Tonight at 7:00 p.m. ET, the Philadelphia Flyers (42-30-10, 94 points regular-season) and New York Rangers (45-31-6, 96 points) faceoff for Game 1 of their best-of-seven Stanley Cup Playoff series in Round 1 action live from Madison Square Garden in New York City. The game can be live streamed for free 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
New York earned just two more points in the regular-season to be able to host the series while Philadelphia staved off the Columbus Blue Jackets to earn the No. 3 seed and avoid the wild-card. These teams split the season series with each team earning two wins at home. The Flyers haven't beaten the Rangers at Madison Square Garden in three years.
The Rangers will have key defenseman Ryan McDonagh (shoulder) back in the lineup after he sat out the last few games of the regular-season while Derick Brassard (back) insists he'll be 100 percent ready to go after leaving Tuesday's practice early.
"I felt good [Wednesday]," Brassard told NHL.com. "I could've skated for the whole practice [Tuesday]. It was just for precautions."
The Flyers made headlines on the eve of the series when it was announced that No. 1 goaltender Steve Mason (upper-body) won't play and that backup Ray Emery will take his spot in net.
"It's not disappointing," coach Craig Berube said via NHL.com. "It's part of the game sometimes. Things happen. We have other people. We're a team. We've been a team all year. That doesn't change."
Emery, who backstopped the Ottawa Senators to the Stanley Cup Finals in 2006-07, owns a 7-2-0 career record against the Blueshirts but lost at the Garden on Jan. 12, 4-1. He'll be opposed by Henrik Lundqvist, who went 33-24-5 this season with a 2.36 GAA and a .920 save percentage.
Philadelphia was led offensively in the regular-season by Claude Giroux, who notched a team-high 86 points off of 28 goals and 58 assists while Jakub Voracek had 23 tallies and 39 helpers for 62 points and Wayne Simmonds lit the lamp a Flyers-best 29 times while adding 31 assists for 60 points.
Mats Zuccarello led New York in points (59) and assists (40) and added 19 goals while Rick Nash notched a team-high 26 markers and added 13 helpers for 39 points and Brad Richards (20-31--51) and Derek Stepan (17-40--57) were regular contributors.
It should be a physical game as the Flyers and Rangers kickoff their best-of-seven playoff series with Game 1 action when the puck drops tonight at Madison Square Garden in New York City.
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