This is the back end of the first home-and-home against Philly. They have another home-and-home at the end of the season. Since our beloved Blueshirts lost the game yesterday, they need a win today, or else they will have some serious ground to make up in the playoff race. Eight more wins, or 16 points for a total of 94, should get them into the playoffs and a date with Boston, Washington, or NJ in the first round.

As for yesterday’s game, odd man rushes did them in. That and Marty Biron doing his best Patrick Roy impression. They are still in learning mode for Torts’ system, so there will be lapses, mostly by the defense and when to pinch (cough, Redden, cough).

Lines for the game will probably be the same as the end of the game yesterday:

Drury-Gomez-Antropov
Avery-Dubinsky-Zherdev
Naslund-Korpikoski-Callahan
Sjostrom-Betts-Orr

Update 12:20pm:Andrew Gross is reporting the following lines:

As per the pre-game warmups, four new lines:
Sean Avery-Scott Gomez-Nikolai Zherdev
Markus Naslund-Chris Drury-Nik Antropov
Fredrik Sjostrom-Brandon Dubinsky-Ryan Callahan
Lauri Korpikoski-Blair Betts-Colton Orr

Same defense, Hank in net.

It’s a 12:30 start on NBC today.

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