Whew…Rangers beat Philadelphia in a shootout

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.