The Philadelphia Flyers and New York Rangers are playing Game 1 of their NHL Stanley Cup playoffs series on Thursday night and the matchup from Madison Square Garden has NY hosting Philly at MSG in the postseason for the first time in over a decade and it starts up with a live stream online at 7 pm ET and is on TV from the CNBC channel.
The Rangers have been playing well coming into the playoffs and they clinched the second division spot behind the Pittsburgh Penguins, while the Flyers finished third in the division to make the playoffs ahead of the wild cards. The Rangers and Flyers haven't played in over 15 years and now they get the chance to start off another playoff run and it comes two years after NY made it to the eastern conference finals before losing to the Devils and now they will try to make another run.
The Rangers have won 29 of their past 46 games and they have really started to come together under new head coach Alain Vigneault, as he has brought some consistency and string play to the front line for the team, especially since the Ryan Callahan trade. The team has gone 10-3-1 record in 14 games before the last loss against Montreal and now they have the chance to keep things going and it comes as the Flyers have won six of the 10 times the teams have played in the postseason and the last time was way back in the 1997 Eastern conference finals and before two years ago, that was the last time the Rangers were in the east finals.
The Rangers come into the playoffs after losing in a shootout to the Canadiens and Montreal started off their postseason run with a win against the Lightning and now New York will be playing against the Flyers and goalie Henrik Lundqvist said that he is hungry for a Cup, as that is the only major thing missing from his mantle after winning a top goalie award in the NHL and a gold medal in the Olympics. Henrik has once again been one of the best goaltenders in the league and he has the chance to cement his status as a NY legend with another solid run.
The team comes in averaging just over 2.5 goals per game and they are 18th in that category, while Lundqvist has the team fourth in goals against per game and they are also third in penalty kill percentage. The team has been strong defensively this year and while the trade with Ryan Callahan and Martin St. Louis has not been crazy productive yet, that could change in the postseason. The Flyers are solid on offense and they are ranked eighth in scoring and seventh in both penalty kill and power play percentage and it should be a hard fought series as the rivalry picks up again.
Check here for the NY Rangers and Philadelphia Flyers live coverage.