Rangers vs. Flyers: Looking to rebound with new coaches

Updated with news about the New York Rangers coaching staff hit by COVID.

Let’s get the good news out of the way.  Pavel Buchnevich and Adam Fox are both off the COVID protocol list and will play tonight.  That restores two of the most important players to the New York Rangers lineup and radically improves the penalty kill.

They will be playing for a new set of coaches as David Quinn, Jacques Martin, Greg Brown and David Oliver are out due to COVID.  Hartford coach Kris Knoblauch gets to coach the team along with Chris Drury and Gord Murphy.

Tonight, the Rangers try to beat the Flyers one more time as they take on a team that is ahead of them in the standings.  It means yet another “must win” game in a series of  “must win” games.  The bad news is they haven’t won nearly as much as they need to.

Rangers players and coaches are constantly looking for areas of improvement and Tuesday was no different.  The positives included a comeback from a two goal deficit for the first time this season and a point gained against a key division rival, but the flaws that have haunted this team all season were present. They allowed two early goals,  blew a third period lead and lost a game that they could have won.

Alexandar Georgiev will also be returning to the starting lineup as he makes his first appearance since being pulled Thursday in Boston.  A strong outing from their young goalie will be a huge boost to his confidence and the Rangers need to be at their best.

One bit of bad news. This is a nationally televised game and the Rangers’ record this season i 0-5-1.

Rangers vs. Flyers this season

February 18 – Rangers 3, Flyers 2 (Shootout)

February 24 – Flyers 4, Rangers 3

March 15 – Flyers 5, Rangers 4 (Overtime)

3 keys to winning

1. Win the special teams battle – That was the key to the loss on Monday. The Rangers didn’t score on three power plays and allowed two power play goals.  With Buchnevich and Fox back in the lineup, the penalty kill should be in top form, they will need to be.
2. Protect the goalie – Alexandar Georgiev is fragile and needs to have a good outing.  The team can do a great deal to make that happen by playing the kind of game that limited the Bruins to 18 shots on Saturday.
3. Remember how they came back on Monday – The team that played the second period was a different team than the one in the first period.  They need to remember how they bottled up the Flyers, dominated play and counterattacked furiously.   If that team starts the game, the Rangers will win.

Projected lineups

New York Rangers

20 Kreider– 93 Zibanejad – 89 Buchnevich
10 Panarin – 16 Strome – 43 Blackwell
13 Lafrenière – 72 Chytil – 24 Kakko
48 Lemieux – 21 Howden–17 Rooney

55 Lindgren – 23 Fox
79 Miller –8 Trouba
25 Hajek – 42 Smith

40 Georgiev
71 Kinkaid

Philadelphia Flyers

25 James Van Riemsdyk – 14 Sean Couturier – 86 Joel Farabee
21  Scott Laughton – 13 Kevin Hayes -11 Travis Konecny
93 Jakub Voracek – 28 Claude Giroux  -19 Nolan Patrick
23 Oskar Lindblom – 10 Andy Andreoff – 62 Nicolas Aube-Kubel

9 Ivan Provorov – 61 Justin Braun
6 Travis Sanheim – 5 Philippe Myers
53 Shayne Gostisbehere – 39 Nate Prosser

79 Carter Hart
37 Brian Elliott

East Division

Tuesday’s scores

Devils 3, Sabres 2
Capitals 3, Islanders 1
Bruins 2, Penguins 1

Standings

1- Washington     29   19-6-4     42 points
2-  Islanders          30   19-7-4     42 points
3- Pittsburgh        29   18-10-1   37 points
4- Boston              27    15-8-4     34 points
5- Philadelphia     26   14-9-3     31 points
6- Rangers            27   11-12-4   26 points
7- New Jersey       26    9-13-4   22 points
8- Buffalo              28    6-18-4    16 points

About the game and join the live conversation

The game starts at 730pm and it will be It will be televised nationally on NBCSN with the radio call on  ESPN radio 98.7FM.

Be sure and join the live conversation here on Blue Line Station. The live thread can be found in the conversations section (below).  The thread is active now and will be throughout the game so you can compare notes with your fellow Ranger fans.