Rangers at Flyers
The New York Rangers stopped a losing streak when they hosted the Metropolitan Division-rival Philadelphia Flyers in the teams' first meeting of the season last week. Coach Alain Vigneault's club hopes to prevent another skid from forming when it visits the Flyers on Friday afternoon to open a home-and-home set. Rick Nash, who scored in New York's 2-0 triumph over Philadelphia to end an 0-1-2 slide, collected his team-leading 15th goal and an assist in a 4-3 setback to Tampa Bay on Wednesday.
Nash has recorded a goal in three straight and 13-of-21 games this season and a point in 16-of-21 while notching his 300th career assist against the Lightning. While those numbers certainly are impressive, Philadelphia is stringing together some rather gaudy numbers in its own right - albeit on the negative side after its 5-2 setback to Detroit on Wednesday. The Flyers have lost six of seven overall (1-5-1) and fell to 0-5-1 in their last six road contests heading into Saturday's tilt in the house of horrors that is Madison Square Garden, where they've dropped nine in a row.
TV: 1 p.m. ET, NBC, RSN
ABOUT THE RANGERS (9-8-4): Cam Talbot turned aside 31 shots against Philadelphia last week to record both his first victory and shutout of the season. Talbot is expected to start either Friday or Saturday, with Henrik Lundqvist getting another chance to continue his mastery versus the Flyers. The 2012 Vezina Trophy winner owns a sparkling 27-13-3 record with four shutouts against Philadelphia.
ABOUT THE FLYERS (8-10-3): Captain Claude Giroux collected a goal and an assist versus the Red Wings and then led the club in a players-only meeting. Giroux told the Philadelphia Inquirer that the players need to look themselves in the mirror, while Steve Mason agreed that the meeting sorely was needed. "What was said everybody had known, but it's always good to have some guys vocal in the locker room," Mason told the newspaper. The meeting comes on the heels of general manager Ron Hextall's tongue-lashing after what he deemed to be an uninspired effort versus the Rangers.
OVERTIME
1. Giroux has registered 97 shots on goal, sharing the league lead with Washington captain Alex Ovechkin.
2. New York RW Lee Stempniak is expected to return to the lineup after being sidelined since Nov. 17 with a balky back.
3. Philadelphia's Jakub Voracek scored versus Detroit to grab a share the team lead in goals from fellow RW Wayne Simmonds.