Trial by Fire: Rangers, Penguins, Bruins on Flyers Slate This Week

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The Flyers are more well-rested and arguably as healthy as
they’ve been at any point this season – good news ahead of back-to-back games
against two of their most bitter rivals, followed by a date with one of the
Eastern Conference’s toughest opponents.

With their victory over Ottawa on Saturday, the Flyers won consecutive
games for only the third time in 2013, finally pushing their record to .500 in
the process. It was also the club’s only tilt in a five-day span little more
than a week after finishing up a brutal span of 19 contests in 34 days.

They survived the early part of their slate, and are hanging
on tight to the playoff picture. Now they must prepare to run the gauntlet
again.

The Flyers travel to New York for a clash at Madison Square Garden
on Tuesday, where the Rangers have posted an 8-4-1 record this season. That
will be followed by the much-anticipated return of the Pittsburgh Penguins to
the Wells Fargo Center on Thursday, with their Atlantic Division-leading 28
points in tow.

Both figure to be draining battles heading into Philly’s
first encounter of the season with the Bruins on Saturday, their .790 “winning
percentage”
number one in the conference. To make matter worse, the trip to
Boston is the first part of a back-to-back, of which mercifully the second half
is at home versus the reeling Buffalo Sabres.

Philadelphia will be able to further shift the balance of
power in the Atlantic Division next week, playing a home-and-home with the New
Jersey Devils.

They’ll wrap all of that up with a game in Tampa Bay the following
Monday before receiving a five-day reprieve from hockey. Theoretically, the
time off should help them, although that amount of time is simultaneously unnerving.

Regardless, by the time the Flyers’ spring break is over,
their quickly-diminishing league lead in total games played will have evened
itself out. More importantly, between that and the caliber opponents the team
will have just got done playing, we’ll have a much better sense where this team
stands heading into the stretch run toward the postseason.

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