Flyers face big weekend with games against Devils, Rangers
Photo courtesy of AP/Yahoo
By: Tom Dougherty | @todougherty
It will be an important weekend for the Philadelphia Flyers.
With two day games against New Jersey and the Rangers, the Flyers have an opportunity to leapfrog New York for the Atlantic division lead, but it’s not going to be an easy two games.
The Flyers have taken care of business against the Devils in three games this season. With a 2-0-1 record in three meetings, the Flyers easily handled Jersey with a 4-1 victory the last time these two teams met.
But, New Jersey currently sits in seventh place in the East and is a borderline playoff team. Johan Hedberg has been solid for the Devils, and Patrik Elias, Ilya Kovalchuk and Zach Praise have been carrying the team’s offense.
In a 1 p.m. matchup Saturday, Philadelphia will try to win back-to-back games for the first time since Jan. 10 and 12 against Carolina and the Islanders.
Ilya Bryzgalov is coming off one of his strongest performances of the season when he turned in 26 saves against Nashville Thursday.
Bryzgalov figures to start one of the two weekend games, but it wouldn’t be a surprise to see Peter Laviolette try to get him in a grove and play in both days. He hasn’t played more than two games in a row since a six-game span from Dec. 2 through 13.
On Sunday, the Flyers make their third trip to Madison Square Garden where they’ll try to beat the Eastern Conference leading Rangers for the first time in four tries. They lost to New York 3-0 in the Winter Classic on Jan. 2.
That’s the big game because it’ll tell the Flyers what they have to do in order to compete with the big boys in the East. Losing to the Bruins in a shootout last Sunday, there are doubts that the Flyers can compete with Boston and the Rangers in a seven-game series.
In six combined games against Boston and New York, the Flyers are 1-4-1. Not good enough for a team that wants to win the Stanley Cup.
The Flyers have to find a way to play a strong, defensive game and limit turnovers against New York. In the Classic, Philly was leading for the first half of the game before collapsing and blowing a two-goal lead.
They’ll also have to find a way to solve Vezina candidate Henrik Lundqvist, arguably the best goaltender in the league at the moment. Lundqvist has 19 career wins against the Flyers, including a 3-0 record with 1.33 goals against average and .958 save percentage.
Depending on this weekend’s outcome, the Flyers will know where they stand. If Philly wins both games, maybe they won’t need to make a huge splash at the deadline to compete with the Rangers and Bruins.
But, if they lose to the Rangers on Sunday in a game where turnovers and defensive zone breakdowns are constant, that might be a signal to pull the trigger on a trade for a big-named defenseman.
Perhaps Toronto’s Luke Schenn or Chris Hansen’s Ryan Suter—referenced inspired by Tyler Altemose.
