After a wildly inconsistent game Monday, the New York Rangers will look to bounce back Wednesday night when they host the Philadelphia Flyers to cap a two-game series between the longtime rivals.
The middle of the game went pretty well Monday for the Rangers. It’s just that the beginning and end were entirely different stories, as they scrambled back from an early deficit but then let the game get away.
From Philadelphia’s perspective, the Flyers squandered a two-goal first-period lead but rallied to overcame a pair of one-goal deficits to earn the wild 5-4 overtime victory.
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The win, coupled with the Boston Bruins’ 4-1 loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins, pulled the Flyers within one point of the Bruins in the race for the fourth and final playoff spot in the East Division.
“It was definitely a game that we had to find a way to win,” Flyers coach Alain Vigneault said.
Both teams have struggled to find consistency lately. The victory was just the second in six games for the Flyers, while the Rangers have won just one of their past five.
“We found a way to get it done,” Vigneault said. “Every win is not easy to get. It’s a tough league and we found a way to get two points.”
New York had taken the ice just a few hours after learning that right winger Pavel Buchnevich and defenseman Adam Fox were placed on the NHL COVID-19 protocol list, and then fell behind in the opening five minutes when Philadelphia’s James van Riemsdyk and Ivan Provorov scored just 78 seconds apart.
Yet, for most of the second and third period it appeared as if the Rangers were going to figure out a way to win.
The Rangers scored three goals — one apiece by Artemi Panarin, Colin Blackwell and Julien Gauthier — in a span of 7:04 in the second period to take the lead. After Joel Farabee scored for the Flyers with 1:24 left in the second, New York went ahead again briefly when Kevin Rooney scored at 2:56 of the third.
“Loved our resolve,” Rangers coach David Quinn said. “I thought we came out in the second period and really started doing the things we needed to do. I thought our pace was much better. I thought we were physical and certainly opportunistic and created a lot of chances for ourselves. We’ve got to build on that. Under tough circumstances, we got off to a slow start and I thought we responded.”
Still, Claude Giroux tallied a power-play goal to tie it up again for the Flyers, and then came Jakub Voracek’s unassisted goal 3:47 into overtime after he picked off a clearing pass.
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The Rangers may have to play again Wednesday without Buchnevich and Fox, who remained on the NHL COVID-19 protocol list early Tuesday, along with right winger Phillip Di Giuseppe, who was placed on the list Sunday.
Buchnevich shares the team lead in scoring with Panarin at 22 points while Fox leads New York with 24:32 of ice time per game.
–Field Level Media