The Philadelphia Flyers took their six-game point streak to New York for a second game against the Rangers, the start of a back-to-back. Anthony Richard made a start, as Scott Laughton is still dealing with family matters. Their point streak would snap with a 6-1 loss. Traffic in front, defensive breakdowns, and too many allowed odd-man rushes came back to bite the team. The Flyers fall to 22-21-6 on the season.
Owen Tippett gave the Flyers a 1-0 lead at the 1:25 mark of the first period. He went on a 3 on 1 with Morgan Frost and Travis Konecny. Konecny sent over a cross-ice pass and the puck went off Tippett’s skate and past Rangers goaltender Igor Shesterkin. Konecny and Frost collected assists.
Ryan Lindgren was called for cross-checking at the 4:47 mark of the first period which gave the Flyers the first power play of the game. It was stopped 31 seconds short as Bobby Brink got called for interference at the 6:17 mark. Flyers goaltender Samuel Ersson had to make a huge save on Filip Chytil on the four-on-four. The Rangers had a great scoring chance on the power play but Mika Zibanejad missed a wide-open net.
Braden Schneider tied the game up at one at the 9:00 mark of the first period. He sent the puck in front of the net and it went off Egor Zamula’s stick and into the net. Arthur Kaliyev and Reilly Smith tallied assists.
The Rangers took a 2-1 lead at the 10:24 mark of the first period courtesy of Adam Edstrom. He deflected Lindgren’s wrist shot from the blue line over the glove of Ersson. Lindgren and Adam Fox were given assists.
K’Andre Miller gave the Rangers a 3-1 lead at the 4:44 mark of the second period. His wrist shot from the point beat the blocker of Ersson. Will Borgen and Artemi Panarin received assists. This was another goal where there was a lot of traffic in front.
The Flyers got their second power play at the 12:35 mark of the second period as Panarin got called for hooking. They didn’t record any shots on net, gave up shooting opportunities, and had trouble setting up in the zone at times.
Chytil gave the Rangers a 4-1 lead at the 5:15 mark of the third period. He deflected Urho Vaakanainen’s wrist shot from the blue line over the glove of Ersson. This is another goal for the Rangers off the deflection. Vaakanainen and Miller collected assists.
Panarin was called for interference at the 15:27 mark of the third period, which gave the Flyers their third power play. They pulled Ersson in favor of the extra attacker and it backfired. Konecny couldn’t control a pass from Tippett and turned the puck over to Fox. Fox then put a wrist shot into the empty net at the 16:53 mark. No assists were given.
The Rangers got their second power play at the 18:15 mark of the third period as Noah Cates got called for interference. Smith deflected Alexis Lafreniere’s shot from the blue line. The puck sat in the blue paint and Smith put a backhander into the net. Lafreniere and Chytil tallied assists.
The Flyers went 0 for 3 on the power play and only killed off one of two Rangers man-advantages.
Ersson struggled tonight but the defense didn’t help him out either. He saved 31 of 36 shots, giving him a .861 save percentage.
Goal Summary
1st Period:
Tippett (14) Assists: Konecny (34), Frost (14)
Schneider (3) Assists: Kaliyev (1), Smith (13)
Edstrom (5) Assists: Lindgren (10), Fox (37)
2nd Period:
Miller (3) Assists: Borgen (3), Panarin (30)
3rd Period:
Chytil (11) Assists: Vaakanainen (5), Miller (8)
Fox (3) (Empty Net) Assists: none
Smith (10) Assists: Lafreniere (16), Chytil (9)
Flyers Next Game
Flyers next game is Friday, Jan 24. in New York against the Islanders.
