Whew…Rangers beat Philadelphia in a shootout

About the game

The first goal was scored 59 seconds into the game and it was a fluke. Ryan Strome won the defensive zone draw, got the puck to Artemi Panarin who flubbed a pass to a breaking Kaapo Kakko.  The Flyers took over with a point shot and in the ensuing scramble in front of the net, Adam Fox kicked the puck into the net before Alexandar Georgiev could pounce on it. Nicolas Aube-Kubel was credited with the goal.

The Rangers were on their heels for a while after that penalty, but they were able to hold on. When Jack Johnson took his usual first period penalty for tripping Nolan Patrick it looked like trouble, but the Rangers penalty kill continued its excellent work.

Alexandar Georgiev was tested several times in the first period.

The Rangers couldn’t get much going offensively and it was the line of Kevin Rooney, Phil Di Giuseppe and Colin Blackwell that put on the most pressure.

11 minute into the first period the Strome line had a strong shift in the Flyers’ zone until Strome took an unnecessary tripping penalty, behind the Flyers’ net.  The Rangers killed that one too and then, with two minutes left in the period, the Flyers got in trouble. The Flyers took two penalties and the Rangers had a five on three, their first of the season.  It lasted all of 35 seconds before Chris Kreider took an absolutely unnecessary hooking penalty in the offensive zone.

Panarin hit the post on the ensuing four on three and that feeling started to sink in.

The period ended with the score 1-0 for Philadelphia and the Rangers holding the statistical advantage.  They outshot the Flyers 11-7 and had the edge in blocks (10-6) and even won more faceoffs (16-7).   The problem was on the scoreboard.

The second period got off to an auspicious start when the Flyers had a good scoring opportunity right after the Rangers finished killing off what remained of the Kreider penalty.  Then, Kevin Hayes was sent off for tripping Kevin Rooney and the impossible happened, the Rangers scored a power play goal. The first unit had some good chances, but it was the second unit that cashed in.

Colin Blackwell tipped in a Pavel Buchnevich shot from the blueline.

It’s worth noting that it was Alexis Lafrenière who got the puck to Tony Bitetto who fed Buchnevich for the shot.

The rest of the period was evenly played with both the Rangers and Flyers getting one power play opportunity.  Then, at 16:41, Chris Kreider sprung Buchnevich for a breakaway and he was fouled at the last second by Ivan Provorov and Buchnevich was awarded a penalty shot.

Buchnevich tried to deke Flyers goalie Carter Hart, but he couldn’t get the goalie to commit and Buchnevich’s shot was stopped with the blocker.

The period ended with the score tied 1-1. Again, the Rangers had the statistical edge, ahead on shots, faceoffs and blocks.

With a minute and a half left in the period, Strome took another offensive zone penalty for slashing right after he had been stymied on  scoring chance.

For the first half of the third period, both teams played very conservatively with no great scoring chances.  At 8:21 the Rangers got a goal from an unlikely source, Brendan Smith.  The play unfolded with Ryan Strome taking a soft shot that rebounded to Artemi Panarin who made a perfect pass to Smith who had almost skated past the open net.

Smith was able to stop and put the puck into a wide open net. The Ranger had their first lead in four games.  The Flyers opened up and tried to tie, but the Blueshirts held fast.  They pulled Hart with about two minutes left and Joe Farabee was able to push the puck into the net getting the rebound of a Kevin Hayes shot.

The goal came at 18:46 and the teams went to overtime.

Neither team had a great opportunity in the overtime until Kaapo Kako got a pass to Pavel Buchnevich in front of the net, but he was hooked by Nolan Patrick and he couldn’t get the shot off.

On the power play Panarin hit his second post of the game and the Rangers were unable to score and the teams went to the shootout.

The Flyers went first in the shootout and Georgiev stopped Kevin Hayes, then it was Kaapo Kakko’s turn and he beat Hart under his arm.

Sean Couturier scored next for the Flyers and it was Artemi Panarin next.

Panarin is a shootout whiz and scored easily so it was all up to James Van Riemsdyk and he missed, giving the Rangers the win.

Notes on the game

For Alexandar Georgiev, it was his first win  since his shutout over the Islanders in the second game of the season.   It was his third straight start that went to overtime and the first win.

When Brendan Smith scored in the second period, it gave the Rangers their first lead since Julien Gauthier scored in the first period against Boston on February 10.

It was Brendan Smith’s first goal since December 6, 2019.

Colin Blackwell now has three goals and two assists in seven games this season. Last year he had three goals and seven assists in 27 games for Nashville.

Tony Bitetto had a fantastic game, playing 15:50 including almost two minutes on the power play.  After the game Brendan Smith pointed out how important he is on the bench. “A guy like Bitetto, he’s always going, always keeping the team high. You need that.”

This was the Rangers first win against the Flyers since March 31, 2019.   They had lost all three games they played last season.

Jack Johnson was a very late addition to the starting lineup when it was determined that K’Andre Miller couldn’t play.  On Wednesday, David Quinn had indicated that Johnson was not ready to play as he hadn’t practiced team,but that went out the window just before the game started.

Kaako Kappo had two shootout attempts in his career before this game. He is now two for three in his career.

No one should be surprised when Panarin scores in a shootout. He is now 16 for 25 with seven game deciding goals. That’s a success rate of 64%, second highest all time and the best among active players.

That was the seventh shootout of Georgiev’s career and he is now 4-3 lifetime.

In killing five penalties, the Rangers have now killed 27 of their last 28 over eight games.

The Rangers’ second period power play goal was their first since February 1. The had gone 0-16 in that stretch of six games.

Mika Zibanejad was scoreless again in 20:22 minutes of playing time, third most among forwards. He still looks like his timing is off and you have to wonder if he is still feeling the effects of his bout with COVID-19.

With 22 shots, the Flyer finished under their average of 23.7 shots per game.  They allow an average of 33.2 shots per game and the Rangers finished with 33 shots.

Any attempt to reduce Adam Fox’s ice time failed as he led all skaters with 30:17 of ice time. That was the most ice time he has had in any game in his professional career.

Ryan Lindgren led the Rangers with four hits.

They get enough grief when they lose faceoffs, so it is worth noting that the Rangers won 54.8% of their draws, with Ryan Strome leading he way, winning 15 of 23 faceoffs.  Mika Zibanejad and Brett Howden were both over .500 on draws with only Kevin Rooney losing more than he won (3-7).

The highlight of the telecast was when Sam Rosen got so excited about the overtime penalty to Nolan Patrick that he proclaimed it was a penalty to Nolan Ryan.  Somewhere in Texas, a retired pitcher is smiling.

The penalty shot miss by Buchnevich was the team’s seventh in a row.  The last Ranger to score was Dan Boyle in a 2-1 loss in Vancouver on December 9, 2015.  The last penalty shot was by Julien Gauthier last February 22.  Buchnevich missed on a penalty shot attempt in December 2019 in Toronto. He became the sixth Ranger to have multiple penalty shot misses in his career.

My three stars of the game

1. Artemi Panarin showed why he is the Rangers best player.  He scored shootout game winner and made the brilliant pass to Brendan Smith for the go ahead goal. He had eight shots on goal and 16 scoring chances.  He hit two posts and was a threat whenever he was on the ice.
2. Alexandar Georgiev played a really solid game in goal.  Although he faced only 22 shots, he made some tough saves and he stopped two of three in the shootout.  One goal was inadvertantly kick into the net by Adam Fox and the tying goal was while the Flyers had the man advantage.
3. Colin Blackwell gets the third star for scoring the all-important first goal for the Rangers.  it got the team back into the game and he was a dynamo all game.  Note that the third star could also have gone to Tony Bitetto or Brendan Smith.

The official three stars

1. Artemi Panarin
2. Joel Farabee
3. Nicolas Aube-Kubel

East Division

Scores

Devils 3, Bruins 2
Penguins 4, Islanders 1
Capitals 3, Sabres 1

Standings

1. Boston           15 GP     10-3-2     22 pts
2. Philadelphia  14 GP       8-3-3     19  pts
3. Washington   15 GP       8-4-3     19 pts
4. Islanders        16 GP       8-5-3     19 pts
5. Pittsburgh      15 GP      8-6-1      17 pts
6. New Jersey     11 GP     6-3-2       14 pts
7. Rangers           15 GP      5-7-3      13 pts
8. Buffalo             13 GP      4-7-2      10 pts

What’s next

The Rangers travel to Washington DC for a matinee against the Capitals on Saturday at 1230pm.