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Flyers Routed by Rangers, 5-1 |
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WRAP: FLYERS ROUTED BY RANGERS, 5-1
A quick start for the Philadelphia Flyers quickly disintegrated as the New York Rangers picked them apart in transition and went on take over the game in a 5-1 blowout at Madison Square Garden on Tuesday night. The Flyers played well for about the first 10 minutes then drowned in a sea of errors of commission and omission.
The turnaround started with a breakaway goal for New York, was followed by a Rangers power play goal (later on the same power play after an unsuccessful 2-on-1 shorthanded rush for Philly) and compounded by the Flyers' yielding their seventh shorthanded goal -- the Rangers had been the only NHL team without a shorthanded goal heading into the game -- in the waning seconds of the first period.
Philly never recovered. They remained turnover-prone and paid the price for losing coverages. As the night progressed, the Flyers were unable to cope with the Rangers' speed.
Jordan Weal (6th goal of the season) scored the lone Flyers goal, assisted by Radko Gudas (5th assist) of the season), Wayne Simmonds (13th assist). The Flyers took a quick 1-0 lead but that soon disappeared.
Brian Elliott was strafed for five goals on 21 shots in two periods of work. Three of the five were virtually unstoppable, one was tough but stoppable and one was a bad goal. However, there were also only a couple clutch saves made. Michal Neuvirth came out in the third period for mop-up duty and stopped all eight shots he faced.
Rick Nash (10th and 11th goals), J.T. Miller (power play, 9th goal), Paul Carey (shorthanded, 5th) and Michael Grabner (20th goal) scored for the Rangers. Pavel Buchenevich (16th assist of the season), Ryan McDonagh (20th assist), David Deharnais (16th assist) the just-recalled Peter Holland (1st assist) and Marc Staal (5th assist) collected helpers.
Henrik Lundqvist was strong in goal for the Rangers, stopping 25 of 26 shots to earn the win.
The Rangers went 1-for-2 on the power play and scored an even strength goal shortly after a Jakub Voracek turnover following New York's second man advantage. Philly went 0-for-3 on the power play, and yielded the aforementioned Carey shorthander.
The Flyers top offensive players -- Claude Giroux and Sean Couturier in particular -- played one of their least effective and sloppiest games in weeks. It has not been often this season that, even if they didn't score, the top guns weren't at least helping to recover pucks.
1ST PERIOD SYNOPSIS
Voracek tried to set a physical tone by delivering a solid hit to Brady Skej on the game's first shift. At the other end of the ice, Robert Hägg doled out a pair of hits on Vinni Lettieri.
The Flyers grabbed a 1-0 lead at 2:06. Moving in front of the net, Weal tipped home a side angle shot by Radko Gudas on a shot that initially appeared to be going wide. Simmonds got the secondary assist. Nolan Patrick, who started the sequence with a good stickhandling play up high, did not get a point but the goal by his team capped a strong shift. The goal came on Philly's first shot of the game.
Nash broke over the middle on a breakaway off a stretch pass by Buchnevich. Moving slightly left as the goalie committed himself, he beat Elliott over the blocker to end a 12-game goal drought and tie the game at 1-1 at the 6:30. The lone assists went to Buchnevich.
At 8:46, Couturier rocketed a low full-windup slapper on goal from the left circle. Lundqivst squeezed the pads to make the save.
With Brandon Manning drifting over the middle in front, Jimmy Vesey took a centering pass and had a point-blank chance near the right post. The puck went over the net.
After Couturier battled two Rangers at the offensive blueline, the puck trickled over to Travis Konecny, who wristed a tough shot from the left hash marks that Lundqvist fought off. On the next shift, Taylor Leier worked the puck to the net and Jori Lehterä had a crack near the doorstep.
Nash was nearly sprung on another chance off a bad drop-pass by Konecny off the rush that got picked off. Shayne Gostisbehere managed to neutralize the Nangers forward.
New York got the game's first power play at 15:32 as Valtteri Filppula got called for interference on Mats Zuccerello behind the Flyers' net. The Flyers generated a great 2-on-1 shorthanded chance with Scott Laughton feeding Claude Giroux but Lundqvist made a strong pad save. At the other end, the Rangers' struggling power play solved the Flyers' porous penalty kill. At 16:50, Miller deflected home a McDonagh point shot to give the Rangers a 2-1 lead. The secondary assist went to Deharnais.
Philly got its first power play as Jesper Fast was called for a ticky-tack neutral zone slash on Voracek's leg at 18:05. The Flyers yielded a 2-on-1 scoring chance down low in the defensive zone but Brendan Smith missed the net. The Rangers didn't miss on their second shorthanded chance -- a 3-on-1 after Jordan Weal lost his footing the defensive zone and the Rangers blew right past Brandon Manning. Carey went in by himself, and rifled a shot under the crossbar for the Rangers' first SHG of the season and a 3-1 Rangers lead. Peter Holland got the lone assist at the 19:50 mark.
First period shots were 8-7 in the Rangers' favor.
2ND PERIOD SYNOPSIS
Patrick and Simmonds had back-to-back chances in close off a Rangers' turnover forced by Weal in the opening minute of the period. On shift later, Laughton had a crack near the doorstep off a pass by Leier.
Giroux fed Konecny off a high-speed rush and Lundqvist made a save in tight. At the other end, the Rangers had back-to-back chances by Mika Zibanejad (save by Elliott) and Nick Holden (missed the net).
Near the five-minute mark, Elliott faced down an open chance from the slot by an unlikely source: Rangers' shutdown defenseman Marc Staal.
A heavy shot by Provorov from the right point produced a rebound chance. Voracek -- who was skating a shift with Laughton and Leier -- but Voracek was called for hooking at 8:28. The Rangers went right to the attack.
After Voracek exited the penalty box, he did a little too much stickhandling and got stripped of the puck by Grabner, who went in a fired a shot that beat Elliott low from the top of the left circle for an unassisted goal and a 4-1 lead at 10:48.
Two more Flyers breakdowns followed in quick order. Elliott made a great save in close on Nash to prevent a Rangers' goal.
Raffl took a pass from Voracek and carried the puck in for a scoring chance. He drew a slashing penalty on Skej at 13:50 to set up the Flyers' second power play of the game. Zibanejad broke his stick on the first faceoff. The Flyers moved the puck around but got nothing into the scoring areas -- before an errant Giroux pass allowed the Rangers to clear.
Nash scored again at 17:28. Laughton lost the puck in the offensive zone and the Rangers counter. Nash shot from above the right faceoff dot and found the high blocker side to make it a 5-1 game. Staal got the lone assist.
Fast battled Weal for a puck in the Rangers zone and took a high sticking penalty at 17:28. The Flyers once again failed to capitalize.
Shots were 13-8 Rangers (21-15 Rangers overall).
3RD PERIOD SYNOPSIS
Neuvirth came in to play goal in the third period.
Simmonds had an early rebound chance off a Gostisbehere point blast but the puck hopped away. Patrick fired a right circle shot on goal the Lundqvist easily gloved at 3:46.
At the 4:00 mark, Fast deflected a puck on net off the rush. Neuvirth gloved it. Bidding for a hat trick one shift later, Nash wristed a low shot on net from the right circle. Neuvirth knocked it aside.
With a ruckus going on behind the play, no whistle blew and the Rangers caught the Flyers flat-footed yet again but Neuvirth stopped Nash in close after Smith missed the net.
Gudas dumped Lettieri hard on a hit outside the New York blueline with six minutes left. After play moved the other way, Fast cut in front and Neuvirth turned him aside.
Couturier's left circle bid to continue his goal streak was turned aside by Lundqvist with 2:34 left. That was followed by a long range shot by Gostisbehere that was easily handled.
Third period shots were 10-8 Flyers (29-26 Rangers overall).
Philadelphia Flyers Blogger •NHL.com • 
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