Game 35 Preview: FLYERS VS. RANGERS
Interim head coach Scott Gordon's Philadelphia Flyers (14-16-4) are in Manhattan on Sunday to play David Quinn's New York Rangers (15-14-5) in the final game before the NHL's three-day Christmas break. Game time at Madison Square Garden is 7:00 p.m. ET.
The game will be televised locally on NBCSP. The radio broadcast can be found on 97.5 FM The Fanatic with an online simulcast at
FlyersRadio247.com.
This is the second of four meetings between the Metropolitan Division teams this season and the first of two in New York. The teams will rematch at Madison Square Garden on Jan. 29 before the season series concludes in Philadelphia on March 29.
On Black Friday, a hungry and aggressive Flyers team took the play to the Rangers for most of the game, outworking New York in one of Philly's most complete efforts of the season. The Flyers prevailed, 4-0, and generated 46 shots.
Travis Konecny recorded a Gordie Howe hat trick with a first period goal, second period fight with Ryan Strome and third period assists on two insurance goals by Sean Couturier. Claude Giroux collected three assists. Jordan Weal scored an empty net goal assisted by Wayne Simmonds. Now-former Flyers goalie Cal Pickard earned a 30-save shutout for the Flyers. His best saves came in the third period while the game was still 1-0. Henrik Lundqvist stopped 42 of 45 shots in a losing cause. The team in front of him had turnovers galore and yielded multiple odd-man rushes but Lundqvist kept his team close until nearly the end.
Flyers Outlook
Sunday's game concludes a busy week for the Flyers. The team will be playing for the fourth time in six nights, third time in four nights and is a second half of a weekend back-to-back set that started with Saturday's
4-3 home loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets.
Saturday's game was an odd one. The Flyers didn't give up a lot of shots or scoring chances to Columbus overall nor did Carter Hart play poorly in goal. Philly also generated a healthy number of scoring chances. However, the Flyers' loss was deserved. Philly was sloppy at junctures of the game and paid the price -- they trailed 1-0, briefly led 2-1, then trailed 4-2 before a late comeback bid fell one goal short -- while veteran Columbus star netminder Sergei Bobrovsky outplayed Hart.
In a losing cause, Couturier (power play), Phil Varone (1st Flyers goal) and James van Riemsdyk (one goal, one assist) scored for the Flyers. Sequentially, the goals the Flyers gave up were:
0-1: A deep slot goal that resulted off an Ivan Provorov turnover, an open skating lane, a high screen and Hart being, by his self-description, a little too far back in his net.
2-2: Getting caught in a bad line change attempt, a defenseman (Andrew MacDonald) getting beaten along the wall, Hart making a spectacular skate save on Cam Atkinson but no teammates being able to get there to prevent Atkinson from a second-opportunity goal upstairs with Hart on the ice.
2-3: Voracek being taken down and losing the puck inside the defensive blueline, three attackers behind Provorov and Sanheim and a slam dunk for Atkinson off a cross-ice pass.
2-4: A bang-bang goal directly off a right circle faceoff loss. Artemi Panarin fired through Radko Gudas' legs. Hart did not see the puck until it was too late but said he should have been more alert to the set play and been positioned better initially because Columbus had tried the exact same set play earlier in the game.
The Flyers did get a desperately needed power play goal from Couturier on Saturday (in the waning seconds of a power play that had not gone well up until that point) but their inability to score with critical opportunities later in the game ultimately played a hand in the loss. Entering Sunday's game, the Flyers power play is mired at 30th in the NHL at 12.6 percent (13-for-103) and the team has also allowed six opposing shorthanded goals.
One way or another, regardless of manpower situation, the Flyers need to get more supporting offense on a consistent basis. If can't only be a few forwards supplying production with any regularity. The team needs to get members of the blueline chipping in more goals as well as forwards such as Simmonds (10 goals and 15 points overall but only two points -- one goal, and an assist vs. Columbus -- in his last 12 games) and Nolan Patrick (five goals, 11 points overall; zero goals, two assists in the last 17 games). Giroux and Couturier were split up, with Giroux going back to center, in order to spread the wealth a bit and get JVR on the top line.
On the positive side, the Flyers penalty kill has been doing well for the last month after a hideous start over the first seven weeks of the season. The Black Friday game against the Rangers was a springboard. Dating back to that game, the Flyers are 35-for-40 in the last 13 games. Overall, though, the PK still ranks near the bottom at 75.2 percent (opposing power plays are 28-for-113) because Philly was under 70 percent through the first 21 games.
Overall, the Flyers are averaging 2.94 goals per game (18th) and have a team 3.62 GAA (29th). At 5-on-5, the Flyers have scored 73 goals and allowed 76.
Rangers Outlook
The Rangers are 3-4-3 over their last 10 games, including a 5-3 road loss to Toronto on Saturday in a game that was tied at 1-1 heading into the third period. Sunday's game is the second half of the back-to-back but, unlike the Flyers, the Rangers had the previous three nights off heading into it.
Overall, the Rangers have been a very good home team this season to date, bringing a record of 11-4-3 in the 18 games to date at MSG. It has been primarily on the road (4-10-2) where the Rangers have struggled. However, even at home, the Rangers are 1-0-3 in December. Two of the losses (to Arizona and Vegas) were in OT, one (to Winnipeg) via shootout.
Alexandar Georgiev got the start in goal in Toronto on Saturday, stopping 31 of 35 shots in a losing cause. The Flyers will face Lundqvist, who was outstanding against them in the Black Friday game despite Philly pulling away late in the game. For the season, the 36-year-old former Vezina Trophy winner is 10-9-5 with a 2.87 GAA and .914 save percentage. In his 58 career games against the Flyers, Lundqvist is 35-17-4 with a 2.51 GAA, .917 SV%, and 4 SO.
Mika Zibanejad leads the Rangers in scoring with 30 points (11 goals, 19 assists) in 34 games played. He is one point ahead of Kevin Hayes (10 goals, 19 assists) and six ahead of leading goal-scorer Chris Kreider (16 goals, 8 assists). Injuries have limited veteran puck wizard Mats Zuccarello to 21 games (three goals, nine assists, -15).
Entering Sunday's game, the Rangers have averaged 2.79 goals per game (25th) and have a team 3.27 GAA (25th). The power play comes in at 19.4 percent (20-for-103, 15th) with two shorthanded goals allowed. The penalty kill enters at 77.3 percent (opponents are 25-for-110, 25th) with three shorthanded goals scored. At 5-on-5, the Rangers have scored 61 goals and yielded 70.
Projected Lines (Subject to change)
FLYERS
25 James van Riemsdyk - 28 Claude Giroux - 11 Travis Konecny
17 Wayne Simmonds - 14 Sean Couturier - 93 Jakub Voracek
21 Scott Laughton - 19 Nolan Patrick - 12 Michael Raffl
23 Oskar Lindblom - 44 Phil Varone - 22 Dale Weise
9 Ivan Provorov - 6 Travis Sanheim
53 Shayne Gostisbehere - 8 Robert Hägg
47 Andrew MacDonald - 3 Radko Gudas
30 Michal Neuvirth
[79 Carter Hart]
Scratches: 15 Jori Lehterä (healthy), 40 Jordan Weal (healthy), 26 Christian Folin (healthy), 41 Anthony Stolarz (IR, lower body), 37 Brian Elliott (IR, lower body), 10 Corban Knight (IR, collarbone), 5 Sam Morin (ACL surgery).
RANGERS
72 Filip Chytil - 93 Mika Zibanejad - 36 Mats Zuccarello
20 Chris Kreider - 13 Kevin Hayes - 89 Pavel Buchnevich
26 Jimmy Vesey - 21 Brett Howden - 90 Vladislav Namestnikov
24 Boo Nieves - 50 Lias Andersson - 16 Ryan Strome
18 Marc Staal - 44 Neal Pionk
42 Brendan Smith - 33.Fredrik Claesson
76 Brady Skjei - 54 Adam McQuaid
30 Henrik Lundqvist
[40 Alexandar Georgiev]
Scratches: 77 Anthony DeAngelo (healthy), 17 Jesper Fast (day-to-day, upper body), 22 Kevin Shattenkirk (IR, separated shoulder), 8 Cody McLeod (IR, hand).
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Phantoms Crush Bears, 6-1, in Pre-Holiday Finale
The Lehigh Valley Phantoms (17-9-3 overall, 9-3-2 on the road) dominated the host Hershey Bears on Saturday to skate to a 6-1 on Saturday evening in the Phantoms' final pre-Christmas game. The schedule resumes on Boxing Day with a road game against the Wilkes Barre/Scranton Penguins.
The Phantoms pretty much imposed their will on Hershey for most of the game, roaring out to a 9-3 shot edge in the first period despite the game going to the first intermission tied at 1-1 on a Riley Barber goal with 1.9 seconds left on the first period clock. Undaunted, the Phantoms seized control again quickly in the second period, building a 3-1 lead by the time the middle frame was 5:05 along. From there, Lehigh Valley only continued to expand its lead.
Goaltending was certainly part of the story, as it so often is. Hershey starter Ilya Samsonov had a very rough game apart from getting strafed for six goals on 30 shots. At least two and possibly three of the goals he yielded fell either in the "soft goal" or "not easy but not unstoppable" category. There were a few good saves along the way for Hershey but the Phantoms got a superior performance out of Alex Lyon (21 saves on 22 shots). He wasn't tested much but there were a couple junctures where the Phantoms needed a clutch save to keep the Bears at bay, and Lyon delivered.
Drafted in the first round of the 2015 NHL Draft (22nd overall) by the Washington Capitals, the 21-year-old Samsonov is playing his first year of North American hockey and is getting a rough indoctrination. In his last six starts, he is 1-5-0 with a 4.70 GAA and .825 save percentage. Overall in 14 games, he 4-10-0 with a 4.08 GAA and .858 SV%. The Phantoms showed him no mercy on Saturday.
Lehigh Valley got two goals (2nd and 3rd) and an assist from Tyrell Goulbourne and two goals in the third period from Taylor Leier (5th and 6th). Defenseman Zach Palmquist (2nd) and rookie winger Carsen Twarynski (5th) rounded out the goal scoring. Steven Swavely racked up three assists. The Phantoms went 0-for-2 on the power play and 2-for-2 on the penalty kill.
On the first Phantoms goal, Swavely blocked a shot and Goulbourne claimed the puck in the neutral zone. Goulbourne hustled up the left wing and scored on a nice shot to the long side at 5:44 of the first period.
Barber's goal from the slot moments before the expiration of the first period sent the game to the middle frame tied at 1-1. However, the Phantoms grabbed a 3-1 lead with two closely spaced goals in the opening 5:05. First, Zach Palmquist one-timed a shot from the point that beat Samsonov at 4:17. At 5:05, Philippe Myers ripped a right point shot that Goulbourne tipped past Samsonov.
The Lehigh Valley lead expanded to 4-1 at 14:45 of the second period. Carrying the puck up the left wing, Twarynski fired a shot from the left faceoff dot that beat an off-angle Samsonov to the short side.
Leier made it 5-1 at 9:03 of the third period, cashing in with some hard work to battle in the slot. He scored again at 11:25 on a bang-bang goal directly off a Mikhail Vorobyev faceoff win. It was somewhat similar to the Panarin goal for Columbus earlier in the day against the Flyers but not quite as tough of a save chance for Samsonov as the through-the-D's-legs screened shot by Panarin.
The Phantoms have won four of five games against Hershey this season. The last four games have been all Lehigh Valley (combined 18-3 score), and the Phantoms have given up just one goal to the Bears over the last three meetings, including Carter Hart's first pro shutout and a Lyon shutout in Kerry Huffman's first game as acting head coach. The Phantoms are 2-0-1 overall in the three games under Huffman.
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