Whew…Rangers beat Philadelphia in a shootout
By Steve Paulus
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.