The Garden faithful were treated to an absolute gift of a game at the world’s most famous arena today — one that requires a lot of unwrapping from yours truly. This afternoon tilt against the Philadelphia Flyers on Broadway had basically everything a hockey fan could ask for, and then some.
Artemi Panarin was back in the lineup for the Blueshirts after being a healthy scratch in St. Louis on Thursday due to illness, and he looked completely reinvigorated throughout the matchup. He opened the scoring late in the first period with a blistering wrist shot that ripped past Sam Ersson.
The second period was extremely contentious, with several physical dustups between the two clubs that may have thrown the Rangers off their game. This led to a heavy dose of special teams play that favored the Flyers. Philadelphia scored two power‑play goals and added a shorthanded tally off an egregious open‑ice giveaway on the Rangers’ power play by Scott Morrow — a sequence that seemed to bury New York.
The Flyers scored four goals in the second period, matched only by Panarin’s lone response — his second goal of the game.
The Rangers entered the third period facing a 4–2 deficit, momentum firmly against them, and a Garden crowd that had begun to let the boo birds fly.
New York came out for the third as the more aggressive team, and it showed when Vincent Trocheck scored a squeaker through the Flyers goaltender’s legs — a goal the Blueshirts desperately needed. The play was also assisted by Gabe Perreault, who earned a promotion to the top six after his stellar performance in St. Louis and strong first‑period showing today.
As time wound down, the Rangers caught a break when Rasmus Ristolainen sent a puck over the glass for a delay‑of‑game penalty, giving New York a power play with three minutes remaining.
The Flyers overcommitted to covering the right side, where Panarin was stationed and scorching hot all game. Scott Morrow threaded a pass to a wide‑open Mika Zibanejad in the left faceoff circle, and he delivered an absolute bomb of a one‑timer through Ersson’s five‑hole to send the game to overtime — the Rangers’ sixth overtime in their last ten games.
Eight seconds into the extra frame, Panarin was assessed a slashing penalty that immediately put the Rangers behind the eight ball. They responded with a perfectly executed 4‑on‑3 penalty kill, backed by superb goaltending from Igor Shesterkin.
That alone would’ve been impressive, but they had to do it again. Morrow committed another costly open‑ice giveaway, forcing him to take a necessary tripping penalty to prevent a 2‑on‑0 the other way. With 50 seconds left in overtime, the Rangers were shorthanded once more — and once more, they held the line.
These critical penalties will not endear Morrow to Coach Sullivan, but the Rangers survived both kills and pushed the game to a shootout.
Panarin shot first for New York and scored a gorgeous backhander to set the tone, immediately putting pressure on Trevor Zegras (who entered the night scoring at a 64% clip in shootouts). Zegras approached methodically and slowly, but Shesterkin patiently waited him out and stuffed him at the goal line.
Next up was Trocheck, who had already scored earlier to pull the Rangers within one. He buried his attempt to give New York a 2–0 lead in the shootout and put the Flyers on their heels.
Shesterkin then delivered the game‑closing save that sent the fans home happy and capped a sensational comeback at the Garden. The Rangers demonstrated tremendous resiliency and resolve to slam home this win.
They now embark on a six‑game road trip to close out the old and open the new calendar year. They won’t return to the Garden until January 5th — and they gave the faithful plenty of reason to be patient for their homecoming.