Pregame: Rangers Host Rival Flyers in Last Home Game of 2009

The New York Rangers will be hosting the Philadelphia Flyers tonight at Madison Square Garden, coming off of a disappointing overtime loss to the New York Islanders on Saturday. The Blueshirts, currently in ninth place, are 4-0-1 in their last five and have been playing relatively well for the past three weeks. As for the Flyers, they have dropped five of their last ten and are sitting in 13th place in the Eastern Conference. The last time these two teams met, the Rangers edged Philadelphia 2-1 at the Wachovia Center on a fluky goal by Artem Anisimov.

New York will be without forward Vinny Prospal, who had knee surgery performed on Monday. With this, Christopher Higgins will move up to play on the first line with Brandon Dubinsky and Marian Gaborik. Also, Captain Chris Drury is questionable heading into the game as he is “under the weather” and is also currently dealing with personal matters.

Rangers Projected Lineup

Higgins - Dubinsky - Gaborik
Avery - Anisimov - Callahan
Lisin - Christensen - Kotalik
Brashear - Boyle - Voros

Staal - Rozsival
Del Zotto - Girardi
Redden -Gilroy

Lundqvist

Scratches: Chris Drury (illness), Prospal (knee)

Henrik Lundqvist….you finish the sentence. While Henrik gets the nod tonight, head coach John Tortorella did mention that back-up Chad Johnson will get a start soon. However, that will not come in either this game or tomorrow’s tilt with the Hurricanes.

The offense once again had trouble scoring goals on Saturday in their 3-2 loss to the Isles, but that is due in part to the fact that they were not going to the dirty areas of the ice. During the four-game winning streak, the Blueshirts were always around the net and finding ways to bury loose pucks. That was not the case against the Isles and it showed. When they did in fact decide to crash the net, they found themselves with two goals; thank you Brandon Dubinsky.

The defense, overall, was solid and has been solid, cutting down the total number of chances against, as well as goals. Sure, that has a lot to do with Lundqvist, but the blueline has clearly tightened up for the Rangers. They have been lead by the better play of both Marc Staal and Dan Girardi. These two have stood out in almost every game this month, and are leading the way for the youngsters such as Del Zotto and Gilroy.

Again, I do not agree with Higgins being moved up to the first unit to play with Gaborik, but that is the way things will start. Erik Christensen will definitely be in the lineup, and if Drury is unable to play, so will Aaron Voros. Voros has not played in a game since November, surprisingly.

Flyers Projected Lineup

Gagne - Richards - Giroux
Hartnell - Carter - Briere
Van Riemsdyk - Powe - Asham
Carcillo - Betts - Laperriere

Pronger - Coburn
Carle - Timonen
Parent - Bartulis

Leighton

Live game updates, as always, courtesy of yours truly at www.twitter.com/rangerstribune.
(Photos courtesy of Getty Images)