What to Watch: Flyers, Rangers continue rivalry in pursuit of playoffs

Each Monday, we list the can't-miss games for the upcoming week. Grab your remote. This is "NHL What to Watch."

Turf war

Philadelphia Flyers at New York Rangers
Wednesday, 7:30 p.m. ET; NBCSN
The Rangers and Flyers are bitter rivals at any time, their proximity (100 miles from door to door of the two arenas) breeding a perpetual ill will between fan bases. But the rivalry has been raised a notch this season with each team fighting to make itself relevant in the MassMutual East Division, where the top four teams will qualify for the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
The Flyers (14-9-3) are fifth in the eight-team division, one point behind the fourth-place Boston Bruins after a 5-4 overtime win against the Rangers on Monday. The Rangers (11-12-3) are five points behind the Flyers and have played one more game. Entering the two-game set, each team had been the definition of mediocre, going 5-5-0 in its previous 10 games.
Forget all that; the best of each team should be on display this week at Madison Square Garden.
Forward Artemi Panarin returned to the Rangers lineup Saturday and had an assist in a 4-0 win against the Bruins, followed by a three-point performance (one goal, two assists) in the OT loss Monday. He makes New York a different team.
Forward James van Riemsdyk scored Monday and leads the Flyers with 29 points (13 goals, 16 assists) in 26 games. He has scored a goal in three of the past four games.

Battle of Alberta

Edmonton Oilers at Calgary Flames
Wednesday, 10 p.m. ET; NBCSN, SN, TVAS
The always interesting Battle of Alberta becomes even more intriguing this week when the Scotia North Division rivals play for the first time since the Flames hired Darryl Sutter as coach March 4. Calgary rallied for a 4-3 win in the opener of the two-game set.
The Flames have won the first three games of Sutter's tenure after he missed two games because of COVID-19 protocols. They have a newfound confidence, playing a more simple and more physical north-south style of game.
The sternest test of that confidence comes from Edmonton's high-flying offense led by forwards Connor McDavid, who leads the NHL with 53 points (17 goals, 36 assists), and Leon Draisaitl, who is second with 46 points (17 goals, 29 assists).
Throw in a dash of desperation with Calgary fifth in the seven-team division and two points behind the fourth-place Montreal Canadiens, and the recipe to revive one of the great rivalries in the NHL is complete.
Grab your popcorn and your favorite beverage and settle in for some much-watch TV.

Stat of the week

13 -- McDavid was scoring an average of 1.73 points per game entering Monday, a 97-point pace for the 56-game season. He has a legitimate shot at 100 points if he stays healthy and minimally increases his point frequency.
If McDavid has a 100-point season, he would be the first player since forwards Mario Lemieux and Jaromir Jagr for the Pittsburgh Penguins in 1995-96 to score at least 100 points in 56 or fewer games. He would be the 13th player in NHL history to do it.
Wayne Gretzky did it 12 times. Lemieux eight times.

East showdown

Boston Bruins at Pittsburgh Penguins
Tuesday, 7 p.m. ET; NBCSN, SN, TVAS, ATTSN-PT, NESN, NHL.TV
The Bruins (14-8-4) have a .615 points percentage and a goal differential of plus-7 (69-62) after a 4-1 loss to the Penguins in the opener of the two-game set Monday. Pittsburgh (18-9-1) has a .661 points percentage and a plus-10 goal differential (90-80). There is not much that separates the teams that sit third and fourth in the eight-team East.
They are, however, teams going in opposite directions. Pittsburgh has won six straight and is 8-2-0 in its past 10. Boston is 3-5-2 in its past 10 and has been plagued by an inability to score. The Bruins have scored six goals in their past five games and have been shut out twice during that stretch.
If the Bruins want to gain ground on the Penguins on Wednesday, they will have to figure out a way to stop resurgent forward Evgeni Malkin, who has put an early-season slump in his rearview mirror. Malkin had a goal and an assist in Pittsburgh's win Monday, extending his point streak to eight games (four goals, eight assists), and he has scored 17 points (five goals, 12 assists) in his past 14 games.

Sunshine State puts best skate forward

Florida Panthers at Tampa Bay Lightning
Sunday, 4 p.m. ET; ESPN+, SUN, FS-F, NHL.TV
Entering this week, two of the top three teams in terms of points percentage call Florida home. The defending Stanley Cup champion Lightning lead the Discover Central Division with a .769 points percentage followed by the Carolina Hurricanes (.759) and Panthers (.741).
The Panthers and Lightning go head-to-head again for in-state supremacy after Florida took two of the first three games this season in an entertaining, closely contested derby. Expect more of the same in this matinee with the ice loaded with some of the top players in the NHL.
For the Lightning, Andrei Vasilevskiy is among the front-runners for the Vezina Trophy awarded to the best regular-season goalie. Defenseman Victor Hedman is the odds-on favorite to win the Norris Trophy, given to the best defenseman in the NHL. Forward Ondrej Palat is a point-per-game threat this season with 26 points (11 goals, 15 assists) in 26 games.
The Panthers counter with forwards Aleksander Barkov, who is having an MVP-type season with 31 points (11 goals, 20 assists) in 27 games and Jonathan Huberdeau, who has scored 32 points (10 goals, 22 assists). On defense, Aaron Ekblad is on the fringes of the Norris conversation, scoring 19 points (nine goals, 10 assists) while playing an average of 25:09 a game.

Fit to be a King?

Vegas Golden Knights at Los Angeles Kings
Friday, 10 p.m. ET; SN, FS-W, ATTSN-RM, NHL.TV
Sunday, 6 p.m. ET; NBCSN, FS-W, NHL.TV
The Kings are five points out of a playoff spot in the Honda West Division. Though they are happy with the progress they have shown, they want to make the postseason, and to do that they must prove their mettle against teams like the Golden Knights, who lead the West and have a nine-point advantage on the Kings.
Los Angeles, finding its identity by mixing new faces in with the championship-era core, lost each of its first two games against Vegas by a combined 9-5.
Defenseman Drew Doughty, and forwards Dustin Brown and Anze Kopitar, are among the veterans leading the way for the Kings. Kopitar has scored a team-leading 32 points (seven goals, 25 assists) and Brown leads the Kings in goals (13). Doughty has scored 22 points (six goals, 16 assists) and plays a Kings-high 26:29 per game.
Rookie defenseman Mikey Andersonusually is Doughty's partner and has handled the workload well by averaging 21:07,most among first-year players. Forward Gabriel Vilardi has scored 12 points (six goals, six assists).