Game 34: About as ‘Winter Classic Preview' as It Gets

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It's Friday night, the eve of Christmas Eve, and the NHL scheduling gods have given us the exact matchup we'll see on January 2 at Citizens Bank Park. The Flyers are in New York to face the Rangers, surely a big storyline for the next installment of HBO's 24/7.

Holiday hockey and YOU!

Ilya Bryzgalov is in net for the Flyers, who will be without Danny Briere for the night. Briere is day-to-day with a bum hand after taking a shot to the glove last game.

One game after getting a center back in Claude Giroux, the Flyers are once again shallow up the middle. At least they'll have some time to heal up between tonight and their next game, which is on Tuesday in Tampa.

The Rangers played last night, with Martin Biron in goal for a 4-2 win over the Islanders. That slots Henrik Lundqvist for tonight, and who would have it any other way.

The Flyers haven't scored at MSG in their last two outings there. They'll probably be looking to improve on that mark.

On top of the Winter Classic stuff, these two teams are battling for the division lead. If the Flyers win, they'll also grab a momentary share of the league's best point total.

We're well into our Christmas already, so we may or may not be around with some updates on the game later. I wouldn't scrutinize for typos too closely though.

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