Flyers actively seeking ‘snarl’ that’s been lacking vs. Rangers

VOORHEES, N.J. — From Wayne Simmonds’ perspective, it’s not hard to figure out why the Flyers have gone from a team that looked like it might never lose a game to one that looks like it might not win again.

“I think aside from the last two games, Anaheim and San Jose, I think we weren’t aggressive enough, we weren’t attacking, we didn’t have that snarl that we had during that 10-game winning streak,” Simmonds said.

“I think it’s natural to have a little bit of a letdown. But you can’t let it go that far. It’s something we have to stop. We have to stop in a hurry. We have the luxury of playing a couple games at home now. We have to snap back into things and play the right way.”

The Flyers will get that chance this evening at the Wells Fargo Center in NBC’s “Wednesday Night Rivalry” game against the New York Rangers, a team that is perfectly suited to give them a reality check (see game notes).

Even better, the Rangers lost to Buffalo on Tuesday, 4-1, and won’t be in a good mood.

“They’ll probably be pissed off,” said goalie Steve Mason, who will start for the 22nd time in 24 games. “We’re going to have to be ready for the start. When they are, they’re a tough team to beat. We have to make sure that we’re the team dictating play.”

This is the first of seven Metropolitan Division games for Dave Hakstol’s group to realign themselves in the division race, where they’ve gone from the No. 3 team to fifth and trail first-place Columbus, which won its 16th straight game Tuesday, by a whopping 13 points.

Rangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist has earned at least one point in each of his last seven appearances against the Flyers — he’s 6-0-1 — with a 1.66 goals against average and .948 save percentage.

“He’s an elite athlete,” Hakstol said of Lundqvist. “He has an elite mental approach to the game and to his own game.”

The Flyers are 1-4-2 since their win streak ended in mid-December.

“We’re heading into a good stretch of hockey and this game is a good challenge for us,” Brayden Schenn said. “Anaheim was a step in the right direction and something we can build off.”

This showdown with the Rangers — the Flyers lost their Black Friday match with them, 3-2, in the only meeting thus far — is exactly what Hakstol’s team needs right now. What better way to regain that “snarl,” as Simmonds said, than by facing your most hated division rival.

The Rangers are five points behind the Blue Jackets in third place and eight points ahead of the Flyers. This is a four-point game.

“It’s a tough team to play against,” Jakub Voracek said. “It’s a fast team. They scored a lot of goals at the beginning of the season. [Henrik] is one of the best goalies in the league. We got to just keep shooting the puck.

“It’s a hockey cliché but the more pucks you put on net, the bigger chance you score. We have to make sure we play them hard, play them tough. It’s a high-intensity game and it’s pretty important.”

Loose pucks
Hakstol held the morning skate in Voorhees, NJ, in part to keep the Rangers from scouting and to work on some specifics. However, the skate was optional and therefore some of the extra work he wanted to do didn't happen. ... Healthy scratches tonight are the same as in Anaheim: Nick Cousins, Boyd Gordon and Nick Schultz.

Projected Flyers Lineup
F: Michael Raffl-Claude Giroux-Jakub Voracek