New York Rangers lose 5-2 decision to Flyers and Chris Kreider to fractured foot

The game

The game got off to a great start when after a few risky passes in his own zone, Artemi Panarin sprung Jesper Fast for a breakaway and at the 2:49 mark Fast put a puck past Carter Hart and into the Flyers’ net.

Fast never gave up on the play and actually batted the rebound of his own shot out of the air and into the net after Hart made the initial save.

The goal quieted the hometown crowd and the Rangers kept the Flyers off the scoreboard despite a number of mishandled pucks in their own zone.   Georgiev made a series of outstanding saves to keep the Flyers’ scoreless.

The injury to Kreider happened with about seven minutes left in the first period when he took a Philippe Myers shot from the point on the side of the foot.

With just under four minutes left in the period, Sean Couturier took advantage of a Brendan Smith broken stick to get loose in front of the net where he was able to slam home a pass from Jakub Voracek.

The Blueshirts had a golden opportunity to take the lead, but Panarin was absolutely robbed by Carter Hart who made a pad save to stop the one-timer.

So the first period ended with the score tied and though the Flyers had the edge in shots, the Rangers had played a solid road period and were positioned to stay in the game in the second period.

The second  period got off to a bad start.  First, Voracek hit the post then Kevin Hayes almost scored when he crashed the net.

Carter Hart stood on his end during a Rangers power play with consecutive outstanding stops on Ryan Strome, Mika Zibanejad and Artemi Panarin.   Unable to score, the two teams counterpunched until midway through the period when the referees made a strange call.

While the Blueshirts were  killing a penalty to Adam Fox, Ivan Provorov interfered with Brett Howden, taking him down and in the process of falling, Howden’s stick clipped Provorov.

Instead of a Rangers power play, coincidental minors were called.  How they could call a high sticking penalty on Howden was inexplicable as it was Provorov who caused him to fall and in the process of falling his stick hit the Flyers’ blueliner.

The lack of a man advantage hurt the Rangers as it was during the five on five play when the Ranger penalty ended, that  James Van Riemsdyk scored. Marc Staal gave the puck away in the offensive zone and the Flyers rushed the Rangers’ end.   Nicolas Aube-Kubel took a shot that Georgiev saved, but he gave up a juicy rebound right to an uncovered Van Riemsdyk who one-timed it into the net.

Although the referee’s call affected play, the goal was avoidable as it was started by the Staal giveaway and Tony DeAngelo was guilty of watching the shot instead of covering his man.

With the Flyers up 2-1 with seven minutes left to play, it was all Philadelphia from that point.  Two minutes late Claude Giroux one-timed a pass from Couturier past Georgiev to make it 3-1.  That was how the second period ended and Ranger fans were wondering if another miracle comeback was in the cards.

Not so.  Pavel Buchnevich took a terrible high sticking penalty just 1:39 in to the period and Giroux made short work of t he power play, scoring his second goal a minute later.  With a 4-1 lead, the Flyers looked unbeatable and the Rangers just looked worn out.  Kevin Hayes scored ten minutes later for a 5-1 lead and the Rangers were able to regain a semblance of dignity when Brett Howden scored with only 26 seconds left in the game.

It came after Hart made a fabulous save on a Jacob Trouba rocket, but the Rangers kept working and Howden was able to put the rebound of an Adam Fox shot into the net.

It wasn’t pretty, but the good news is the Rangers came into one of the toughest arenas in the league and held their own for over half the game.  Carter Hart made some key saves early that prevented the Rangers from building on an early lead.

Considering that this ended a stretch of 14 games in 26 days, with eight of them on the road and included two road back to backs and they lost one of their leaders and top veterans to injury, it was nothing to be embarrassed by.  And they didn’t lose any ground in the playoff race.

Notes on the game

When Quinn was asked about an estimate for how much time Kreider would miss, he didn’t eve attempt a guess. He said he hadn’t spoken to the training staff.

Artemi Panarin assisted on Jesper Fast’s goal for his 56th assist and 88th point, a new career high. It also extended his point scoring streak to 12 games. It ties his season and career high set earlier this season.

Despite allowing five goals, Georgiev played a good game.  He faced 40 shots and most of them were tough.   The only goal he could be faulted on was the Van Riemsdyk goal when he gave up a rebound right to the Flyer who one-timed it into the net.

The Rangers allowed one power play goal and now have allowed PP goals in three of the last four games. This was after a stretch of seven games when they didn’t allow one.

Mika Zibanejad had an unusual tough night finishing with a minus four rating.  Tony DeAngelo was a minus three and now has failed to score even a point in six games against the team he rooted for as a youngster.  The Flyer fans booed him every time  he touched the puck.

With his 12th goal of the season, Jesper Fast is one shy of his career high of 13 set two years ago.

The Rangers won 17 of 53 faceoffs, an abysmal 32%.   Small wonder as the Flyers are the best in the NHL with a 54.6% winning percentage. The Rangers are second worst at 46.2%.

This was the 11th pair of back-to-back games this season. The Ranger’s record in the second games is a pretty solid 7-4.  Six of those wins have come on the road.

My three stars of the game

1. Adam Fox had another solid game, though he did take two penalties.  He got an assist on the Howden goal and was the steadiest of a defense corps under siege by the Flyers.
2. Jesper Fast scored his 12th goal of the season and could have had a couple more.  He was very noticeable on that line and his effort reminded everyone of why he is the annual Players’ Player.
3. I have to give Alexandar Georgiev a star on a  night when there were few outstanding individual performances.  He faced 40 shots and made some absolutely spectacular saves.  In the third period, it resembled a shooting gallery at times and he certainly didn’t get much help from his teammates. Anytime a goalie has to face a night like this he deserves a pat on the back.

The official three stars

1. Jakub Voracek
2. Claude Giroux
3. Carter Hart

What’s next

The Rangers have a well-earned day off before they face the Flyers at Madison Square Garden on Sunday in a nationally televised noon start.