Flyers vs Rangers Pregame

The Flyers will begin their weekend home and home series with the Rangers tomorrow afternoon at 1. This is an important set of games for both teams with major playoff implications for both teams. Get swept, and you could find yourself teetering on the edge of the playoffs. The Flyers may be in 4th place, but they're only 5 points ahead of the 9th place Panthers (although the Flyers also have two games in hand).

The Flyers are 1-1 against the Rangers this year. They lost the first game of the season against a red hot Rangers team but nearly pulled off a third period comeback. The last game of the series, the Flyers exploded in the second period for an easy 5-2 win. Chances are, with the Rangers with a new coach in John Tortorella, the additions of Nik Antropov and Derek Morris, and the return of Sean Avery, the Rangers will likely not roll over like before.

The Flyers will start Marty Biron in net tomorrow and will go to Niittymaki on Sunday. I believe that Biron is pretty much the guy for the Flyers now unless he manages to really blow it, which I doubt he will. He'll need to play a solid game tomorrow. Really, he's just got to keep doing what he's been doing. The Flyers need to take care of business on home ice and take this game. Sure, its a divisional game and anything can happen, but the Flyers are a better team than the Rangers. The first game is always key in a home and home, and if they Flyers can't win, the Rangers sure will be ready to take the game on Sunday in New York.

The Flyers need to get their power play going, but that will be a tall order against the Rangers' second place penalty kill. The Flyers will need Danny Briere to step up and bring that extra spark to start making things happen on the man advantage. On the other side of the special teams, although the Rangers power play is near the very bottom of the league, its better to stay disciplined than to give the Rangers too many chances.

I would pay special attention to Mike Richards tomorrow. I think he's due for a big game. If you really want my reasoning, I'll be honest: its just a hunch.