Flyers at Rangers
THE STORY: The Philadelphia Flyers may have been caught looking ahead. With a chance to move into first place in the Atlantic Division at the conclusion of the weekend, the Flyers laid an egg on their home ice Saturday afternoon. The New Jersey Devils scored three times in both the first and second periods and held on for a 6-4 victory. As a result, Philadelphia remained three points behind the front-running New York Rangers heading into the teams' afternoon tilt on Sunday. “(The) first two periods, I was embarrassed to be a Philadelphia Flyer,” All-Star Scott Hartnell said of his team's lackluster performance. “We came out with no energy, no intensity.” The Flyers will need to find some energy versus the Rangers, who have won all three meetings between the clubs this season – including the Winter Classic last month. Coach Peter Laviolette's club has fared well outside of Philadelphia, posting an impressive 18-7-2 mark this season. Not to be outdone, the Rangers are a solid 15-5-2 on Broadway.
TV: 1 p.m. ET, CSP, MSG
ABOUT THE FLYERS (30-15-6): RW Wayne Simmonds netted his third goal in two games to match his career high with 16 tallies this season. Simmonds has struggled in his career versus the Rangers, failing to crack the score sheet in all seven matches. G Sergei Bobrovsky yielded a career-high six goals before being relieved by Ilya Bryzgalov, who is expected to start Sunday. Signed to a nine-year, $51 million deal in the offseason, Bryzgalov has permitted one goal in four of his last five starts (3-0-2).
ABOUT THE RANGERS (32-12-5): G Henrik Lundqvist has certainly rebounded from his troublesome afternoon at the NHL All-Star Game. The 29-year-old Swede stopped all 34 shots – and three more in the shootout – as New York skated to a 1-0 victory over Buffalo on Wednesday. Lundqvist has defeated the Flyers on all three occasions this season and improved to 19-10-3 in his career versus the Atlantic Division rival. D Steve Eminger has been cleared to play on Sunday. Eminger has been sidelined for nearly two months with a separated right shoulder.
OVERTIME:
1. Philadelphia has scored a power-play goal in each of its last six games.
2. New York acquired forward Casey Wellman from Minnesota for C Erik Christensen on Friday. Wellman was promptly sent to the Connecticut Whale of the American Hockey League.