Game 66: Flyers at Rangers

Philadelphia Flyers: 33-25-7, 73 points
New York Rangers: 33-24-8, 74 points

Antero Niittymaki v. Henrik Lundqvist

After a relatively easy win over the Islanders, the Flyers wrap up their Big Apple Weekend at Madison Cubed Garden this afternoon. This game has pretty big playoff implications. The games in hand are gone, so the Flyers have no room for error if they want to pass the Rangers. They're one point behind now, so a win would get them the 7 seed in the East and then only one point behind Boston.

Antero Niittymaki should be in goal today. Stevens usually likes using both guys in back to backs.

The story of this game will be the goaltenders. The Rangers are 4-1-0 against the Flyers this year, and three of those wins have been shutouts, including the last two meetings, featuring backup goalie Steve Valiquette. Lundqvist is expected to be in the lineup this time, which will come as a relief to Flyers fans. He's a great goalie, but the Flyers have had some success against him.

On the flip side, despite getting hot and building some momentum, Martin Biron will likely get the day off. Antero Niittymaki is going to get his first start in over a week. His career GAA against the Rangers is over 3, but his SV% is also over .900, which I consider to be a little benchmark for competent goaltending. However, this season, he has gotten killed by the Rangers. His GAA is well over 4 in two starts, and he needs to have a better effort than that today.

The Rangers are a very good defensive team from the net out. It starts with Lundqvist, but they have some very good defensemen and many of their forwards are very responsible. Fortunately, the Flyers' goal scoring is starting to wake up again, and they're going to need to work hard today to get a win here.

I beat Meltzer for the second game in a row. Check out his page for the scratches and lines closer to game time.

I'll try and get an entry up about my day in New York later.