Flyers-Rangers: Game 22 Preview

Team Leaders

Philadelphia Flyers	GP	G	A	P	New York Rangers	GP	G	A	P
Claude Giroux	21	8	17	25	Chris Kreider	22	12	8	20
Jake Voracek	21	5	12	17	Mika Zibanejad	22	7	12	19
Sean Couturier	21	8	7	15	Kevin Hayes	22	5	9	14
Wayne Simmonds	21	9	3	12	Neal Pionk	20	4	10	14
Travis Konecny	21	5	6	11	Brett Howden	21	4	8	12

 

Player to Watch
17 Wayne Simmonds	93 Mika Zibanejad
Last 5 Games: 2 G, 0 A, 2 P, -2	Last 5 Games: 0 G, 4 A, 4 P, -1

 

For the Flyers to get the offense going, it may take some greasy goals. While the bigger issue is keeping the puck out of their own net, they need someone to spark the offense, perhaps with a dirty goal. Nobody does it better than Wayne Simmonds, who has scored in each of the last two games.

 

Mika Zibanejad is in a bit of a goal-scoring drought, but has four points in his last five games and is excellent on the power play, especially at setting up teammates. Look for him and the rest of the Rangers to take advantage of a fragile penalty kill.

 

Goalie Matchup
33 Cal Pickard	30 Henrik Lundqvist
3-1-2, 4.13 GAA, .858 SV%	8-6-2, 2.61 GAA, .919 SV%

Cal Pickard figures to get the start on Friday after coming on in relief of Alex Lyon on Wednesday. Pickard stopped all eight shots faced in the remaining 40 minutes of Wednesday's loss to Buffalo. In his last start, Pickard allowed six goals on 26 shots to Tampa Bay in an overtime loss.

Henrik Lundqvist has been solid of late with wins in three of his last four games, allowing four goals in the three wins. He did allow five goals to the Islanders in a start on Nov. 15, but otherwise, he's looked more like the King Henrik of old.

Flyers Projected Lineup

Injuries: Michael Raffl, Brian Elliott, Michal Neuvirth

Scratches: Jori Lehtera, Andrew MacDonald

Left Wing	Center	Right Wing
28 Claude Giroux	14 Sean Couturier	11 Travis Konecny
22 Dale Weise	19 Nolan Patrick	93 Jake Voracek
25 James van Riemsdyk	40 Jordan Weal	17 Wayne Simmonds
23 Oskar Lindblom	21 Scott Laughton	39 Tyrell Goulbourne
Defense
9 Ivan Provorov	8 Robert Hagg
53 Shayne Gostisbehere	26 Christian Folin
6 Travis Sanheim	3 Radko Gudas
Goalie
33 Cal Pickard

Lineup Notes

The Flyers made a roster move on Thanksgiving, sending Nicolas Aube-Kubel back to the Phantoms and bringing Tyrell Goulbourne back to the NHL roster. Goulbourne slots into the lineup for Jori Lehtera.

Rangers Projected Lineup

Injuries: Pavel Buchnevich, Adam McQuaid, Cody McLeod

Scratches: Brendan Smith

Left Wing	Center	Right Wing
20 Chris Kreider	13 Kevin Hayes	90 Vladislav Namestnikov
36 Mats Zuccarello	93 Mika Zibanejad	17 Jesper Fast
26 Jimmy Vesey	21 Brett Howden	16 Ryan Strome
72 Filip Chytil	50 Lias Andersson	38 Steven Fogarty
Defense
18 Marc Staal	44 Neal Pionk
33 Fredrik Claesson	22 Kevin Shattenkirk
76 Brady Skjei	77 Anthony DeAngelo
Goalie
30 Henrik Lundqvist

Game Notes

• Power Play: Flyers (25th, T-23rd at home), Rangers (T-14th, 7th on road)
• Penalty Kill: Flyers (30th, 31st at home), Rangers (22nd, 30th on road) 
• Recent History vs. Rangers
  • Jan. 16, 2018 – Rangers 5, Flyers 1 (at NYR)
  • Feb. 18, 2018 – Flyers 7, Rangers 4 (at NYR)
  • March 22, 2018 – Flyers 4, Rangers 3 (at PHI)
  • April 7, 2018 – Flyers 5, Rangers 0 (at PHI)
• Flyers Leaders vs. Rangers
  • Claude Giroux – 49 GP, 10 G, 35 A, 45 P
  • Jake Voracek – 35 GP, 13 G, 14 A, 27 P
  • Shayne Gostisbehere – 12 GP, 2 G, 6 A, 8 P
  • Cal Pickard – 2 GP, 0-2-0, 4.54 GAA, .864 SV%
• Milestone Watch
  • Claude Giroux needs one assist to pass Brian Propp for 2nd all-time in Flyers history.
  • James van Riemsdyk needs three points to reach 400 in his career.
  • Christian Folin is playing in his 200th NHL game today.

Where to Watch
TV: NBC
Radio: 97.5 The Fanatic