Flyers go for sweep of home-and-home set with Rangers

Hockey Betting Lines

03/15/2009 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - There isn't a large amount of separation in the Eastern Conference playoff picture, but the Flyers would love to improve their standing with another win over the rival Rangers.

Philadelphia will try to post a sweep of its home-and-home series with New York this afternoon at Madison Square Garden.

The Flyers are fourth in the East with 84 points, four up on fifth-seeded Montreal. However, playoff spots are still up for grabs as Buffalo, currently 10th in the standings, is only eight points back of the Flyers, showing how tight things are in the conference.

Philadelphia picked up two big points on Saturday by defeating the Rangers, 4-2, at home and the loss dropped New York into a tie with Florida for the final playoff spot in the East. Both the Rangers and Panthers have 78 points on the season, two more than the Sabres.

Martin Biron was impressive for a fifth straight outing, stopping 39-of-41 shots faced in yesterday's win. Biron has a 1.72 goals against average in his last five appearances -- including four straight starts -- and improved to 11-6-3 with two ties and a 2.47 GAA versus the Rangers.

Aaron Asham had two goals while Scott Hartnell and Mike Richards each lit the lamp for the Flyers, who have won three of their last four games and wrapped up a five-game homestand with a mark of 3-2-0. Hartnell's goal was his 25th of the season, tying his career high set in 2005-06 with Nashville.

Richards, meanwhile, extended his points streak to six games (3 goals, 5 assists), while Simon Gagne tallied an assist in a sixth straight contest.

The Flyers begin a four-game road trip tonight and are 16-10-6 as the guest this year. They have won five of their last six on the road.

Philadelphia has now won four of its last five versus the Rangers, though Saturday's win was just its second in the last 10 played in Philly. The Flyers have won two straight and three of their last four trips to MSG.

Henrik Lundqvist was charged with four goals on 25 shots in the loss for the Rangers and fell to 8-5-2 in his career versus the Flyers with a 3.27 GAA. That includes a pair of losses against them this year in which he has allowed a total of eight goals.

Sean Avery scored in his second straight game and Nik Antropov also had a goal for the Rangers, who had won four of five coming into the game.

The Rangers will play four of their next five at home, where they are 20-10-4 this season. New York will play in Montreal on Tuesday before returning home to host Buffalo next Saturday.

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