In a characteristically uneven performance, the Philadelphia Flyers found a way to skate off with a 5-4 overtime road win against the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden on Monday evening. The Flyers led 2-0, trailed 3-2 and 4-3 and then pulled a victory from their hat in OT.
The Flyers were the significantly better team in the first period, especially at 5-on-5. The tide turned dramatically in the second period. In the third, the Flyers once again got the better of the overall play but suffered several potentially fatal breakdowns and were only scored upon once. In overtime, the Rangers dominated possession until a turnover cost them the game.
The Flyers took a 2-0 lead to the first intermission on a goal off the rush by James van Riemsdyk (13th) off a nice pass by Joel Farabee and an Ivan Provorov goal (4th) off a faceoff. Sean Couturier assisted on both goals.
In the second period, the Flyers yielded three straight even-strength goals to Artemi Panarin (6th), Colin Blackwell (6th) and Julien Gauthier (2nd). With 1:44 remaining in the period, a perfectly placed Joel Farabee power play goal (12th) re-tied the game at 3-3.
The third period saw Kevin Rooney (5th) restore a Ranger lead at 2:56 only for Giroux to score (6th) on a power play to make it a 4-4 game. In overtime, Jakub Voracek (4th) made the Rangers pay for an awful turnover as he took the puck away from Panarin after being caught flat-footed on a pass up the wall by goalie Keith Kinkaid, going in alone to win the game.
Carter Hart had a mediocre stat line for the night (20 saves on 24 shots) but came up with multiple very tough saves and was hung out to dry several other times. Kinkaid (25 saves on 30 saves) had a pedestrian performance for the Rangers.
The Flyers went 2-for-5 on the power play and 3-for-3 on the penalty kill.
For highlights and analysis from Monday's game, visit the Postgame 5 on the Flyers' official website.
The Flyers' win, combined with the Boston Bruins' regulation loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins, moved Philadelphia back within one point of Boston for fourth place in the East Division. The Flyers and Rangers will rematch at MSG on Wednesday while the Bruins rematch on Tuesday with the Penguins. Thereafter, Boston will play the Buffalo Sabres on Thursday and Saturday while the Flyers have two road games with the scorching hot New York Islanders.