FLYING TO A W: RANGERS OUTLAST FLYERS IN OT THRILLER

The Rangers’ efforts to crack the armor of Philadelphia Flyers goaltender Carter Hart and his trusty goalposts before finally breaking through  could be described as follows; “If you don’t succeed, try, try again.” On Tuesday night, Blueshirts did just that, striking gold when Chris Kreider deposited a late overtime winner that broke the scoreless deadlock and uplifted them to an enthralling 1-0 victory.

Outsiders may suggest it was a primarily dull contest. Still, as someone in attendance with a longtime hockey fan in my father as we celebrated my younger brother’s birthday, it certainly wasn’t. These two NHL original six clubs scrapped it out, with every inch of ice needing to be earned in a ruthless yet robust affair allowing my dad to recall his childhood days when Philly’s moniker was the “Broad street bullies” and won games with their fists rather than skill.

The Flyers won two straight cups in that era but are currently amid a 48-year dry spell, one New York hopes doesn’t end soon, as they vie to bring the Cup back to the Big Apple for the first time since 1994. Locking horns for the first time in this 2022-23 season, the teams made nice with several skirmishes and vicious hits and a goaltenders duel won by reigning Vezina-winner Igor Shesterkin, who made 19 saves despite a valiant 35-save performance from Hart.
For a short scoresheet, this one sure had a lot to say.

The game wasn’t even five minutes, and fans were still settling into their seats(Not us in section 115) when we had our first “crowd riser,” as Travis Konecny put a shot on net that Shesterkin turned asked but left a rebound for the taking and Konecny grabbed the puck, wrapped around the goal into the open left side, only for Ryan Lindgren, to swoop in and block the shot.

A few minutes later, New York dinged their first of four posts tonight when Alexis Lafreniere found Vincent Trocheck in the crease, but the deflection hit the inside part of the left pipe, to the chuckle of the Flyers fans behind me, who laughed at the crowd for celebrating prematurely before groaning at the displeasure of the puck staying out.

Meanwhile, for those who think the Tony DeAngelo saga has faded amongst Rangers fans, you were proven wrong tonight as boos reigned down from the stands each time #77 touched the puck. As the opening frame wound down, the Blueshirts shifted the tide with some good looks by Lafreniere and Adam Fox, who was the victim of an unfortunate puck hop over his stick. But the late push was a prelude to what came in the second period.

The Rangers dominated the middle period, hemmed the puck in Philadelphia’s end, and racked up scoring chances. The trio of KeAndre Miller, Adam Fox, and Jacob Trouba had solid defensive games, but all were involved in the offensive output within the first two minutes of the second, all stopped by Hart. When given an opportunity on the power play, New York fired a barrage of shots toward the net to no avail. As we surpassed the midpoint of the contest, Kakko fed a wide-open Mika Zibanejad, who rang the team’s second post of the night to keep it scoreless.

Not even an Artemi Panarin roughing penalty for knocking off the helmet of ex-teammate Justin Braun, who received warm applause from the fans after a tribute on the jumbotron, could extinguish the Blueshirts momentum as Chris Kreider received his first breakaway of the night and rang the red creating an event that he wouldn’t soon forget.

When the buzzer sounded, signaling the conclusion of the second period, the non-posts-inclusive stats read Rangers had out-chanced the Flyers 28-9 in the frame and had outshot them 14-3 for a 21-11 lead overall, led in hits 20-10, and face off wins 17-14, there was nothing on the scoreboard to show for it. But instead of taking their frustrations out on locker room walls, the teams enraged each other in a contentious scrum along the boards.

The message in the skirmish was that no team would back down easily in the third; no matter if this was an early November battle, it was an intra-divisional war.

The third began with the Flyers on the power play; as the referees disciplined the players involved in the bustle, Lindgren, among them, assessed a double roughing penalty. Shortly after the Rangers killed it off, they received a man advantage of their own, yet despite an abundance of zone time, came up empty-handed. Promptly after the players on ice leveled out, Lafreniere hit New York’s fourth post of the evening, trying to push one past Hart in the slot.

The period was mainly composed of hard-hitting, one no bigger than the captain Trouba’s smash to prevent a costly turnover and a potential fastbreak for Philadelphia. With 4:35 left, the rattled DeAngelo threw a puck over the glass for a delay of game penalty, putting the Blueshirts a player up before the Flyers successfully stifled things for the third straight time.

With regulation winding down, Shesterkin robbed Kevin Hayes of potentially being the hero not once but twice for good measure!

That was personal satisfaction and vindication for me, as the last time I took a bite out of this rivalry was on May 15th of last season when the former Ranger beat Igor in the shootout sending Philly to a 4-3 road victory. But seeing NO31 make those pair of sprawling saves despite his light workload on the night calmed the nerves of this teenage fan as the gridlock reached overtime.

The teams exchanged chances in the five-minute extra session, but Shesterkin nor Hart blinked. Then, just when it appeared I was destined to witness my second straight Flyers-Rangers shootout, Mika Zibanejad laid a breakaway on a tee for Kreider, who sent me, my dad, and birthday brother home happy, and the sad Flyers-clad one behind me back to Philadelphia, by scoring the winner with 52.8 seconds to spare.

The victory kept the unblemished presence of New York Giants head coach Brian Dabbol and GM Joe Schoen alive, as the Rangers remained undefeated over the past two seasons in games the duo has attended.

UP NEXT: The Rangers will welcome another longtime foe on Thursday when they meet the league-best 9-1 Boston Bruins.