The New York Rangers take on the Philadelphia Flyers for the fourth time in two weeks. If we believe in trends, after scoring nine and eight goals, it’s time for the Rangers to score seven. We can hope.
It’s the first of back-to-back games. The Rangers travel right to Washington after the game to take on the Capitals in a Sunday matinee game. To get off on the right foot, the team announced that Igor Shesterkin would face the Flyers whether that means that Alexandar Georgiev or Keith Kinkaid will play in Washington remains to be seen.
If anyone thought that the Flyers would come out with a purpose on Thursday. The Ranger were lucky that Igor Shesterkin was at the top of his game and that Carter Hart was just awful. The final score didn’t reflect the play though much of the Rangers’ inability to suppress the Flyers offense was due to the early 6-0 lead.
After an optional skate, Kris Knoblauch talked to the media as it looks like he will be behind the bench again on Saturday. While he did confirm Shesterkin as the starting goalie, he would commit to any set lineup.
He did speak about his impressions of Alexis Lafrenière making the jump from junior hockey to the NHL. “Not only is there an adjustment to the game, the style…the dominant pressure he puts on himself…he wants to be dominant player in the future and he wants to be a good player right now and it just doesn’t happen overnight, it takes a lot of work but you see so much promise in him…he’ll get there.”
Morin fined
Samuel Morin picked a fight, actually ambushed, Brendan Lemieux at the end of the game. The referees didn’t pick it up, but the replay showed Morin definitely pulling Lemieux’s hair and it looked like he drove the Rangers’ head into the ice.
Although he was just penalized for a cross check and fighting, the NHL Department of Player Safety announced that he was going to be fined $3,017.24, for unsportsmanlike conduct, the maximum allowable under the Collective Bargaining Agreement. That’s about two days pay for Morin and most important, goes onto his record.
Ranger fans may have been looking for a suspension, but considering the circumstances, the punishment fit the crime. Friday, the Flyers announced that Morin was being assigned to the taxi squad, but that might have been for salary cap purposes.
About the Flyers
Alain Vigneault announced that Brian Elliott would be in goal for the Flyers. That call makes sense considering Carter Hart’s issues. While Elliott has been better than Hart, not that much. While Hart’s Save Percentage of .869 is the worst of 37 goalies who have played in 15 games. Elliott is 34th out of 37. Elliott’s save percentage of 2.97 is 27th overall.
Vigneault said that the rest of the lineup would remain the same as the team that played on Thursday.
Since the Flyers’ overtime win over the Rangers on March 15, they have won only one of six games and have been outscored 32-12.
Projected lineups
New York Rangers
20 Kreider– 93 Zibanejad – 89 Buchnevich
10 Panarin – 16 Strome – 24 Kakko
13 Lafrenière – 72 Chytil – 43 Blackwell
48 Lemieux – 17 Rooney– 12 Gauthier
55 Lindgren – 23 Fox
79 Miller – 8 Trouba
25 Hajek – 42 Smith
31 Shesterkin
40 Georgiev
Philadelphia Flyers
25 James Van Riemsdyk – 14 Sean Couturier – 86 Joel Farabee
28 Claude Giroux – 13 Kevin Hayes -11 Travis Konecny
23 Oskar Lindblom -19 Nolan Patrick – 93 Jakub Voracek
12 Michael Raffl – 21 Scott Laughton – 62 Nicolas Aube-Kubel
9 Ivan Provorov – 61 Justin Braun
6 Travis Sanheim – 5 Philippe Myers
53 Shayne Gostisbehere – 55 Samuel Morin
37 Brian Elliott
79 Carter Hart
Keys to winning
- Get an early lead – There’s nothing like a “here we go again” feeling to help a team lose. If the Rangers can jump out to an early lead, the Flyers could end up folding like a tent. Letting the Flyers get ahead will only give them confidence. A confession….this is the same first key from Thursday.
- Draw penalties, score on the power play – They did it on Thursday and it blew the game open. Only six teams are worse on the penalty kill than the Flyers. Take advantage of that.
- Remember the D – 44 shots against was much too much. After taking a 6-0 lead, the Flyers started to score and you could see the confidence they got from that. The Rangers need to get back to business with the defense and shot suppression. They will definitely need it on Sunday against Washington so best to start with Philly.
East Division
Saturday’s games
Rangers @ Flyers
Sabres @ Bruins
Islanders @ Penguins
Friday’s game
Capitals 4 Devils 0
Standings
1- Washington 33 22-7-4 48 points
2- Islanders 34 22-8-4 48 points
3- Pittsburgh 34 21-11-2 44 points
4- Boston 29 16-8-5 37 points
5- Rangers 32 15-13-4 34 points
—Philadelphia 32 15-13-4 34 points
7- New Jersey 32 12-16-4 28 points
8- Buffalo 32 6-22-4 16 points
About the game and join the live conversation
The game starts at 1pm and it will be It will be televised on the MSG Network with the radio call n ESPN 98.7 FM.
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 as they go for three in a row and a tie for fifth place.