The New York Rangers are heading into Philadelphia for a Black Friday matchup against their divisional rivals, the Philadelphia Flyers.
The Philadelphia Flyers have been one of the more pleasant surprises thus far in the 2023-24 campaign. Coming into today's game, the Flyers are sitting in fourth place in the Metropolitan Division and are only six points behind the Rangers, although they do have two games in hand.
Flying Over The Past Two Weeks:
Since being the first team to lose to the San Jose Sharks this season, which came on November 7th, the Flyers have essentially been unstoppable since that upsetting defeat. Since November 10th, Philadelphia is 5-1-0 while skating to the league's fourth-best offense as they're averaging 4.00 goals per game.
Their defense has been just as impressive as the offense. The Flyers are allowing the fifth-fewest goals against per game in this same span (2.33) and have the 12th-best penalty kill at 87%.
Strong Goaltending For Philadelphia?
Goaltending has always been one of the biggest concerns in the Flyers organization, but they have been relatively pleased with their guys thus far. Carter Hart has been leading the way, and is expected to be today's starter for the Flyers. Hart is 6-4-0 on the season with a .915 save percentage and a 2.47 goals against average.
The New York Rangers haven't confirmed their starting goaltender just yet. They have another 1pm game tomorrow as they face-off against the Boston Bruins at Madison Square Garden, so whoever backs up today will get the nod tomorrow.
Goalie Controversy in New York? (Half Kidding)
If I were Peter Laviolette, I would go back to Jonathan Quick for this game. I know this is a divisional matchup, so the points do matter a little more, but Quick has been the more consistent net-minder this year, even if Igor Shesterkin is the go-to guy.
Quick is 5-0-1 with a .940 save percentage and a 1.68 goals against average.
Quick has statistically been one of the best goalies in the league this season. Shesterkin hasn't been bad, but he hasn't been able to find any consistency.
In his last two starts, Shesterkin is 1-1-0 with a 3.53 goals against average and a .896 save percentage. Even if his numbers aren't as strong, he's still the more reliable goaltender for the Rangers against a strong opponent like the Boston Bruins.
Can Anyone Besides The Second Line Score?
The Rangers have been relying way too much on their second line to produce all of the teams offense. This line consists of Artemi Panarin, Vincent Trocheck and Alexis Lafreniere.
Lafreniere scored the teams only goal in the last game, which was a beauty I may add, but outside of him, Trocheck and Panarin, there hasn't been much help the past few games. They have combined for 20 points in the teams last five games. To put things in perspective, the other three forward lines have combined for 14 total points in the same span.
Since it's an early game, the Rangers will not be hosting a morning skate.