It’s back to business for the Philadelphia Flyers (17-10-6) as they take on the New York Rangers (17-15-4) and try to bounce back after their embarrassing performance on Thursday night in Buffalo. Puck drop is scheduled for 12:30pm ET today at Madison Square Garden.
The Flyers held a 2-1 lead and were outshooting the Sabres 21-10 at one point during the second period, but the visitors collapsed after dominating the first 30-ish minutes of the contest and the Sabres kept taking advantage of lazy turnovers, bad penalties, and a leaky five-hole from Sam Ersson that let up the eventual game-winner.
“Five penalties. Our penalties killed us,” said head coach Rick Tocchet postgame. “Then we had to overuse guys and then… couple of mistakes, then we’re chasing the game. I still think we had a chance at the end. Six-on-five, six-on-four, a couple of guys threw pucks away. So, it’s one of those games.”
The regulation loss snapped a 5-game point streak (2-0-3) for the Flyers, and they can’t afford to give up valuable points like that in an incredibly competitive Eastern Conference, especially against a weaker opponent like Buffalo. Today’s game means even more considering it’s a Metropolitan Division matchup. Four-point swings can come about from games like this and the Flyers desperately need to be on the right side of one today.
The Rangers are just two points out of the playoff picture while the Flyers occupy the final Wild Card spot with 40 points. New York has lost 2 of their last 3 and squeaked out a 2-1 win over lowly St. Louis on Thursday. They haven’t been able to find consistency all season, especially at home. New York owns a miserable 4-10-3 record at The Garden, the worst home record in the East and 2nd-worst in the league behind Vancouver. To put how bad that is in perspective, the Rangers have been shutout at home more times (6) than they’ve won at home this season. Yikes.
The Rangers are also one of the few teams worse than the Flyers at scoring, lighting the lamp just 2.50 times per game on average. They do, however, allow fewer goals per game at 2.67, and the Rangers have a major advantage in the faceoff circle as they’re winning 54.2% of their draws. The Flyers are having a terrible time in the dot at 49.5%, tied for 19th. But all that being said, and even though this is a divisional matchup and a historic rival, this is a very winnable game for the Flyers. They just need to put together a complete 60-minute effort today.
Today’s game doesn’t also just mean something because of the standings or the history between these teams. Denver Barkey was recalled by the Flyers on Friday night and has a good chance to make his NHL debut today. The 2023 third-round selection has enjoyed a solid rookie campaign with the AHL’s Lehigh Valley Phantoms, notching 7 goals and 9 assists for 16 points in 26 games this year. He could provide an immediate boost to the Flyers’ offense with his aggressive forechecking and nifty playmaking abilities.
Philadelphia Injury Report:
- Tyson Foerster (arm)
- Dan Vladař (upper-body)
- Christian Dvorak (lower-body)
New York Injury Report:
- Adam Fox (upper-body)
- Adam Edström (lower-body)
- Artemi Panarin (illness) – game-time decision
Where: Madison Square Garden; New York, NY
When: 12/20/2025; 12:30 ET
TV Broadcast: NBC Sports Philadelphia
Last Game PHI: 12/18/2025; 5-3 L; at Buffalo Sabres
Last Game NYR: 12/18/2025; 2-1 OT W; at St. Louis Blues
Philadelphia Projected Lineup
#91 Carl Grundström – #46 Trevor Zegras – #11 Travis Konecny
#52 Denver Barkey – #14 Sean Couturier – #74 Owen Tippett
#39 Matvei Michkov – #27 Noah Cates – #10 Bobby Brink
#44 Nicolas Deslauriers – #18 Rodrigo Ābols – #29 Nikita Grebenkin
#8 Cam York – #6 Travis Sanheim
#36 Emil Andrae – #9 Jamie Drysdale
#24 Nick Seeler – #55 Rasmus Ristolainen
#33 Sam Ersson
(#35 Aleksei Kolosov)
New York Projected Lineup:
#10 Artemi Panarin* – #16 Vincent Trocheck – #8 J.T. Miller
#50 Will Cuylle – #93 Mika Zibanejad – #13 Alexis Lafrenière
#94 Gabe Perreault – #42 Noah Laba – #14 Taylor Raddysh
#78 Brennan Othmann – #39 Sam Carrick – #73 Matt Rempe
#44 Vladislav Gavrikov – #4 Braeden Schneider
#24 Carson Soucy – #17 Will Borgen
#29 Matthew Robertson – #60 Scott Morrow
#31 Igor Shesterkin
(#32 Jonathan Quick)
