The Philadelphia Flyers came to play and the New York Rangers paid the price. The Blueshirts lost a game that they could have won and it’s a game that will have playoff ramifications. Going into the game, the Rangers had a chance to pull two games ahead of the Flyers and for a while, within one point of the fourth place Boston Bruins. It wasn’t to happen as the Flyers scored a late goal and won, 2-1.
If the Rangers fall short in their playoff they will look back at this game as one that really hurt them. They did what they needed to do, jumping out to a 1-0 lead on a Mika Zibanejad power play goal, but they couldn’t get that crucial second goal and then let it slip away.
If the Rangers had won, it would have been a game that Igor Shesterkin stole for them, but he couldn’t stop them all as the Flyers had 37 shots on goal, close to the 44 shots they had on Thursday.
It was clear from the beginning that the Flyers had a purpose and were determined not to cave under a Rangers onslaught. They poured shots on Shesterkin. After a Ryan Strome shot 34 seconds into the game, the Flyer had the next 11 shot attempts with eight on goal. That the Rangers were able to escape with 1-0 lead was directly attributable to Shesterkin who was dialed in and very solid in net.
The difference with this game was that the Rangers had numerous opportunities to get on the scoreboard after they took the lead, but they were never able to get that next goal that would have crushed the Flyers’ spirit. They had their chances, but Brian Elliott was a lot better in this game and whenever the Rangers threatened, he was able to stop them.
The crusher for the Rangers was when they took two consecutive penalties halfway through the second period. Facing a 5v3 for 1:17 the Rangers were able to kill off the two man disadvantage, but with three seconds left on the second penalty, Nolan Patrick was able to score.
The tie gave the Flyers new life and they had the better of the play through the second and into the third period. With less that four minutes left in the game and overtime looming, Samuel Morin took a slapshot from the blueline and it eluded Shesterkin and Philadelphia had the lead.
This has to be classified as a bad loss. It was clear from the start that the Rangers were not sharp. They were awful on faceoffs and were guilty of imprecise passing and bad decision-making, The Flyers were ripe to be taken, but the Rangers could not take advantage.
Here is a video recap of the game: