5 Things: Flyers @ Rangers | Philadelphia Flyers

Looking to build upon their six-game point streak, John Tortorella’s Philadelphia Flyers (22-20-6) begin an Empire State back-to-back on Thursday against Peter Laviolette’s New York Rangers (23-20-4). Game time at Madison Square Garden is 7:00 p.m. EST.

The game will be televised on NBCSP. The radio broadcast is on 97.5 The Fanatic with an online simulcast on Flyers Radio 24/7 The Fanatic.

This is the second game of a three-game season series between the traditional arch-rival clubs. On Black Friday in Philadelphia, the Flyers skated to a 3-1 win as Bobby Brink opened the scoring and Travis Konecny later tallied twice (even strength and empty net). The Flyers outshot the Blueshirts, 35-23. The season series will conclude on April 9 back at MSG.

Entering play on Thursday, the Flyers and Rangers each have 50 standings points. The Rangers are technically own the tiebreaker over the Flyers. Currently, there is a logjam of eight teams vying for two wildcards playoff spots in the Eastern Conference. The teams are presently separated by no more than six points: Columbus Blue Jackets (53 points), Ottawa Senators (52 points, 18 regulation wins), Montreal Canadiens (52 points, 17 RW), Boston Bruins (52 points, 16 RW), Rangers (50 points, 21 RW), Flyers (50 points, 13 RW), Pittsburgh Penguins (48 points, 14 RW), and Detroit Red Wings (47 points, 17 RW).

The Flyers, 5-0-1 in their last six games but just 5-3-2 over the last 10, have won each of their last three games. The Rangers are 6-1-3 in their last 10 games.

Here are five things to watch in Thursday’s game.

1. Richard returns

The Flyers made several roster moves on Wednesday. The team assigned goaltender Aleksei Kolosov and winger Olle Lycksell to the AHL’s Lehigh Valley Phantoms, while recalling winger Anthony Richard to the NHL roster.

Richard, 28, performed well during a previous NHL recall this season. The speedy French Canadian winger (No. 90) posted two goals and four assists in seven games before returning to the Phantoms. Unfortunately, he soon sustained an injury from which he only recently returned to play. At the AHL level this season, Richard has posted 19 points (8g, 11a) in 18 games. He has appeared in 31 career NHL games for the Nashville Predators, Montreal, Boston and Philadelphia.

Although officially listed as a center — he was drafted as a center out of the QMJHL by Nashville in the fourth round of the 2015 Entry Draft — the 5-foot-10 forward has almost exclusively played on the wing at the professional level. Richard played a top-nine spot in the Flyers’ line rotation during his earlier recall to the Flyers, but is now likely to see fourth-line duty barring an injury to a Flyers winger in the top nine.

Center Ryan Poehling remains on injured reserve due to an upper-body injury sustained last Thursday against the Islanders. Left wing/center swingman Scott Laughton has been absent while on personal leave. Rodrigo Abols, 29, made his NHL debut on Tuesday against the Red Wings, centering the fourth line. The expected fourth line at the start of Thursday’s game will have Abols centering Richard and Garnet Hathaway. Abols wears uniform number 18 for the Flyers.

2. Beezer back on track

Joel Farabee has come back with fire and brimstone on the ice in the three games he has played since sitting out three games as a healthy scratch from Tortorella’s lineup. It hasn’t just been a matter of offensive production — Farabee has four points (1g, 3a) over the last three games — but he’s making numerous strong plays on the forecheck, with the puck on his stick and tracking back defensively. The line with Farabee on the left wing of a trio with Sean Couturier and Matvei Michkov has been clicking since they were put together.

In Tuesday’s 2-1 overtime win against Detroit, Farabee scored Philly’s lone goal in regulation. Later, he worked an overtime give-and-go sequence with Owen Tippett that eventually resulted in defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen jamming the puck into the net to win the game. Afterwards, Tortorella said the line of Farabee, Couturier and Michkov was the team’s best shift-in and shift-out trio in the game.

Farabee has had limited offensive success against the Rangers so far in his career (three goals, four assists, seven points, traditional -5 in 21 games). However, if his line can play as effectively against the Blueshirts as it did against the Red Wings, the Flyers’ chances of earning their second win of the season against New York improve markedly. Balanced scoring has generally been a positive factor for the Flyers over the team’s last 27 games.

3. Tippett-Frost-Konecny line: create more in volume

During the Flyers’ two most recent wins, the line with Morgan Frost centering Tippett and Travis Konecny, has been patient while dealing with generally tight checking from the New Jersey Devils and Detroit. There has not been a high volume of scoring chances created by the line in the last two games but there have been a handful of Grade A scoring chances.

Most notably, in the Flyers’ 3-1 win in New Jersey, a Frost lead pass sent Konecny and Tippett into the attack zone on a 2-on-1. Unfortunately, Tippett fired Konecny’s feed wide of the net. Later, Tippett self-generated a breakaway at the end of a long shift that had been spent in the defensive zone. A potential penalty shot instead created a 5-on-4 power play (second unit winger Brink scored). Against Detroit, the line had an offensive flurry late in the second period in which Konecny hit the crossbar from point blank range in the low slot. In the third period, Konecny received a drop pass from Frost in the left circle and the ensuing shot pinged off the post.

Plays like these will happen to every line on every team. The key is to create a slightly higher volume of shifts that result in scoring chances than the trio has generated over the last two games. Otherwise, the line is completely dependent on converting a chance or two into a goal if the line is to get on the scoresheet at 5-on-5. For example, the Farabee-Couturier-Michkov line generated roughly a half dozen good scoring chances against Detroit, but only the Farabee goal (assisted by his two linemates) ended up showing on the scoresheet.

4. Between the pipes

With a back-to-back road set on tap in Manhattan and Long Island on Thursday and Friday, the Flyers are expected to split the goaltending chores for the games against the Rangers and Islanders between Samuel Ersson and Ivan Fedotov.

As of this writing, Tortorella had not yet confirmed which netminder would get the start against the Rangers. Both goalies have played well as of late and also gotten generally strong play in front of them. This is especially true of Ersson since the leaguewide holiday break.

Over his last eight starts, Ersson has posted a 7-1-0 record, 1.56 goals against average, .933 save percentage and one shutout.

Rangers superstar netminder Igor Sheshterkin has had a very strong January after some uncharacteristically inconsistent play prior to New Year’s Day. Coming off back-to-back shutout wins over Columbus (27 saves in a 1-0 win via shootout) and Ottawa (20 saves in a 5-0 victory), Sheshterkin has not lost in regulation in January. At the start of Thursday’s game, he will have a consecutive shutout minutes streak of 164:03 to his credit. His career-longest streak, set last season, is 166:30 without allowing a goal.

5. Behind enemy lines: Lafreniere

Most discussions about any upcoming Flyers game against the Rangers start with talking about the need to contain longtime Philly killers Artemi Panarin, Mika Zibanejad and defenseman Adam Fox. These three players still loom large heading into Thursday’s game, even with Zibanejad having a down season (he’s broken out of past slumps at Philly’s expense).

Right now, however, Alex Lafreniere is the Rangers’ hottest offensive player. He brings a nine-game point streak (6g, 3a) into Thursday’s game. In 18 career games against the Flyers, Lafreneiere has posted four goals and three assists.