Rangers Begin Final Homestand Against Free Falling Flyers

The Blueshirts will close out the regular season with three games on home ice – starting with the slumping Philadelphia Flyers (7:00PM on MSG).

Rangers	Rankings	Flyers
53-22-4	Record	36-32-11
1st	League Rank	21st
6th	Goals For	25th
7th	Goals Against	21st
3rd	Power play	32nd
3rd	Penalty Kill	4th

Rangers vs Flyers

The Rangers will conclude the regular season against the Flyers, Islanders, and Senators all on home ice. They will also begin the postseason on home ice making the homestand a total of five games. New York is coming off a 4-2 defeat to the Islanders in Long Island on Tuesday night.

Not too long ago, the Flyers found themselves in a playoff spot. In fact, for most of the season they were third in the Metro Division. But with the season winding down, the Flyers have won just one game in their previous ten for a record of 1-6-3. Had the Flyers won just two more games they lost in regulation, they would still be in a playoff spot. Instead, they find themselves two points out of a spot and have played one more game than the Capitals for the final wild card spot. Flyers basically have to win out their final three games and get some help in order to sneak into the final spot. This stretch has really killed all the good work Philadelphia did for most of this season.

The Flyers have allowed at least four goals in each of the past eight games, including six to the Rangers at the end of March, and 15 goals combined in the last two games. Philadelphia has lost eight games in a row including allowing nine to Montreal on Tuesday night.

Leading Philadelphia in points is Travis Konecny. Konecny has 65 points on the season including 31 goals. Owen Tippett is second in points with 53 points including 28 goals. The Blueshirts on the other hand have five skaters over 65 points.

Samuel Ersson will start in goal for the Flyers. Ersson is 21-18-7 with an .886 save percentage on the season.

Jonathan Quick will be in net for the Rangers. Quick has been arguably the best backup goaltender in the league this season as the veteran netminder has 18 wins on the season including a .913 save percentage.

The good news for the Rangers following the previous game, is that Mika Zibanejad avoided a serious injury after taking a hit from Adam Pelech. Zibanejad was down on the ice and play had to be stopped in order for him to get to the locker room. Fortunately, he returned to the bench despite not taking another shift and he did practice on Thursday morning. Zibanejad is expected to be in the lineup on Thursday.

When asked about potentially giving guys a game off to rest or for precautionary Laviolette admitted he is not worried about that as the playoffs draw near.

“Not at this point,” said head coach Peter Laviolette. “Right now, we’re dialed in and trying to collect the two points.

With two more wins, the Blueshirts can lock up the top spot in the Eastern Conference and Metro Division. They can also win the division and conference with one win, Boston losing in any fashion, and Carolina losing in regulation.

Bet of the Night

The bet of the night is a two leg parlay. The first leg is the Rangers puck line at -1.5 at +120 odds. You can pair that with the Rangers to score over 3.5 goals to get to +140 odds. Draftkings has an odds boost which will bring the total to +220. A $5 bet at +220 will payout $16 for an $11 profit. If you want to get risky, you can also bet an anytime goalscorer of Zibanejad who always seems to score against Philadelphia. Add it to the parlay or make it a separate bet. The Swedish center has four goals in his last four games against the Flyers.

Current record: 20-22

Current Money Total (Based on $5 bets) – We are down $3.23 on the season. After being positive the whole season, we currently find ourselves in the red for the first time.