Tonight at 8:00 p.m. ET, the Philadelphia Flyers (38-26-7, 83 points) and New York Rangers (40-29-4, 84 points) take the ice at Madison Square Garden for the fourth and final meeting against each other this season. The game can be live streamed here. Philadelphia fans can hear all of the action on 97.5 The Fanatic while New York fans can do the same on 98.7 WEPN.
Philadelphia had its five game winning streak snapped last time out and sits just one point behind New York for second place in the Metropolitan Division while New York has won four games in a row. The Flyers have taken two of three from the Rangers this season, including last time out when they notched a 4-2 win on March 1 in Philadelphia.
This is a potential playoff preview as if the season ended today, the Rangers and Flyers would go head-to-head in a best-of-seven series in Round 1.
The Rangers are coming off of a come-from-behind victory over the Phoenix Coyotes Monday while Derek Stepan and Martin St. Louis were limited in the game thanks to the flu.
"I made a mistake tonight. I shouldn't have played Step and Marty," coach Alain Vigneault said Monday via NHL.com. "They didn't look good but they both said they wanted to play. At the end of the day, I've got to be better and I've got to take that out of their hands."
The Rangers announced that Chris Kreider (hand) will miss the next five games and possibly longer.
The Flyers know how big of a game tonight's is and they are excited to be in the playoff hunt.
"It's extremely exciting being part of a playoff push. It's been a while for myself. With the Flyers missing the playoffs last year I think everybody was fed up with having a long summer," said goaltender Steve Mason via NHL.com "You have to keep pushing forward. [Wednesday is] going to be a great test for us."
Mason is 30-16-6 this season with a 2.53 goals-against average and a .916 save percentage and will be opposed by Henrik Lundqvist, who is 29-22-4 with a 2.43 GAA and a .918 save percentage.
New York's leading scorer is St. Louis, who came over at the trade deadline and has 64 points off of 29 goals and 35 assists and is still looking for his first tally as a Blueshirt, while Stepan and Mats Zuccarello each have 50 points each off of 15 markers and 35 helpers.
Claude Giroux paces Philadelphia with 74 points off of 24 goals and 50 assists while Wayne Simmonds has 24 tallies and 30 helpers for 54 points and Jakub Voracek has lit the lamp 20 times while adding 33 assists for 53 points.
There will be plenty of playoff implications when the puck drops on the Flyers and Rangers tonight at Madison Square Garden in New York City.
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