Rangers vs. Flyers: 3 things to watch for in clash between Metropolitan Division rivals
The New York Rangers need a win in the worst of ways when they take on the Philadelphia Flyers in a Black Friday matinee at Wells Fargo Center.
The Rangers (12-8-1) have lost four in a row, their longest skid of the season. Though they played a better all-around game on Thanksgiving Eve, the Rangers still blew a third-period lead and lost 4-3 to the Carolina Hurricanes.
So, they were better, just not good enough. And several players acknowledged as much postgame.
That loss dropped New York to 7-8-0 in their past 15 games and 2-2-0 against Metropolitan Division opponents. They play another division rival on Friday, facing off with the Flyers for the first time this season. The Flyers (10-10-3) are just two points behind the Rangers for fourth place in the standings, though they’ve played two more games.
Under former Rangers coach John Tortorella, Philly has overcome a very slow start this season to get back to .500. The Flyers have points in three straight games (2-0-1) and are 6-2-2 in their past 10.
The Rangers have had the Flyers number in recent season, however, with a 10-1-1 head-to-head record.
Related: Rangers 1st quarter report card for every player, plus coach and GM
3 things to watch for when Rangers visit Flyers
1. The Rookies
Brett Berard is doing his best to inject life into the struggling Rangers lineup. He had an assist and played with plenty of jump in his NHL debut, a 5-2 loss to the St. Louis Blues on Monday. The 22-year-old rookie followed that up by scoring his first NHL goal, a beauty off the rush, in the loss Wednesday.
He logged 13:47 TOI against the Hurricanes, about two minutes more than he played Monday. Let’s see what he’s got in store for the Flyers and if he can help lift center Mika Zibanejad, his linemate, out of a deep funk.
The Flyers have a pretty good rookie, too. Matvei Michkov leads NHL rookies with eight goals, four power-play goals and 17 points in 21 games, producing even after receiving some tough love from Tortorella who scratched him for two games. The 19-year-old forward has all the makings of a star, including a flair for the dramatic. He’s already scored two overtime winning goals this season.
2. Time to break out
The Flyers are no great shakes defensively. And it’s even worse with goalie Samuel Ersson sidelined by a lower-body injury since Nov. 2. The Flyers sit 27th in the NHL, allowing 3.39 goals per game — and that’s including Ersson, who has a 2.70 GAA in 11 games.
Ivan Fedotov has a 3.69 GAA in eight games and Aleksei Kolosov has a 3.11 GAA in six games.
So, yes, the Rangers need to step up their attack and get pucks to the net, the more the better. It’d be a good time for Zibanejad, Artemi Panarin and Vincent Trocheck to snap scoring droughts, and the Flyers should be a good opponent to get healthy against offensively.
3. Kaapo Kakko center of attention
If Filip Chytil remains out of the Rangers lineup and misses his seventh straight game Friday with an upper-body injury, there’s a good chance that the experiment with Kaapo Kakko centering the third line continues. Though Kakko himself admitted he hardly ever played the position back home in Finland or in the NHL, coach Peter Laviolette is intrigued by it. And Kakko hasn’t been too bad in the middle the past couple games.
On Monday, Kakko’s line with Adam Edstrom and Reilly Smith had an x GF of 70.43 percent, per Natural Stat Trick. Kakko won only three of seven face-offs, but Laviolette did a good job getting that trio out there on the fly. Edstrom scored his second goal of the season and though Kakko didn’t have a point, he helped drive that line to another strong showing.
New York Rangers projected lineup
Panarin – Trocheck – Lafreniere
Cuylle – Zibanejad – Berard
Edstrom – Kakko – Smith
Vesey – Carrick – Brodzinski
Miller – Fox
Lindgren – Trouba
Jones – Schneider
Shesterkin
Quick
Rangers vs. Flyers: When, where, what time, how to watch
Who: New York Rangers vs. Philadelphia Flyers
When: Friday, Nov. 29 at 1 p.m. ET
Where: Wells Fargo Center
How to Watch: MSG2
Click here for New York Rangers complete 2024-25 schedule and game results
More About:New York Rangers News
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