If things don't go well today, the New York Rangers could find themselves outside of the NHL playoff picture. With a loss in Philadelphia against the rival Flyers and a Carolina Hurricanes win against Buffalo later in the evening, the Eastern Conference playoff bubble will pull even tighter, and the Canes will leap the Rangers for the eighth and final spot.
Rangers Vs. Flyers: Danny Briere Out As Philly Hosts Desperate New York
So, it’s obviously imperative that the Rangers, losers in two straight after a stretch where they went 8-1-1, pull out a victory today. They’ll be facing a Flyers team that hasn’t played well of late either, especially on home ice. The now-second-place Flyers haven’t won at Wells Fargo Center in their last five tries.
Philadelphia will be without Danny Briere this afternoon. General manager Paul Holmgren announced prior to the game that he'll be out with "lower-body soreness," which narrows down the diagnosis to about 50 percent of his body. Thanks, Paul. Nikolay Zherdev will see action for the second straight game, playing on a line with Claude Giroux and James van Riemsdyk.
In goal, the Flyers will go with Sergei Bobrovsky, who's been fantastic in the last week or so. Across the ice, the Rangers will go with Henrik Lundqvist, who was pulled in the team's last game, a 6-2 loss to the New York Islanders.
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