against Eastern Conference teams of which six will be in the Metropolitan Division.
Ray Emery tweaked his groin in the Flyers loss to San José on Thursday after replacing Steve Mason (who then returned to the net to finish the game) and may not dress today. If he doesn’t Mason’s backup will be Cal Heeter who has been called up from the AHL Phantoms after just completing a three game suspension last night for his participation in a line brawl in Maine against the Portland Pirates. The only other lineup change for the Flyers will be the return of defenseman Kimmo Timonen who sat out Thursday’s loss after just returning from the Sochi Olympics where his Finnish team collected a Bronze Medal, the only Flyer to win one in the 2014 Winter Games. Erik Gustaffson will sit to make room for him. After today’s meeting with the Rangers the Flyers travel to Washington for the first game of a home-and-home series. That game will be broadcast nationally on NBC tomorrow at 12:30 PM.
I will be online on Facebook throughout today’s game with my comments and observations. All are welcome to join in at https://www.facebook.com/scoop.cooper/posts/10153860994550508.
The anticipated line ups for today are as follows:
RANGERS
20 Kreider - 21 Stepan - 61 Nash 24 Callahan - 19 Richards - 62 Hagelin 67 Pouliot - 16 Brassard - 10 Miller 13 Carcillo - 22 Boyle - 15 Dorsett
27 McDonagh - 5 Girardi 18 Staal - 6 Stralman 17 J. Moore - 8 Klein
30 Lundqvist 33 Talbot
Spares: Zuccarello (i), D. Moore, Falk
FLYERS
19 Hartnell - 28 Giroux - 93 Voracek 40 Lecavalier - 10 Schenn - 17 Simmonds 9 Downie - 14 Couturier - 24 Read 12 Raffl - 18 Hall - 36 Rinaldo
44 Timonen - 5 Coburn 8 Grossmann - 32 Streit 41 Meszaros - 22 Schenn
35 Mason 29 Emery (or 33 Heeter)
Spares: Emery (i) or Heeter, Gustafsson, Rosehill, Gill