The Flyers were in NYC to take on the Rangers at Madison Square Garden on Wednesday night. What started out as a goaltenders battle early on escalated into a barn burner of a goal-fest with the Flyers eventually coming out on top by the score of 8-5 after nine goals were scored in the final period.
Philly vs NYC
Aleksei Kolosov got his first start in quite some time and the New York Rangers wasted no time warming him up. Just one minute fifteen into the tilt Cam York made a last ditch desperation attempt to keep Mika Zibanejad from going in on alone on a breakaway. York was called for a slash and Zabanejad was awarded a penalty shot.
The Rangers center kept it simple and Kolosov held tight, staying square, and offering not much to shoot at. Zibanejad fired wide to the glove side. Perhaps he was waiting for Kolosov to commit to something , but he didn’t really give him anything to commit to. It was a bad shot and a wasted opportunity.
Veteran goaltender Johathan Quick was between the pipes for the Rangers. Early on Quick used his glove to rob Travis Konecny on a tic-tac-toe. Immediately after, down the opposite end of the ice, Kolosov returned the favor on a very similar play. Koli vs Cuylle, big pad save.
The Flyers looking to add to their transformative power-play numbers under interim head coach Brad Shaw ended up giving up a shorty 11:33 into the opening period. Vincent Trocheck broke in alone. Forehand, backhand, bar-down, not a chance.
The Rangers were spending too much time in the Flyers end of the ice and ended up outshooting the Orange and Black 12-5 after twenty minutes.
Tyson Foerster scored his 20th goal of the season 9:03 into the 2nd period after a prolonged possession in the New York zone. Noah Cates found Foerster at the top of the circle. Foerster fired the puck far-sjde past the glove of Jonathan Quick to tie the score at one.
There was a nice fast pace to this match as things settled in. Both teams were creating their fair share of chances, trading rushes perhaps a bit too easily. It was not a defensive battle in the middle period.
At 16:17 it was Nick Seeler’s turn to take a shot at keeping Zabanejad away from a clean break on Kolosov. This time the Flyer was called for a penalty and not another penalty shot. The short-handed Flyers took the lead 26 seconds into the Rangers man advantage. Garnet Hathaway drilled Trocheck into the boards in the neutral zone and came away with the puck. Hathaway got the puck to the net through traffic. Quick got a piece of it but not quite enough, 2-1 Flyers.
Artemi Panarin took a puck to the face and went up the tunnel for a pretty major repair to his mouth. He returned just in time to score his 300th NHL goal tying the game at two after two periods of play.
Goals Goals Goals
Owen Tippett rocked the mask right off the head of the Rangers goaltender with a laser wrist-shot from circle. Quick turned his face from the shot but never reacted with his hands. His ears were probably ringing pretty robustly but he did remain in the game.
Travis Sanheim reclaimed the lead for the Flyers 3:05 into the 3rd period. Sanheim passed the puck to Noah Cates at the side of the net. Quick got to the post to shut down the slam dunk but that left him out of position as Sanheim popped the rebound home. 3-2 Flyers.
Johnny Brodzinski tied the score at three 5:38 into the third. He fired a shot from an off angle that deflected off a Flyers stick and found a sliver of daylight over Kolosov’s shoulder.
J.T. Miller was left alone in the slot where he ripped a slapshot past Kolosov at 7:01. 4-3 Rangers.
Exactly one minute later Owen Tippett fired another rocket off of Jonathan Quick that hit Jakob Pelletier in the glove then the stick then the net. The score was tied yet again this time at four. At some point one of these two teams has got to figure out how to hold onto the lead.
11:55 Quick made the stop on a Matvei Michkov slapshot but again allowed the initial save to pull him way out of position. Flyers captain Sean Couturier was right there to send it home. 5-4 Flyers.
15:33 Tyson Foerster arrived at the faceoff dot already calling for the puck. Travis Sanheim obliged with the pass, Foerster one-timed it past the Rangers goaltender for his 2nd goal of the game. 6-4 Flyers.
18:10 With Jonathan Quick on the bench in exchange for the extra attacker Chris Kreider found himself with the puck all alone in the slot where he drilled a snapshot past the Flyers netminder. 6-5 Flyers.
19:05 With the Rangers once again within a goal and their goalie still on the bench Tyson Foerster ran into Adam Fox who had the puck at center ice. Foerster took the body, stole the puck, and fired it into the empty net to record his 1st NHL hattrick. Foerster had a strong night in every aspect of his game. 7-5 Flyers.
19:48 Owen Tippett sent a wrist shot from behind his own blue line that went into the empty Rangers net off of the crossbar. Tippett must have put fresh batteries in his stick tonight, he was launching some wicked stuff all night long. Final score 8-5 Flyers.
Extra Credit: The Flyers have scored 25 goals in their last 5 games. Eight Flyers had multiple point games tonight. Only six players did not make it onto the score sheet. John Tortorella always said if this team wants to win they are going to have to score by committee. Tonight they did exactly that.
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