Jake Voracek scored two goals in the Flyers 6-3 loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday. They return to the road to face the New York Rangers on Sunday night. (Photo Courtesy of ESPN.com)
Saturday was a game the Philadelphia Flyers were due to have. The Lightning never let up despite the Flyers best effort. The moments of shaky play were enough to end a home winning streak of nearly two months.
One day later, the Flyers hit the road to face a division foe. The New York Rangers await at Madison Square Garden at 7 p.m. on Sunday night.
The Flyers got the better of the Rangers at home on Oct. 24, picking up a 2-1 win. Times were different for both teams. The Flyers were struggling to win any game while the Rangers were battling numerous injuries to star players. Henrik Lundqvist, Rick Nash and Ryan Callahan all missed the game.
All three are back for the Rangers. Callahan has eight goals and nine assists in 29 games. Nash has 10 goals and nine assists also in 29 games. Lundqvist is 14-16-3 with a 2.73 GAA.
The Rangers are led by Brad Richards, who is tied for the team lead in goals with 11 – along with Mats Zuccarello, Chris Kreider and Carl Hagelin – and leads the team in assists with 22. Zuccarello has put together a good season, adding 21 assists for 32 points, second on the team.
New York's strong defensive continues to function behind fixtures like Ryan McDonagh, Michael Del Zotto and Dan Girardi.
The Flyers are making an interesting decision, sitting Steve Downie as a healthy scratch. Downie has not registered a point in nine straight games, posting a minus-3 and 10 penalty minutes in that time.
Jay Rosehill will take Downie's place on the fourth line and Tye McGinn will continue to gain playing time after his call-up before Saturday's game.
Jake Voracek is coming off a two-goal game on Saturday. Claude Giroux assisted on the Flyers first two goals on Saturday as well.
McGinn joins the third-line that has also struggled for points of late. Sean Couturier and Vincent Lecavalier are the other members of that line. Lecavalier, Couturier and McGinn were each minus-1 on Saturday. For some Flyers, plus-minus was a big negative. Brayden Schenn, Wayne Simmonds, Nick Grossmann and Mark Streit were all minus-3 in the 6-3 loss to Tampa Bay.
The Flyers will look to reverse that on Saturday while turning to a different goalie. After a rough afternoon for Steve Mason – that saw Ray Emery fill in for the third – the Flyers will go back to Emery tonight. He is 5-7-1 with a 2.86 GAA.
Game Notes
- Power Play: Flyers (17th, 7th on road), Rangers (6th, 20th at home)
- Penalty Kill: Flyers (T-6th, 9th on road), Rangers (8th, 7th at home)
- Matt Read and Braydon Coburn scored for the Flyers in their 2-1 win over the Rangers on Oct. 24.
- Milestone Watch: Vincent Lecavalier is one assists from 500 for his career. Luke Schenn is playing in his 400th NHL game tonight. Wayne Simmonds needs three goals for 100 in his NHL career.
Flyers scratches: Matt Read, Erik Gustafsson, Zac Rinaldo, Hal Gill, Steve Downie
Flyers Projected Lineup
Line 1: Michael Raffl-Claude Giroux-Jake Voracek
Line 2: Scott Hartnell-Brayden Schenn-Wayne Simmonds
Line 3: Tye McGinn-Sean Couturier-Vincent Lecavalier
Line 4: Jay Rosehill-Chris VandeVelde-Adam Hall
D-Pair 1: Kimmo Timonen-Braydon Coburn
D-Pair 2: Nick Grossmann-Mark Streit
D-Pair 3: Luke Schenn-Andrej Meszaros
Goalie: Ray Emery
Where to Watch
TV: NBCSN
Radio: 97.5 The Fanatic
Kevin Durso is the lead beat writer for Flyerdelphia. Follow him on twitter @KDursoPhilsNet.
