Flyers looking to snap a 6-game losing streak tonight against the New York Rangers

The 8-8-4 Flyers come into tonight’s game looking to snap a 6-game losing streak. It won’t be an easy task, with the Rangers having a 13-4-3 record and currently playing very good hockey as of late. You can catch the game tonight at 7pm on NBCSP.

Carter Hart gets the nod against the Rangers, who are 4-1-0 in their last 5 games. Hart is currently 5-5-3 with a 2.67 GAA and a .920 SV%. His last game came in that Black Friday matchup against the Carolina Hurricanes where he saw his team basically leave him out to dry on multiple occasions. Yeah, you could probably point to a goal or two and say he was off his angles a little, but the play in-front of him was outright embarrassing. He’ll look to get back on track tonight at Madison Square Garden.

Kevin Hayes will re-enter the line up after missing a little bit of time dealing with a groin issue. We saw Hayes return for two games on November 13th and 16th, scoring 1G-1A, but quickly exited the line-up after. It’s a huge boost getting a player like Hayes back in there. According to Giana Han on twitter, AV said he will not be holding Hayes back during 5v5 or PP situations, but did add we will not be seeing him on the PK.

Derick Brassard is another center that has missed a couple games. We got a little bit of clarity with his situation, recently finding out he’s dealing with a hip issue. Brassard skated in practice yesterday, but felt a tweak according to Chuck Fletcher at his press conference yesterday around 12. Chuck added he hopes it’s more of a day-to-day thing and not a week-to-week situation.

Projected Line up vs the New York Rangers

Joel Farabee – Sean Couturier – James van Riemsdyk

Claude Giroux – Morgan Frost – Cam Atkinson

Scott Laughton – Kevin Hayes – Travis Konecny

Oskar Lindblom – Connor Bunnaman – Zack MacEwen

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Ivan Provorov – Nick Seeler

Travis Sanheim – Rasmus Ristolainen

Keith Yandle – Justin Braun

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Carter Hart

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We’re finally going to see Claude Giroux and Morgan Frost back together. When Frost got called up for the first time in his career back in 2019-2020, he and Giroux together were extremely fun to watch. I’m excited to see what those two playmakers can do with a shoot-first guy in Cam Atkinson.

Ivan Provorov with Nick Seeler is a crime, I don’t care what argument you have as to why he’s getting a look there. We’ll see if that’s an actual pair come game-time, but the fact that this was even a thought scares the shit out of me. I guess, there’s literally no other option. They’ve already tried Braun and Ristolainen there, they aren’t going to move Sanheim away from that #2 LHD spot, and Yandle certainly isn’t an option.

Flyers are really missing Ryan Ellis.

The Rangers have won 7 of their last 8 games, with Egor Sheshterkin posting a 2.22 GAA and a .933 SV% in 16 games this year. Like I said in the beginning, the Rangers have been playing extremely good hockey, so it’s going to take a really solid effort from the Flyers to come away with a win.

Are the Flyers capable of putting together a solid game, we’ll see. This game screams “somebody step up and put some life into this team.” Whether it’s Carter Hart stealing a game, Hayes bringing some energy or Frost and Giroux picking up their chemistry, they need something to happen. Laughton and Farabee stepped up against the Devils, combining for 2G-1A, but they need more.

LETS. GO. FLYERS.

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