Flyers at Rangers preview

FLYERS (37-20-7) at RANGERS (35-25-4)
12 p.m. ET; NBC, TVAS

The goalie, who turns 38 on Monday, allowed four goals in two periods in a 5-3 loss to the Dallas Stars in New York. His last appearance was Feb. 11, when he made one save in the final 6:04 of the first period after Igor Shesterkin went to the locker room for concussion protocol. The rookie returned to start the second period and won 4-1 at Bell MTS Place.
The Rangers are 9-2-0 in their past 11 games. They are one point behind the Carolina Hurricanes and trail the Columbus Blue Jackets by two points for the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Eastern Conference.
Kevin Hayes and Alain Vigneault will face the Rangers at the Garden for the first time with the Flyers. Hayes, a center who has 39 points (22 goals, 17 assists) in 64 games this season, was traded to the Jets by the Rangers on Feb. 25, 2019 and acquired by the Flyers in a trade from the Jets on June 3, 2019. He played five seasons for New York (2014-19).
Vigneault coached the Rangers for five seasons (2013-18) and was 226-147-37. He was fired by New York on April 7, 2018 and hired by Philadelphia on April 15, 2019.
The Flyers, who defeated the Rangers 5-2 on Friday in the first game of a home and home, can extend their winning streak to a season-high six games. They're 14-4-1 in their past 19 games and trail the Washington Capitals by three points for the Metropolitan Division lead.

Players to watch

Flyers center Sean Couturier has 11 points (seven goals, four assists) in the past 10 games.
Rangers forward Artemi Panarin has 17 points (five goals, 12 assists) during a 12-game point streak and 18 points (six goals, 12 assists) in 14 games against the Flyers.

They said it

"It's going to be emotional, I'm sure, first shift or warmups. As the game gets going, I think it'll be just another game. I have best friends on that team, so many memories of that organization, that management, my family will be there. It'll be cool to go back to that building, but I think it's selfish if I make it [more] about myself than the team." -- Flyers center Kevin Hayes
"We've played very good hockey lately. We got on the road and win two out of three. I can't wait to get back to the Garden in front of our fans Sunday afternoon." -- Rangers coach David Quinn

Flyers projected lineup

Claude Giroux -- Sean Couturier -- Jakub Voracek
Scott Laughton -- Kevin Hayes -- Travis Konecny
James van Riemsdyk -- Derek Grant -- Tyler Pitlick
Michael Raffl -- Nate Thompson -- Nicolas Aube-Kubel
Ivan Provorov -- Matt Niskanen
Travis Sanheim -- Philippe Myers
Robert Hagg -- Justin Braun
Carter Hart
Brian Elliott
Scratched: Shayne Gostisbehere, Joel Farabee
Injured: Nolan Patrick (migraine disorder)

Rangers projected lineup

Phillip Di Giuseppe -- Mika Zibanejad -- Pavel Buchnevich
Artemi Panarin -- Ryan Strome -- Jesper Fast
Brett Howden -- Filip Chytil -- Kaapo Kakko
Brendan Lemieux -- Greg McKegg -- Julien Gauthier
Brendan Smith -- Jacob Trouba
Marc Staal -- Tony DeAngelo
Ryan Lindgren -- Adam Fox
Henrik Lundqvist
Alexandar Georgiev
Scratched: None
Injured:Chris Kreider (fractured foot), Micheal Haley (core muscle), Igor Shesterkin (rib fracture)

Status report

Couturier is under the weather and will take warmups, Vigneault said. If he can't play, Giroux will move to center and Farabee, a forward recalled from Lehigh Valley of the American Hockey League on Saturday, will play and be labeled as an emergency recall. He'll be sent back to Lehigh Valley if Couturier is good to go. ... Quinn had no update on Kreider. The forward fractured his foot blocking a shot during the first period at Philadelphia on Friday.

Stat pack

Laughton has six points (two goals, four assists) during a three-game multipoint streak. ... Lundqvist can tie Tony Esposito for eighth in games among goalies in NHL history (886).