On Thursday night, the New York Rangers skated to a 6-1 victory over their Metropolitan division rivals, the Philadelphia Flyers.
The stakes were high as the Rangers ranked just ahead of the Flyers in the National Hockey League’s (NHL) Eastern Conference standings coming into this game and both teams were in pursuit of the second wild card spot in the Eastern Conference. The Rangers came into this matchup with 50 points as did the Flyers and all signs pointed towards a tight game.
The Flyers got the game’s opening goal just 1:25 into the first period when Owen Tippett drove to the net on a three-on-one and was able to deflect the puck past Rangers goaltender Igor Shesterkin. The goal snapped Shesterkin’s shutout streak at two games.
At 9:00 gone by, the Rangers tied the game when Braden Schneider carried the puck around the offensive zone and slipped a pass to the front of the Flyer net that went in off a Flyers player’s stick. Arthur Kaliyev and Reilly Smith had the assists. A little over a minute later, the Rangers got their second goal of the game when Ryan Lindgren’s point shot was deflected into the Flyers’ net past goaltender Sam Ersson by Adam Edstrom. Adam Fox got the secondary assist. The Rangers went into the first intermission leading 2-1 having responded well after giving up the game’s first goal and outshooting Philadelphia 15 to 11.
At 4:44 gone by in the second period, K’Andre Miller rifled home a wrist shot from the point that beat Ersson to give the home fans even more to cheer about. Now sporting a 3-1 lead, the Rangers began to give away some chances against. But Shesterkin stood tall and made some phenomenal saves, 17 in total in the second period, to preserve the Rangers’ 2-goal lead. The Rangers went into the second intermission up 3-1 and being outshot by the Flyers 28-23.
They say ‘a two-goal lead is the worst lead in hockey’ and head coach Peter Laviolette knew his team needed another goal in the third period to put this one away. The Rangers got it when Filip Chytil got in front of a shot from Urho Vaakanainen and deflected it past Ersson to give the Rangers a 4-1 lead at 5:15 gone by. Miller got the secondary assist.
With just over four minutes left to play, Flyers head coach and former Ranger head coach, John Tortorella pulled his goaltender for the extra attacker on top of the power play his team was already on. This move ended up backfiring as the Rangers defense was too strong for his Flyers team and Fox added an empty net goal for the Blueshirts to make it 5-1. With two minutes left, Noah Cates was called for slashing Vincent Trocheck and the Rangers went on the man-advantage. On the ensuing Rangers power play, the puck came around the boards up to Alexis Lafreniere at the point who fired a wrist shot that ended up trickling through Ersson and laying in the crease. Reilly Smith swept the loose puck into the net and the Flyers hopes of upstaging the Rangers on Broadway this evening along with it, as the Rangers cruised to a 6-1 victory.
Postgame Notes
It would have been alright to give each of the Rangers defensemen a star of the game. The Ranger defensemen accounted for eight points (3 goals and 5 assists) in this game in addition to playing solid defense. With the win, the Rangers record improved to 24-20-4 on the season and 7-0-3 in their last 10 games. The Rangers also moved into ninth place in the eastern conference which is one point behind the Columbus Blue Jackets who hold the second wild card spot in the eastern conference.
Shesterkin may have missed out on his third straight shutout but he did earn first star of the game for making 35 saves on 36 shots. K’Andre Miller was the game’s second star for producing a goal and an assist from the blueline and Filip Chytil, the third star for adding a goal and an assist of his own.
The Blueshirts’ next game is against the Colorado Avalanche on Sunday at 1 p.m. The Avs currently occupy sixth place in the NHL’s western conference standings and will be a good test for the high-flying Rangers.
