What to watch as Flyers face Rangers in game 1 of mini-series
Photo via NBC 10
20-18-7 Philadelphia Flyers face the 23-17-6 New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden Thursday night.
Here’s three takeaways:
Later meetings
Thursday night’s game is the front end of a back-to-back set at Madison Square Garden, and the seventh of eight games between the teams this season.
The Flyers are 3-2-1 against the Rangers this season. However, the season series included a 9-0 blowout the Flyers received at Madison Square Garden and an 8-3 Rangers blowout win at the Wells Fargo Center the next time the teams played. In the most recent game, a late third period goal by Samuel Morin lifted the Flyers to a 2-1 home win.
The season series will conclude on Friday.
First after 3-day break
The Flyers are coming off a three-night break in the schedule. It’s their first break that’s more than a single night since late February.
This week, the Flyers had a total off-day on Monday, a small-group practice on Tuesday, and a full practice yesterday.
Projected lineups
Flyers:
28 Claude Giroux -14 Sean Couturier – 93 Jakub Voracek
86 Joel Farabee – 13 Kevin Hayes – 57 Wade Allison
25 James van Riemsdyk – 21 Scott Laughton – 11 Travis Konecny
23 Oskar Lindblom – 19 Nolan Patrick – 62 Nicolas Aube-Kubel
9 Ivan Provorov – 61 Justin Braun
6 Travis Sanheim – 6 Robert Hägg
53 Shayne Gostisbehere – Phil Myers
37 Brian Elliott
[34 Alex Lyon]
PP1: Giroux, Couturier, Allison, Voracek, Gostisbehere
PP2: Hayes, Farabee, JVR, Konecny, Provorov
Scratches: 55 Sam Morin (healthy), 79 Carter Hart (lower body), 58 Tanner Laczynski (lower body).
Injured reserve: 48 Morgan Frost (shoulder surgery).
COVID-19 protocol: None.
Rangers:
20 Chris Kreider – 93 Mika Zibanejad – 89 Pavel Buchnevich
10 Artemi Panarin – 16 Ryan Strome – 43 Colin Blackwell
13 Alexis Lafreniere – 72 Filip Chytil – 24 Kaapo Kakko
17 Kevin Rooney – 21 Brett Howden – 74 Vitali Kravtsov
55 Ryan Lindgren – 23 Adam Fox
79 K’Andre Miller – 6 Zac Jones
22 Anthony Bitetto – 42 Brendan Smith
31 Igor Shesterkin
[40 Alexandar Georgiev]
PP1: Panarin, Zibanejad, Kreider, Strome, Fox
PP2: Blackwell, Buchnevich, Kakko, Miller, Jones
Scratches: 8 Jacob Trouba (day-to-day, lower body), 12 Julien Gauthier (healthy), 25 Libor Hajek (healthy), 33 Phil Di Giussepe (healthy).
Injured Reserve: 27 Jack Johnson (sports hernia).
COVID-19 protocol: None.
Essentials
When: 7:00 P.M. E.S.T.
Where: Madison Square Garden
Broadcast: NBC Sports Philadelphia
Radio: 93.3 WMMR
Social media coverage: Philly Sports Reports’ Twitter & Instagram.
