Flyers-Rangers: Game 79 Preview

(Kate Frese/Sports Talk Philly)

By Kevin Durso, Sports Talk Philly editor

It's just about all over for the Flyers. With four games remaining, the Flyers could be mathematically eliminated from playoff contention before they even take the ice on Sunday night. If the Bruins beat the Blackhawks on Sunday afternoon, the Flyers would eliminate the Flyers for good.

The Flyers may not be making the playoffs, but they have closed the season to this point with a solid stretch of games, opening up their winning streak to four with Saturday's emotional win over the Devils. Now they close out the season series with the Rangers, looking to solve their road woes at MSG.

The opening face-off is set for 7:30 p.m.

Flyers Leaders	GP	G	A	P	Rangers Leaders	GP	G	A	P
Jake Voracek	78	19	40	59	J.T. Miller	78	22	34	56
Claude Giroux	78	14	43	57	Mats Zuccarello	78	15	41	56
Brayden Schenn	75	24	29	53	Derek Stepan	78	16	36	52
Wayne Simmonds	78	30	22	52	Chris Kreider	72	27	24	51
Valtteri Filppula	75	10	30	40	Kevin Hayes	73	17	32	49

Player to Watch
40 Jordan Weal	10 J.T. Miller
Last 5 Games: 4 G, 1 A, 5 P, +1	Last 5 Games: 2 G, 2 A, 4 P, -2

There isn't a hotter Flyer than Jordan Weal. Weal has scored in four straight games, bringing his season total to eight goals. He has quickly become one of the team's go-to scorers, with 10 points in his limited 20 games this season.

At the center of many of the Rangers chances, J.T. Miller is usually found. The Rangers leading scorer with 56 points has four points in his last two games after a four-game pointless drought.

Goalie Matchup
41 Anthony Stolarz	30 Henrik Lundqvist
2-0-0, 1.42 GAA, .951 SV%	30-18-4, 2.74 GAA, .911 SV%

It doesn't get much crazier than the goalie ordeal the Flyers had to endure on Saturday. Steve Mason was ill and couldn't even get to the rink. Michal Neuvirth was feeling similar effects, but still started the game, only to suddenly collapse and be taken to the hospital in one of the scariest things you will ever see in a hockey game. Anthony Stolarz arrived at the arena as the emergency backup five minutes before puck drop, entered the game just eight minutes in and posted a shutout the rest of the way. With all of that in mind, Stolarz is the one getting the start for the Flyers on Sunday night.

Henrik Lundqvist is back between the pipes for the Rangers. King Henrik has 33 wins against the Flyers in 53 starts, including four shutouts, and that pretty much says all you need to know.

Flyers Projected Lineup

Scratches: Roman Lyubimov, Mike Vecchione, Michal Neuvirth (illness, day-to-day), Radko Gudas (upper-body injury, day-to-day), Nick Cousins (upper-body injury, day-to-day), Michael Raffl (lower-body injury, out 6-8 weeks), Matt Read (upper-body injury, out 6-8 weeks)

Left Wing	Center	Right Wing
11 Travis Konecny	28 Claude Giroux	93 Jake Voracek
40 Jordan Weal	51 Valtteri Filppula	17 Wayne Simmonds
10 Brayden Schenn	14 Sean Couturier	22 Dale Weise
76 Chris VandeVelde	78 Pierre-Edouard Bellemare	36 Colin McDonald
Defense
9 Ivan Provorov	47 Andrew MacDonald
53 Shayne Gostisbehere	55 Nick Schultz
23 Brandon Manning	15 Michael Del Zotto
Goalie
41 Anthony Stolarz

Game Notes

Power Play: Flyers (T-12th, T-15th on road), Rangers (T-12th, 24th at home)
Penalty Kill: Flyers (22nd, 24th on road), Rangers (23rd, 26th at home)
Recent History vs. Rangers
- Jan. 25, 2017 - The Flyers picked up a 2-0 win over the Rangers at Madison Square Garden. After two scoreless periods, Wayne Simmonds finally broke the ice with a power-play goal six minutes into the third. Jake Voracek scored to pad the lead at the halfway point of the period. Steve Mason made 34 saves to preserve the shutout win.
- Jan. 4, 2017 – The Flyers were dominated by the Rangers in a 5-2 loss at home. The Flyers fell behind 3-0 again on goals by Kevin Hayes, Chris Kreider and Michael Grabner. Despite trailing just 1-0 after two periods, the Flyers faced a 3-0 deficit with just over 11 minutes to play. Jake Voracek got the Flyers on the board just past the halfway point of the period, but Hayes answered with his second with just under six minutes to play, essentially icing the game. Voracek added a second goal on the power play late and Grabner scored into an empty net to cap the scoring.
- Nov. 25, 2016 – The Flyers suffered a 3-2 loss to the Rangers at home. The Rangers got first-period goals from Derek Stepan and Matt Puempel to take a 2-0 lead and padded it with a goal by Kevin Hayes in the second period. The Flyers got two goals in the third to make things interesting. Chris VandeVelde had a shot go off his skate and in to get the Flyers on the board. In the closing stages of the third, Shayne Gostisbehere scored to cut the lead to one, but the Flyers couldn't find the equalizer on Henrik Lundqvist.
Flyers leaders vs. Rangers

Valtteri Filppula - 14 games, 2 goals, 12 assists, 14 points
Claude Giroux - 44 games, 6 goals, 30 assists, 36 points
Jake Voracek - 30 games, 12 goals, 12 assists, 24 points
Shayne Gostisbehere - 7 games, 2 goals, 3 assists, 5 points

Milestone Watch
- Claude Giroux needs two goals to move into 15th all-time in Flyers history. Giroux also needs two assists to move into fourth all-time in Flyers history, and six assists to reach 400 for his career.
- Wayne Simmonds needs four points to reach 400 in his career and five assists to reach 200 in his career.