Rangers vs Flyers: The Blueshirts are coming off a solid win against the Capitals. Now they take on the Flyers and will be without their best player in Artemi Panarin. The only two games Panarin missed this season were both losses.
Rangers: 6-7-3 (15 pts)
Flyers: 8-4-3 (19 pts)
(7:00 p.m. ET – TV: NBCSN, Radio: ESPN 98.7 FM)
Rally together for a Rangers win
The Rangers have had a trying season. Chris Kreider revealed that he was talking with Alexis [Lafreniere] and said “you’ve seen more in a few months than I have in 10 year years here.”
Now the Rangers are dealing with Artemi Panarin’s leave of absence as he deals with assault allegations. For Kreider he knows that the team needs to deal with the adversity and they need to rally together.
“Not having Arty [Panarin] around is very difficult, we wish him the best,” Kreider said. “At the end of the day we just want to see him healthy and happy.”
Igor Shesterkin needs to steal some games
Igor Shesterkin is the starter against the Flyers. The 25 year-old is being rewarded for his stellar play as he’s only allowed two goals or less in six of his last seven starts. He needs to start stealing some games for the Rangers as they are without four of the best players (Panarin, Kaapo Kakko, Jacob Trouba, Filip Chytil)
His record over that span is just 4-3 but his .937 SV% has been the key. Shesterkin’s surge has carried him to fifth in GAA with 2.23 and sixth in SV% at .922.*
*Among goalies who started at least 10 games.
Pre Game Notes
- All-Time vs Flyers: 133-122-37-9 (69-52-23-5 at home; 64-70-14-4 on the road)
- The Blueshirts have posted a 1-0-0 record this season and won the last meeting between the two teams, 3-2, in a shootout on Feb. 18 at Philadelphia.
- The Rangers have won each of their last three road games and have earned at least one point in four of six road games this season (3-2-1 record). Dating back to last season, the Blueshirts have posted a 13-3-2 record in their last 18 road contests.
- New York ranks sixth in the NHL in penalties drawn this season (78) and leads the NHL in penalties drawn per 60 minutes of ice time in 2020-21 (4.80).
- Adam Fox has led the Rangers in ice time in each of the last seven games, and he logged a single-game career-high 30:17 of ice time on Feb. 18 at Philadelphia.
- Pavel Buchnevich is one of four NHL players (and one of two NHL forwards) averaging at least 3:00 of power play ice time and 2:45 of shorthanded ice time per game this season (Elias Lindholm, Erik Karlsson, Alex Pietrangelo). Buchnevich enters the contest with a three-game point streak (one goal, three assists). He ranks second on the Rangers in points (12) and assists (eight) this season, and he is also tied for the team lead in points at 5-on-5 (seven).
- Alexis Lafrenière tallied his second career NHL goal, as well as his second career NHL game-winning goal, on Feb. 20 at Washington. According to NHL Stats and Information, Lafrenière is one of eight players in franchise history whose first two career NHL goals have each been game-winning goals (regular season or playoffs)
Notes courtesy NYR
