The Rangers extended their win streak to four with a hard-fought 1-0 overtime win over the Flyers on Tuesday. Chris Kreider netted the only goal of the contest to provide the margin of victory in a game that Igor Shesterkin made 19 saves to notch his first whitewash of the season. New York takes on Boston, who rallied from three goals down to defeat Pittsburgh in overtime last night, on Thursday at MSG
Game recap:
Lines:
Forwards: Kreider - Zibanejad - Kakko Panarin - Trocheck - Lafreniere Vesey - Goodrow - Gauthier Blais - Carpenter - Reaves
Defense: Lindgren - Fox Miller - Trouba Jones - Schneider
A few thoughts: 1) The offense - who basically did everything but score - was extremely good last night. I know most of you don’t love advanced metrics, but a look at the shots and especially attempts on goal, reflects the level of dominance. Carter Hart with 35 saves and four posts hit are the only reasons why the game went to overtime and only one tally was notched. The below is from the NY Post, Vince Mercogliano and the game stats.
The Rangers controlled play for most of the first two periods, outshooting the Flyers 23-11, including 14-4 in the second, and holding a 50-23 advantage in attempts. They hit the post on three of their 17 missed shots through 40 minutes. New York outshot Philadelphia 6-0 in overtime and finished with a 73-40 advantage in attempts, including the four shots that went off the post. They limited Philly to just 19 shots and the final tally for scoring chances landed at 45-13 in the Rangers' favor, with 23 of their own registering as high danger.
The Rangers' entire top line was buzzing. Kreider, Mika Zibanejad and Kaapo Kakko combined to create 15 scoring chances. Besides those three, Alexis Lafreniere was extremely evident last night, as he has been most of the season, continuing his strong play. His work on the second line has bolstered the Artemi Panarin and Vincent Trocheck duo. Love Julian Gauthier at the end of the second, dragging Travis Sanheim away with a throat hold. Gauthier went down to the minors and worked his way back to getting another chance, which is making the most of right now.
The defense overall was solid. Ryan Lindgren, before the two late stops by Shesterkin, had the save of the game, robbing a goal.
What a save by Lindy 😎
— Rangers Videos (@SNYRangers) November 1, 2022
(via @NYRangers) pic.twitter.com/vqyXPk00vo
2) Ping, ping, ping and ping. Below are the four posts hit in the contest as recounted in the paper. Kreider used the experience of the move he made when hitting post to go to the backhand later when he scored.
In the first period, Vincent Trocheck’s redirection of a slick Alexis Lafreniere feed went off the post. Mika Zibanejad then hit iron in the second. Later in the middle frame, Chris Kreider’s shot on a shorthanded breakaway slid along the goal line after clanging off the left post. Lafreniere had a glorious backhanded attempt behind Flyers goalie Carter Hart, who still hasn’t lost in regulation this season, early on in the third that was also foiled by the post.
3) Negatives - hard to find away. Jacob Trouba struggled a bit late in the game. Besides that, hard to find any. I saw people online complaining about the lack of offense and since we are Rangers fans, the prevailing view as the game wore on was that the team would find a way to lose. It’s the defeatist attitude that comes at times with rooting for this team and seeing the myriad of chances go awry. But that was not the case last night.
4) Shesterkin wasn’t overly tested, but he came to big when needed, especially late in regulation. He preserved the win and the shutout by making a windmill glove save on Kevin Hayes from the left face-off circle with 2:27 remaining in regulation. He also stopped Hayes 1:16 later when he reached back with his glove at the right post. Both stops were huge in general and especially at the moment.
Unreal.
— Rangers Videos (@SNYRangers) November 2, 2022
(via @RangersMSGN) pic.twitter.com/e8skPlpuRf
Elite goalies make the big save when needed. This is what separates the elite from the just average or just okay netminders. Igor is elite and we saw it again late last night.