The Flyers are chipping away at their remaining slate of action before the holiday break, and closing out a pair of games in the state of New York this afternoon with a matinee matchup against the Rangers. The Flyers are coming off of a tough loss to the Sabres on Thursday, which saw their five game points streak brought to an end. It’s a quicker turnaround here, and the Flyers will be looking to get back on track here and prevent the Rangers from catching them in the standings. We’ll see how this one plays out.
Puck drop: 12:30 p.m.
How to watch/listen:
📺: NBCSP
📻: 97.5 The Fanatic
Pregame reading
Pregame watching
By the numbers
Philadelphia Flyers – 17-10-6 (5th in Metro)
Goals: Trevor Zegras (14)
Assists: Travis Konecny/Trevor Zegras (20)
Points: Trevor Zegras (34)
New York Rangers – 17-15-4 (6th in Atlantic)
Goals: Mika Zibanejad/Artemi Panarin (11)
Assists: Artemi Panarin (23)
Points: Artemi Panarin (34)
Projected lineups
Trevor Zegras — Christian Dvorak — Travis Konecny
Carl Grundstrom — Sean Couturier — Owen Tippett
Matvei Michkov — Noah Cates — Bobby Brink
Nic Deslauriers* — Rodrigo Abols — Garnet Hathaway
Cam York — Travis Sanheim
Emil Andrae — Jamie Drysdale
Nick Seeler — Rasmus Ristolainen
Dan Vladar
(Sam Ersson)
Will Cuylle — Mika Zinanejad — Alexis Lafreniere
Connor Sheary — Vincent Trocheck — J.T. Miller
Gabe Perreault — Noah Laba — Taylor Raddysh
Brennan Othmann — Sam Carrick — Matt Rempe
Vladislav Gavrikov — Braden Schneider
Carson Soucy — Will Borgen
Matthew Robertson — Scott Morrow
Igor Shesterkin
(Jonathan Quick)
Storylines to watch
A quick rebound?
As we alluded to off the top, Thursday’s loss to the Sabres was a particularly tough one. The Flyers started out this game quite well — despite giving up the first goal (we can’t have it all around here), they responded well and got that one right back thanks to Noah Cates, and were able to come out of the frame with a comfortable edge in possession — but lost steam as things went on, squandering what looked like it would be an edge in momentum. It’s hard not to get a little dejected about a showing like that, even if there were some positives mixed in, but the Flyers will face to find a way to avoid falling victim to it. The standings are tight and they can’t afford to go on an extended skid, so it’s as important as ever that they find a way to stop the bleeding, build on those positives, and get things moving in the right direction again.
Barkey watch
We’re still waiting on some more concrete updates on the lineup for this afternoon, with the biggest piece of that being whether Denver Barkey will be making his NHL debut after yesterday’s recall. It will likely depend on the particular type of look the Flyers are going for in the lineup (more on that later), but if what they’re looking for is a bit more speed and tenacity in the checking game, Barkey provides them a great option for that. He’ll make his debut before long, of course, whether today or Monday, but it’s an exciting time for an exciting young prospect, to be sure.
Getting physical
On the flip side, it will be interesting to see if the Flyers opt to keep Nic Deslauriers in the lineup for this one. With Matt Rempe back for the Rangers, that’s a pair to watch, as he always seems keen to mix it up with someone, and those two already have a bit of history in the fight department. Of course, the bigger key for the Flyers will be sparking their offense and putting together more tangible work towards pulling off a win, and the physicality is secondary to that, but the Flyers might still give it some meaningful weight, all the same.
