The Game: 7:00 p.m., NBCSP, ESPN+, 97.5 The Fanatic
The Philadelphia Flyers are making their trip to a train station called Madison Square Garden to face a disastrous New York Rangers team.
Over here in sunny Philadelphia, the Flyers have been scorching teams left and right. They have earned points in six consecutive games and have rightfully wiggled their way through the dredges of the Eastern Conference to jump right back in the messy mix of teams trying to contend for the Wild Card, to see who will be promptly destroyed by the Toronto Maple Leafs. None of the wins might have been blowouts, but they have still controlled play enough to earn decisive wins over the Devils, Red Wings, Islanders, and the reigning champion Panthers. No points are coming that are not deserved.
Meanwhile, over in New York, the Rangers are weirdly winning a whole lot of games too. Despite their recent downfall and wanting to trade just about everyone from the roster that is over the age of 28 years old, they have held steady and are earning points. A decisive 5-0 win over the Senators, and then just a slew of games where they have scratched and clawed their way to earning some points — the Rangers have not had a regulation loss since Jan. 4, remarkably.
This should be a collision between two teams who are defying the odds of what their front office is envisioning for them. General manager Danny Briere would be more than fine with the Flyers sinking and earning a high draft pick on their way to another rebuilding summer. And Rangers general manager Chris Drury probably wants them to lose as an excuse to sell off all the veterans and start over the the younger core. But instead, the Flyers are a good goaltender away from being a playoff team and the Rangers might even trade for J.T. Miller and get substantially better for this push.
The Eastern Conference is so weird.
Storylines to watch
Tony Dick makes his return
Anthony Richard was recalled from the AHL’s Lehigh Valley Phantoms on Wednesday and will now be shoved into the lineup to give a jolt of energy into the Flyers’ bottom six. Earlier this season, in the seven games Richard appeared in for the Flyers, while they were dealing with a serious injury bug, the 28-year-old scored two goals and six points. It was certainly riding some high percentages and getting some puck luck, but the veteran truly gave this team a much-needed boost.
Now that the lineup has been more solidified, Richard should be playing next to a familiar face in Rodrigo Abols, and then Garnet Hathaway, as the trio forms a scrappy fourth line in what should be a solid bout.
The newest hottest line, now featuring Michkov
Move over Foerster, Cates, and Brink, the Flyers have a new hot line. Ever since Joel Farabee made his triumphant return from sitting up in the press box for three games, head coach John Tortorella has plopped him beside Sean Couturier and Matvei Michkov to truly get something going. We knew that third-line trio was cemented, and then Morgan Frost, Owen Tippett, and Travis Konecny were good enough to hold their own together — so this new second line was certainly just to see if some juice can be made.
And certainly, some juice was squeezed. They appear to be electric whenever they step on the ice and are creating heaps of offense; barely letting the opponent even catch a sniff of the puck. Maybe, just maybe there’s something cooking here that will calm down every single trade rumor involving Farabee and get Michkov back in the race for the Calder Trophy.
Teams battling for position
No one would have thought 40-odd games ago that the Rangers and Flyers would be sitting with the same amount of points in January. The Flyers were supposed to be awful (according to the national media), and the Rangers were coming off a big President’s Trophy win. But now, they are siblings sitting at 50 points and they will both probably get stuck in the mushy middle of the standings.
Both teams are not good enough to truly compete in the playoffs, but are not bad enough to sink to the bottom. They are certainly given that label for different reasons — Flyers on their way up with a young roster, Rangers quickly on their way down as they panic and want to trade everyone — but they are where they are.
Projected lineups
Philadelphia Flyers
Owen Tippett — Morgan Frost — Travis Konecny
Joel Farabee — Sean Couturier — Matvei Michkov
Tyson Foerster — Noah Cates — Bobby Brink
Anthony Richard — Rodrigo Abols — Garnet Hathaway
Cam York — Travis Sanheim
Egor Zamula — Rasmus Ristolainen
Nick Seeler — Jamie Drysdale
Sam Ersson
(Ivan Fedotov)
New York Rangers
Artemi Panarin — Vincent Trocheck — Alexis Lafreniere
Will Cuylle — Mika Zibanejad — Reilly Smith
Chris Kreider — Filip Chytil — Arthur Kaliyev
Adam Edstrom — Sam Carrick — Matt Rempe
Ryan Lindgren — Adam Fox
K’Andre Miller — Will Borgen
Urho Vaakanainen — Braden Schneider
Igor Shesterkin
(Jonathan Quick)
