Game Thread: 1/25 Flyers at Rangers
Can the Rangers keep the winning streak alive tonight at the Garden?
Tonight the Rangers host the Orange and Black at the Garden. The Philadelphia Flyers are 3-5-2 in their last 10 games and have a less-than-desirable road record of 9-12-3. But they are coming off of a 3-2 OT victory over the Islanders on January 22nd.
Once again the Rangers will be without Kevin Hayes and Marc Staal. Staal is suspected back sometime around January 31st. Until then we will continue to see Adam Clendening, Destroyer of Worlds, on the blue line.
NYR in a.m skate: Kreider-Step-Zuke; Nash-Ziba-Buch: Pumps-Miller-Grabner: Vesey-Lindberg-Pirri...D: 27-5; 22-8; 76-4 and Lundqvist
— Steve Zipay (@stevezipay) January 25, 2017
Jimmy Vesey has one goal in his last 19 games and has put zero shots on net in his last six games. But it will be hard for him to get over the college wall and break his scoring slump if he continues to get very little ice time on the fourth line. Should he be playing on the third line instead of Matt Puempel?
The Flyers have the third-worst GF% (goal ratio) at even strength in the NHL. Only Colorado and Arizona are worse. Yet they are very much in the hunt for a playoff berth. The Rangers, as always, need to keep their discipline and stay out of the penalty box. Which can be hard to do against the Flyers.
You've got to pay the troll's toll...
Hopefully the Rangers' skaters will turn in a better performance than what we saw on January 23rd when the Kings were at MSG. This is not the kind of game that Henrik Lundqvist should be asked to steal.