The Philadelphia Flyers ended a 2-game losing streak with a 4-3 win over the New York Rangers Wednesday night at the Wells Fargo Center. Avenging their 3-2 shootout loss to the Rangers last Thursday.
With head coach Alain Vigneault looking for a response to their effort from Sunday, the Flyers responded & came out buzzing. Firing 8 of the first 10 shots on net & getting the games first goal 7:48 in.
Erik Gustafsson would get his 1st goal in a Flyers uniform. Gustafsson would fire one by Igor Shesterkin on a cross-ice pass from Shayne Gostisbehere. Beating Shesterkin high on the glove side.
But, just 1:40 later, the Rangers would tie the game.
After a Sean Couturier penalty, the Rangers would win the faceoff & get the puck to Mika Zibanejad on the far dot. Where Zibanejad’s shot would rebound right to the stick of Chris Kreider. Who tapped it by Brian Elliott. The goal came just 4-seconds into the Rangers power-play.
The Flyers would re-take the lead with a power-play goal of their own. Shayne Gostisbehere would get his first of the season. Beating Igor Shesterkin high to the back post after the puck came hot off the end boards.
James van Riemsdyk would give the Flyers a 3-1 lead early in the 2nd period. van Riemsdyk would tap home a perfect cross-ice pass by Joel Farabee on the power-play. The Flyers second power-play goal on the night.
Chris Kreider would get his second on the night on the power-play right before the halfway mark. Again a Mika Zibanejad shot would rebound right to Kreider. Who would tap it by Brian Elliott.
Then, after a back & forth stretch, with both goalies making multiple 10-bell saves, the Flyers would re-take a 2-goal lead.
Kevin Hayes would beat Igor Shesterkin high over the blocker. Claude Giroux threaded the needle to Hayes with a perfect cross-ice pass.
But, early in the 3rd period, the Rangers would make it a game.
Chris Kreider would get his third goal of the night 3:27 into the 3rd period. Like his previous two, Kreider would tap a rebound by Brian Elliott to get the Rangers with-in one.
The game would open up over the final 16:33 of play. But, Brian Elliott would stop the remaining 7-shots he faced to hold the lead & earn the win.
Brian Elliott stopped 24 of the 27 shots he faced in the winning effort.
Loose Pucks…
– Playing in his 330th straight game, Flyers Ivan Provorov set a new NHL record for most consecutive games played by a defenseman to start a career. Provorov broke Dan Girardi’s previous record of 329-straight-games.
– After missing the last two games due to covid, Claude Giroux returned to the lineup tonight. In his return, Giroux had 3-assists, 8-shots on goal, & was +2 in 20:45 TOI.
– The trend continues. When Kevin Hayes scores, the Flyers normally win. With another goal tonight, the Flyers have improved to 27-1-2 when Hayes scores.
– For the third time this season, the Flyers gave up a hat-trick. Chris Kreider scored all three Rangers goals tonight to get the hat-trick. Last season, the Flyers gave up one hat-trick in 69-games. Tonights hat-trick was their third in 16-games this season.
– On Tuesday, the Flyers placed Mark Friedman on waivers with the hope of getting him to the practice squad. Unfortunately, for the Flyers, Friedman was claimed by cross-state rival the Pittsburgh Penguins. Reuniting Friedman with GM Ron Hextall, who drafted him in Philadelphia.
Result : Flyers 4 – Rangers 3 , WIN
Record : 9 – 4 – 3
Next Game : 2/27 Buffalo Sabres, Buffalo NY, 1:00pm
Photo Credit : Tim Nwachukwu – Getty Images
