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Wrap: Flyers Crush Rangers, 5-0, Clinch Playoff Spot |
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WRAP: FLYERS CRUSH RANGERS, 5-0, CLINCH PLAYOFF SPOT
The Philadelphia Flyers entered the final game of the 2017-18 regular season determined to take care of their own business and clinch a spot in the Stanley Cup playoffs. They did so with aplomb, playing a relentless 60 minutes of hockey to earn a 5-0 win over the New York Rangers in front of a raucous crowd of 20,028 at the Wells Fargo Center on Saturday afternoon.
Flyers captain Claude Giroux led the way with his second career hat trick -- first in the regular season -- to become the 6th member of the 100-point club in franchise history. He joined Bob Clarke, Rick MacLeish, Bill Barber, Mark Recchi and Eric Lindros in earning that distinction. Giroux finished the season with 102 points. On Saturday, Giroux was plus-four on the afternoon and also won four of six faceoffs.
Giroux finished the season on a 10-game point streak, with eight goals and 11 assists for 19 points. He had at least one point in 18 of the final 19 games of the season, recording 12 goals and 16 assists for 28 points.
Beyond Giroux, the Flyers entire lineup stepped up in the regular season finale. They were hungry for the puck. They defended well. They also stayed out of the penalty box until a meaningless penalty very late in the third period.
"I think everybody was pretty dialed in everybody wanted to play well, help each other and we followed the game plan and played our game," Giroux said. "When you wake up for a game like this you want to try not to get too jacked up, you want to be in control of what you do. We did a good job tonight of not getting too excited and just doing our job."
Ivan Provorov (17th goal of the season), Giroux (power play and two even strength goals, 32nd, 33rd and 34th) and Michael Raffl (13th) scored for the Flyers. Sean Couturier (44th and 45th assists of the season), Jakub Voracek (65th assist), Shayne Gostisbehere (52nd assist), Radko Gudas (14th assist), Brandon Manning (12th) and Travis Sanheim (8th assist) registered assists.
Making his second start since returning from core muscle surgery, Brian Elliott saw just 17 shots and earned his first shutout of the season. His final regular season record improved to 23-11-7 with a 2.66 GAA and .909 save percentage.
"I thought in Game 1 back, he was reading plays and seeing things pretty well and I felt the exact same way today. A little bit sharper, a little more complete," Flyers head coach Dave Hakstol said.
"For me today, he makes a save on a cross ice play, I think it’s 2-0 at the time, he makes a good save, makes it look pretty easy, stays with the play, makes a left pad save on that play at the left side of the crease and we come right back and score the third goal and then get another one quick. So that’s a key point of the game for us and he made one of those potentially game changing saves, he made it and I thought the rest of his game was really solid."
Henrik Lundqvist battled hard in goal for the Rangers. Almost singlehandedly, he kept the game to a 1-0 deficit until past the midpoint of regulation. Finally, the Flyers put together a barrage of three goals -- including two spaced a new franchise record six seconds apart -- to make the third period a formality. Lundqvist finished with 35 saves on 40 shots.
The Flyers went 1-for-2 on the power play and 1-for-1 on the penalty kill. Philly blocked 18 shots to 14 blocks for New York. The Flyers won 25 of 54 faceoffs.
1ST PERIOD SYNOPSIS
The Flyers controlled the opening faceoff. Giroux set up Raffl for a left slot shot that was blocked out of play at the 18-second mark. On the next shift, the Rangers turned the puck over in the neutral zone. Patrick snapped a shot on goal from the deep middle slot.
Shayne Gostisbehere ripped a shot from the right point on net after the Couturier line generated a solid possession shift. At 2:51, Elliott stopped a routine shot for his first save.
There were nervous moments after a Travis Sanheim giveaway behind the Flyers net. Jimmy Vesey had a scoring chance and the play got chaotic. Elliott was briefly caught out of his net. Philly recovered with no harm resulting.
The Flyers made it 1-0 on a lengthy delayed penalty 6-on-5 at 6:34. Giroux went cross-ice to Voracek, who threaded a puck to Couturier near the left post. Couturier centered it back in front and the puck deflected in off Provorov's shoulder for a 1-0 lead. The assists went to Couturier and Voracek.
On the next shift, Oskar Lindblom was drilled from behind into the goal post by Marc Staal. Only a left circle faceoff ensued.
As the whistle blew on a Flyers' offside and a TV timeout ensuing at the 10:21 mark, shots were 7-5 in the Flyers' favor. At 10:41, 4-on-4 play resulted from coincidental minors on Matt Beleskey (stick holding) and Radko Gudas (interference).
Sanheim committed his second turnover of the period on a weak bank off the right boards. He made up for it later with good one-on-one defensive coverage.
Elliott erased an odd-man rush for the Rangers with a tough right pad save on Steven Fogarty. Two shifts later, Konecny sent Patrick in alone on Lundqvist inside the New York blueline. Lundqvist stopped a wrister from the right slot.
The Filppula line had a good forechecking shift. Gudas fired a right point shot on net at 18:02 with Wayne Simmonds in front for a rebound that did not come. With 33.7 seconds left, Lindblom maneuvered himself out of a puck battle on the left boards for a shot near the dot. Filppula won the ensuing faceoff cleanly for a snap shot by Konecny from the top of the circle.
First period shots were 13-7 Flyers.
2ND PERIOD SYNOPSIS
Patrick tipped an Andrew MacDonald shot on net at the 1:15 mark. Lundqvist covered it before Lindblom arrived to try to poke at the puck. With shots 2-0 in their favor, the Flyers iced the puck at 2:15.
Lehterä won the ensuing draw and his line generated extended possession and an ongoing battle between Laughton and Beleskey. After a whistle, a scrum ensued. The lone penalty went to Beleskey for roughing at 2:50. The Flyers went on the power play.
Patrick remained on the top unit as the netfront forward. The second unit was Konecny-Simmonds-Lindblom with Sanheim and Provorov. Simmonds took a draw and won it. Later, Sanheim created a chance moving in front the right circle. A little indecision between him and Simmonds with a loose puck near both of them -- and no Rangers -- gave New York time to recover.
Lundqvist absorbed a Manning shot with traffic in front at 7:48. A TV timeout ensued. Shots were 7-0 Flyers. With 10:45 left, a long distance shot came in softly on Elliott for an easy save; his first of the period and eighth of the game.
Provorov made a nice defensive play with his stick to break up a potential New York scoring chance on a broken rush that bounced the Rangers way.
During a long puck battle in the New York left corner, Fogarty took a careless high sticking penalty against Read away from the puck battle at 11:52. The Flyers made New York pay at 12:24 for a 2-0 lead. Giroux saucered a pass from the left circle, trying to get in a tip in front from Patrick. Instead, with Lundqvist extending his stick toward Patrick, the puck missed Patrick's stick and went into the net between the pads for a power play goal. The assists went to Couturier and Gostisbehere.
Lundqvist made a 10-bell save on Patrick cutting in front of the net to keep the gap to two goals. The Rangers committed a needless icing with 4:21 left in the period.
The Manning and Gudas pairing a had a little-too-adventurous shift that started with a puck hopping past Manning at the left point (Philly recovered). It ended with Elliott corralling and smothering a loose puck as an errant shot bounced off the end boards.
Elliott made a good save on Mats Zuccarello cutting across in front of his net. After play moved the other way shortly thereafter, the Flyers opened a 3-0 lead.
Manning fed over to partner Gudas at the right point. Lundqvist got the initial tip-shot by Raffl but Raffl got his own rebound and buried a turnaround shot at 17:53. The top line scored again immediately as play resumed to make it 4-0. Raffl intercepted a D-to-D pass, and dropped the puck to Giroux while taking Staal with him to the net. Using Staal and Raffl as a screen, the Flyers captain rifled a rising shot that beat Lundqvist at 17:59. The six-second span set a new Flyers record.
With 56.6 seconds left, Lundqvist did snow angels to stop a scramble around his net with Patrick's line buzzing.
Second period shots were 18-5 Flyers (31-12 Flyers overall).
3RD PERIOD SYNOPSIS
Raffl and Giroux had an early 2-on-1 counterattack rush. Raffl elected to shoot from the right circle, hoping to catch Lundqvist anticipating a pass, but the shot went way over the net. At 1:56, a long-range shot by the Rangers' John Gilmour hit the crossbar and went out of play.
The Flyers committed a pair of icings in quick succession. Lehterä won back-to-back faceoffs and the Flyers broke out of the defensive zone with no problem. At 5:32, Elliott easily snapped up an unscreened left point shot.
With a wrister from the left point, Sanheim came within a whisker of scoring through a heavy screen. Lundqvist spotted the puck just in time for a save.
The Rangers went offside with 13:25 left in regulation. A TV timeout followed with shots 4-4.
The teams traded off odd-man rushes without a shot at either side.
The captain found a wide open neutral zone to collect a long stretch pass from Sanheim, go in on a breakaway on Lundqvist and beat him to the glove side for a hat trick and a 5-0 lead at 10:11. Sanheim got the lone assist.
Lundqvist, still battling while the rest of the team in front of him watched the Flyers do as they please, made a point blank save on Lindblom at 10:50.
Lindblom took a high sticking penalty with 1:01 left. The Rangers went to the power play for the first time. Raffl was denied on a late 2-on-1. Elliott finished with the shutout.
Third period shots were 9-5 Flyers (40-17 Flyers overall).
Philadelphia Flyers Blogger •NHL.com • 
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