Flyers looking to pick up second straight win to sweep Rangers

After a thrilling but admittedly also pretty messy overtime win over the Rangers on Monday, the Flyers are right back at it again, looking to pick up another win and sweep this two-game series against the Rangers. And while there were some decidedly ugly bits of that first game, there was also quite a bit that we could come away feeling good about, and the Flyers at the very least have a decent foundation that they can build on if they can keep the ball rolling.

Players to watch

Jake Voracek

It’s no secret that over the last handful of games, Voracek’s been decidedly pretty quiet, but the good news is that when the Flyers really needed a boost in Monday’s game, he was there to deliver. His game seemed sharper, he was engaged physically, and he brought a whole lot of flash in picking up assists on both of the Flyers’ power play goals, as well as the overtime goal for himself. It was a pretty stellar game, and we’re hoping he can build some momentum from that and have himself another strong game tonight.

Shayne Gostisbehere

On the less positive flip side of that, we should also note that everyone wasn’t bringing that same level of jump as Voracek, and well, yeah, Gostisbehere was a bit of a mess on Monday. His pair with Nate Prosser really wasn’t clicking, and they got exposed on a couple of bad breakdowns in that one. This pair is likely going to stay together again tonight—the Flyers are winning, after all, and there haven’t been any injury happenings to necessitate changes to the lineup—so we’ll be looking for a little bit more from this pair tonight than we got on Monday. Are we expecting lights out, highlight reels on every play type of stuff? No, not really, all we’re asking is that they’re a little steadier. Reasonable expectations, you know?

Two big questions

What’s up with the process?

It’s the question of the century apparently. Are the Flyers trending in the right direction or not? The Flyers put up good underlying numbers against the Capitals last weekend, and then faltered in that department on Tuesday (well, after the first period). So which is the real Flyers, dominating by the numbers or getting dominated? We’re still trying to figure that one out, and seemingly so too is the team, but at the very least, we’re hoping that they can swing back into a more positive underlying process and, well, just keep on doing that.

Can the flyers bring a full 60 minute effort?

As we alluded to in the introduction, the Flyers had some stretches during Monday’s game when they looked positively dominant, like they were really turning things around and were going to run the Rangers right out of the building, but they also had stretches where the wheels just completely came off and they let the Rangers get back into the game. This game, realistically, probably shouldn't have gone to overtime, but the Flyers took their foot off the gas and let things get away from them. And as we head into this next game, we’re hoping that can serve as a lesson and they can bring closer to a complete effort this time around.

Puck drops at 7:30 (or so) tonight, and you can check out the projected lineup below:

Forwards

van Riemsdyk - Couturier - Farabee

Laughton - Hayes - Konecny

Giroux - Patrick - Voracek

Lindblom - Raffl - Aube-Kubel

Defense

Provorov - Braun

Sanheim - Myers

Gostisbehere - Prosser

Goalies

Elliott

(Hart)