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Wrap: Flyers Win 7-4 in NY, Lose Another Goalie |
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WRAP: FLYERS WIN 7-4 AT MSG, LOSE ANOTHER GOALIE
Goals were plentiful and so were first-period fights while puck management and positional play was scarce as the Philadelphia Flyers and New York Rangers engaged in a typically bizarre Sunday afternoon game at Madison Square Garden. A scoreboard seesaw for 35 minutes, the Flyers eventually forged ahead to stay and went on to win, 7-4.
Winners of six of their last seven games (6-0-1), the Flyers now have an eight-game streak of earning at least one point in the standings. Importantly, four of the games have been against Metropolitan Division opponents.
Sunday's victory was a potentially costly one for the Flyers, however. Already down a goalie with starter Brian Elliott (core muscle surgery) on the shelf until late March, the team had serially injury-prone Michal Neuvirth go down in the first period on Sunday. He did not return after the first intermission.
Andrew MacDonald (4th goal of the season), Scott Laughton (10th), Brandon Manning (5th), Nolan Patrick (6th), Travis Konecny (15th), Claude Giroux (20th) and Jori Lehterä (1st as a Flyer)scored for the Flyers. Valtteri Filppula (15th and 16th assists of the season), Jori Lehterä (4th assist), Ivan Provorov (18th assist), Claude Giroux (48th and 49th assists), Travis Konecny (18th and 19th assists), Wayne Simmonds (17th assist), Manning (7th assist), Sean Couturier (30th assist), Dale Weise (4th assist) collected assists.
Neuvirth stopped just 11 of 14 shots, and suffered a lower-body injury on New York's third goal in the first period. Alex Lyon came out to start the second period, and stopped 25 of 26 shots in relief to earn his first NHL win.
Kevin Hayes (14th goal of the season), Rick Nash (18th), Mats Zuccerello (10th) and Peter Holland (1st) scored for the Rangers. Ryan Sproul (2nd assist of the season), Brady Skej (16th assist), Pavel Buchenevich (21st assist) and Holland (3rd assist) collected assists.
Starting all three games of a 3-in-4 set Henrik Lundqvist was left to fend for himself behind a depleted defense and looked like a tired goalie. He stopped 30 of 37 shots to absorb the loss.
The two teams traded off three goals apiece as well as engaging in three separate fights in a wild first period. It was more of the same -- minus the fights -- early in the second period.
The Flyers quickly took a 4-3 lead and the Rangers soon answered. Play briefly settled down over the middle stages of the second period before the teams started trading off scoring chances again on sloppy play by both sides. A leaky goal allowed by Lundqvist on a Konecny shot from above the left faceoff dot and outside the top hash mark sent the Flyers to the locker room with a 5-4 lead.
Courtesy of Lyon, the Flyers withstood an early push by the Rangers in the third period and then struck for a pair of goals off counterattacks to put a stranglehold on the game. By late in the third period, the Rangers were resigned to their fate.
For the second straight game, the Flyers did not have to kill any penalties, and had just a single power play for themselves. Philly went 38-28 on faceoffs. The Rangers blocked 16 shots to nine blocks by the Flyers. The Rangers were credited with 28 hits to 20 credited to the Flyers; Cody McLeod was credited with six for the Rangers and Radko Gudas with five for Philadelphia.
1ST PERIOD SYNOPSIS
Gostisbehere and Buchnevich dropped the gloves just 15 seconds after opening faceoff after a Buchnevich hit on Konecny. There was chirping and shoving, too, after the next whistle in the Rangers' zone.
At 1:30, Hayes deflected home a right point shot from Sproul. The play started with Neuvirth turning the puck up the boards and the Rangers getting it. Hayes jockeyed in the high slot with Radko Gudas and got the tip for a 1-0 lead.
At the 3:00 mark, Gilmour put a left circle shot off Neuvirth's glove side shoulder and over the net. Nolan Patrick canceled out a scoring chance in front, and Neuvirth stopped a dribbling puck at 3:27.
The Flyers got the goal back to tie the game at 4:53. Lehterä bumped J.T. Miller off the puck near the New York blueline. Filppula got the puck and sent it to MacDonald. A wrist shot by the Flyers defenseman was initially credited as being partially tipped in front by Lehterä for his first goal as a Flyer. However, the scoring was later changed to credit MacDonald. After the scoring was changed, the assists went to Filppula and Lehterä to make it a 1-1 game.
On back-to-back shifts, Provorov made nice offensive plays on the pinch: first, a behind-the-back pass near the left post then a rush in which he dangled between two New York defenders.
Neuvirth made a 10-bell save on an open shot from the slot by Michael Grabner around the 6:00 mark.
Lundqvist came up with a Raffl tip of a MacDonald shot for a tough save as the period neared the halfway mark. With 9:22 left, Grabner fired a left circle shot on goal that Neuvirth absorbed to relieve pressue in the Flyers zone.
The Rangers benefited from a bad rebound allowed by Neuvirth on an unscreened point shot by Skej that the goalie fumbled out in front. Nash then outdueled Couturier in front and deposited the puck home on the backhand. The assists went to Skej and Buchnevich as the Rangers grabbed a 2-1 lead at 10:54.
Behind the Rangers net, Simmonds dropped the gloves with Anthony DeAngelo -- and then dropped him twice -- after the two did battle throughout the shift. Time of the fight was 11:23.
Philly re-tied the game at 12:11. After a loose puck scramble in front, the puck went back out to Provorov and the point. The puck was nicely re-directed in front by Laughton and slid through Lundqvist's pads to tie the game at 2-2.
Right off the center ice faceoff, at 12:14, Cody MacLeod and Dale Weise dropped the gloves and fought. The fight was even early on but MacLeod dominated the rest.
The Flyers' top line had a 2-on-1 down low against Lundqvist but Konecny was unable to finish.
Philly grabbed a 3-2 lead on a sequence that started with a defensive zone faceoff win by Couturier. Giroux grabbed the puck and rushed up ice. Manning joined the rush, pinched down to the top of the left circle and fired home a measured shot high to the short side at 14:53.
Gilmour's very high stick hooked Patrick around the face for a high sticking penalty and Flyers' power play at 15:16. The Flyers generated nothing but a late errant Raffl shot from the high slot and the Rangers' countered 2-on-1. Zuccarello took a saucer pass from Holland and buried the chance into a half-open net for a 3-3 game at 17:21.
Lundqvist stopped a bang-bang blast by Couturier off a left circle faceoff win by Giroux as time neared the final minute of the period.
First period shots were 14-11 in the Rangers' favor.
2ND PERIOD SYNOPSIS
Lyon came out to take over in goal to start the period.
The Flyers grabbed a 4-3 lead on a goal off the rush. Patrick and Manning worked a neutral zone give-and-go. In the offensive zone, Patrick passed to Simmonds on the right wing and went toward the net. Patrick tipped the puck on net and then potted his own rebound at 2:01. The assists went to Simmonds and Manning.
Vesey clanged a shot off the post on the very next shift. The puck stayed out. At 4:20, Lyon came out of his net to grab a Skej flip-in before it could start bouncing on the notoriously unpredictable MSG ice.
After a Voracek turnover and several Rangers shots, New York made it 4-4 as Holland scored a rebound goal at 5:47. A blast from high in the zone went through traffic and rebounded off Lyon. With a broken stick blade laying in front, Holland potted it for his first goal as a Ranger. The assists went to Holden and MacLeod.
Voracek had a good chance off the backhand but Lundqvist made the stop near the eight-minute mark.
Lyon made a great save on Zuccarello off a 3-on-2. There was a rebound on the next attack and the Flyers' goalie erased it with a tremendous stop on Zuccarello. At the other end, a Konecny deflection eluded Lundqvist but (barely) stayed out of the net. Lundqvist then made an excellent save on Giroux.
Konecny made it 5-4 at 15:40. He took a chip pass off the wall from Couturier and circled to his right, firing a rising wrister that sneaked in on the short side. The assists went to Couturier and Giroux.
Lundqvist shakily made a stop on a Gudas right point shot. The goalie ultimately controlled the puck for a stoppage. At the other side, a Provorov turnover led to a good scoring chance for Miller, which Lyon snagged out of the air.
Gostisbehere kept a puck at the right point, skated it into the middle slot and was denied by Lundqvist. Moments later, after a switch, Voracek fed Gostisbehere for a shot attempt from the left side.
Second period shots were 14-9 Rangers (28-20 Rangers overall).
3RD PERIOD SYNOPSIS
After the puck bounced away from Gostisbehere in deep, Nash set up Buchnevich in point blank range on the first shift of the period. The Rangers forward missed the target. Lyon then knocked aside a Zuccerello offering from the left circle on the next shift.
Lyon handled a Sproul shot on a Rangers attack after the Flyers failed to get the puck in deep. Near the five-minute mark, the goalie stopped Holden in close to keep it a 5-4 game.
Jordan Weal moved up to the line with Patrick and Voracek for a couple of shifts.
Both teams continued to handle the puck like a hot potato. Gudas dropped Neal Poink with a good hit at the Flyers' blueline. The Flyers countered the other way but turned the puck over for a potential re-counter by the Rangers. This time, the Flyers got good backchecking support and nothing developed.
An errant-pass turnover up high by the Rangers with Holden pinching on a rush quickly turned into a Flyers' 2-on-1 and some much-needed insurance on the scoreboard. Konecny fed Giroux. Measuring a shot from the left slot, Giroux went upstairs for a 6-4 lead at 9:23. The goal was the 200th of Giroux's NHL career.
A good cycling shift by the Patrick line pinned the Rangers in deep. Finally, on a low-to-high play a Gudas point shot was held by Lundqvist. Laughton won the next draw but Philly didn't retain possession for much longer. At the other end, Lyon stopped a perimeter shot for a stoppage. Lyon then stopped a short-side blast by Miller.
The Flyers had a counterattack and slow-developing 2-on-1 stopped as Filppula saucered a pass to Weise and Lundqvist stopped Weise from a severe angle near the right post. The puck went to Lehterä, who fired a right circle shot that deflected off the stick of Holland and re-directed slowly through the five-hole for a 7-4 lead at 12:46.
Giroux and Couturier couldn't quite make connections on a 2-on-1 chance with five minutes left. Lundqvist, still competing at least, dived out to cover a bounce off the end wall with about two minutes left. He then made back-to-back saves on Gudas, who skated the puck in all the way to the net.
Third period shots were 17-12 Flyers (40-37 Rangers overall).
Philadelphia Flyers Blogger •NHL.com • 
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