Another game, another win as Rangers beat Flyers 4-1

The New York Rangers got back into action after a long COVID-induced break and they beat a reeling Philadelphia Flyers team 4-1. The score doesn’t reflect the game as it was a tough win for the Rangers. After totally dominating the Flyers, a five minute major penalty to the Blueshirts altered the momentum and the Rangers had to hang on for the win.

Coach Gerard Gallant was succinct in his evaluation, saying “We played great until that five minute major. We hung on, we weren’t the same team.  We lost momentum and couldn’t get it back.”

The Rangers improved their record to 14-4-3 and 31 points.  While Washington, Toronto and Florida have more points, the Rangers have games in hand on all three and could easily have the same point total and be sitting atop the NHL.   With 31 points, the Rangers are now tied with the Carolina Hurricanes, the darlings of the NHL for their fast start.  The Blueshirts have the fewest regulation losses of any team in the league and they are riding a four game winning streak.

It was another great game for Igor Shesterkin and Chris Kreider scored another goal.  It was also the rare night when the first power play unit was out of sync and Adam Fox had a rare off night.

Ranger fans are used to disappointment, but this team continues to deliver when they have to. They are a joy to watch.

About the game

The Rangers came out and dominated the Flyers the entire first period,building a 2-0 lead after 20 minutes.  They outshot Philadelphia 13-11 in the first period and scored on their first power play.  At 3:41, Jacob Trouba cashed in on a shot from the blueline as the second unit got some rare time after the first unit could muster nothing offensively.

The Rangers added to the lead six minutes later on a great pass from Artemi Panarin to a breaking Dryden Hunt who showed some great hands in putting the puck past Carter Hart.

The second period got off to a great start with Chris Kreider scoring his 16th goal of the year just 34 seconds in.

Kaapo Kakko got his second assist of the game on a gorgeous pass to Kreider.

Then, the entire game turned around, except on the scoreboard. Dryden Hunt hit Flyers’ defenseman Justin Braun from behind.  Braun’s head hit the glass and he had a cut near his eye.  The officials called it a five minute major for charging and gave Hunt a game misconduct.

The penalty was was reviewed and confirmed, a call that Gerard Gallant disagreed with. After the game he said “What I saw was he definitely hit him but I didn’t see any jumping or anything like that, unfortunately he banged his head against the glass and got cut.”

The Rangers did a fabulous job killing the five minute penalty, with Shesterkin making seven stops, some brilliant. At one point he lost his stick and had to play with Trouba’s.

Instead of demoralizing the Flyer it gave them new life and momentum and the Rangers were on their heels the rest of the period, outshot 16-5 from the time of the Hunt penalty.

Morgan Frost got the Flyers on the board at the 9:37 mark of the second period on a broken play.  He snuck in and got his stick on the puck in the crease just as Shesterkin was diving on it and it slid under the Ranger goalie and into the net.

Although the Rangers could muster very little offensively, they limited the Flyers, especially in the third period. They had to kill two penalties including one on K’Andre Miller to start the third period.  Flyers coach Alain Vigneault called a timeout during that power play in an attempt to get his first unit some rest.   The second penalty was when Adam Fox shot the puck into the stands, but the Rangers killed that off and Artemi Panarin stole the puck in the Flyers zone and scored into the empty net.

The Rangers faced another Challenge when Barclay Goodrow took a shot from Keith Yandle that shattered his face shield. Goodrow immediately left the ice holding his face and the Rangers were down two forwards for the final 13:15.

It was a solid win for the Blueshirts and they overcame the five minute major, the loss of Dryden Hunt and the injury to Goodrow.

Here is  video recap of the game.