Rangers at Flyers
Alex Lyon recorded his first NHL win by turning aside 25 of 26 shots in relief against the New York Rangers last month. After another strong performance in relief in his last outing, the 25-year-old Lyon is expected to get the call on Thursday as the Philadelphia Flyers host the Rangers at Wells Fargo Center.
"He's shown a real good level of ability to be performance-ready, whether it's in a start or coming off the bench, which isn't always the easiest scenario," Philadelphia coach Dave Hakstol said of Lyon, who made 11 saves in relief of an ineffective Petr Mrazek in Tuesday's 5-4 shootout loss to Detroit. Captain Claude Giroux notched three assists for the third time this season in that outing and also joined Travis Konecny in recording a three-point performance (one goal, two assists) in the Flyers' 7-4 victory over the Rangers on Feb. 18. That triumph was just Philadelphia's second in the last nine meetings with New York, which didn't do the Flyers any favors after falling for the fifth time in seven outings with Tuesday's 5-3 setback to white-hot Columbus. The Blue Jackets inched past the Flyers into third place in the Metropolitan Division, with Philadelphia clinging to the top wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference following a 3-6-2 stretch.
TV: 7 p.m. ET, MSG (New York), NBCS Philadelphia
ABOUT THE RANGERS (32-33-8): Kevin Hayes had a short-handed goal on Tuesday for his 17th point (10 goals, seven assists) in his last 19 games and enters Thursday's tilt with four tallies in his last four meetings with Philadelphia. Fellow forward Chris Kreider also scored versus the Blue Jackets to boost his point total to seven (two goals, five assists) in his last three games and has 11 points (seven goals, four assists) in 16 career encounters with the Flyers. Jesper Fast is riding a career-high six-game point streak with one goal and five assists, but he has been held off the scoresheet in both matches with Philadelphia this season.
ABOUT THE FLYERS (37-25-12): Sean Couturier and defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere each collected a goal and assist versus the Red Wings, with the former netting his team-leading 30th tally and 100th career while also extending his point streak to five games (one goal, six assists). The 24-year-old Gostisbehere has five points (three goals, two assists) in his last five contests, with four coming with the man advantage. Jakub Voracek set up a goal against Detroit to boost his point total to 10 (five goals, five assists) in his last 10 games.
OVERTIME
1. Philadelphia's Ivan Provorov will break a tie with former D Chris Therien by appearing in his franchise-best 157th consecutive game to begin his NHL career.
2. New York's final nine games of the season are against Eastern Conference representatives, with seven of those versus Metropolitan Division foes.
3. The Flyers traded the rights to C Cooper Marody to Edmonton on Wednesday in exchange for a third-round pick in the 2019 NHL Entry Draft.