Open Game Thread: Rangers vs Flyers

After a lackluster effort in New York last night, the Rangers are back in action tonight, as they'll visit the Wells Fargo Center to reacquaint themselves with the Philadelphia Flyers. New York won the first meeting of the season back on November 25th, hanging on for a hard-fought 3-2 victory. Tonight will be the second of four meetings this season between the two teams, and the final one in the city of brotherly love. Marc Staal is out for tonight's game, so Alain Vigneault had to shuffle up his defensive pairings, and will be trotting out these combos:

Chris Kreider-Derek Stepan-Mats Zuccarello

Jimmy Vesey-Kevin Hayes-Michael Grabner

J.T. Miller-Oscar Lindberg-Jesper Fast

Nicklas Jensen-Marek Hrivik-Brandon Pirri

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Ryan McDonagh-Brady Skjei

Adam Clendening-Kevin Klein

Nick Holden-Dan Girardi

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Henrik Lundqvist

Meanwhile, Dave Hakstol will look to counter New York with this group of lines:

Michael Raffl-Claude Giroux-Jakub Voracek

Travis Konecny-Brayden Schenn-Wayne Simmonds

Matt Read-Sean Couturier-Dale Weise

Boyd Gordon-Pierre-Edouard-Bellemare-Roman Lyubimov

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Ivan Provorov-Andrew MacDonald

Michael Del Zotto-Radko Gudas

Shayne Gostisbehere-Brandon Manning

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Steve Mason

Player to watch: Due to an upper-body injury to Marc Staal, the Rangers needed to rearrange their defense pairings. As a result, Brady Skjei will find himself skating alongside Ryan McDonagh to begin the night. The McDonagh-Skjei pairing was one we saw briefly during last year's playoff series against Pittsburgh, and it wasn't a pretty sight. Perhaps Skjei can use the opportunity of playing alongside one of the best defenseman in the league to start to turn his season around for the better.

Enjoy the game!