rangers flyers

AP Photo /Tom Mihalek

The Rangers and Flyers played one of the more entertaining old school kind of hockey games in recent memory. It started with Wayne Simmonds sucker punching Ryan McDonagh, causing McDonagh to leave the game. Simmonds was given a match penalty. There were hits/fights and a slew foot by Oscar Lindberg as well. Old school hockey at its finest, even if it wasn’t clean at all.

But it was the Rangers’ inability to stay out of the box that nearly cost them this game. The Rangers gave the Flyers four powerplays, including three in the second period. The Flyers capitalized on one, but it stopped the Rangers from really gaining any momentum throughout the game. It wasn’t until Keith Yandle ripped one from the high slot with 13 seconds remaining that there was any hope that the Rangers could win.

The overtime was entertaining with a lot of chances, but it was the Mats Zuccarello/Derek Stepan show in the shootout. Zucc deked Steve Mason out of his pads, and Stepan ripped one over his shoulder to seal the win. Henrik Lundqvist made two stops in the shootout, and 26 saves in regulation/OT.

As always, you can view the full videos on our video page here. All GIFs are on nyrgifs.comfiltered under the date of the game. On to the goals:

Flyers 1, Rangers 0

white goal

The Rangers took a ton of penalties in this game, and with Ryan McDonagh out, a foursome like this was expected. Dan Paille, Tanner Glass, Dan Girardi, and Marc Staal were all out on the ice for htis one. Shayne Gostisbehere faked a pass to the off-wing, and both Girardi and Paille bit. Glass bit too, but him biting only opened the lane. Paille/Girardi biting left two guys in front all alone. This was a gift. Gostisbehere got credit for this, but I thought it got deflected. Either way, you can’t leave two guys in front like this.

Rangers 1, Flyers 1

This was just a brilliant deflection by Chris Kreider, who was left wide open in front. Solid job by Girardi to get the puck to a spot that Kreider could deflect it.

Flyers 2, Rangers 1

white goal

A bit of miscommunication led to this goal, as Dan Boyle and Mats Zuccarello got crossed up. Boyle pointed Zucc to the trailer, but Zucc followed the puck. Boyle went to cover, but not in time. White was able to get the shot low blocker and beat Hank. Hank’s been beat a lot there lately.

Rangers 2, Flyers 2

The Flyers played a full blown low zone collapse with the Rangers net empty, and it burned them. They didn’t pressure the puck behind the net or to the outside. And then Keith Yandle simply one-timed it from the high slot for the goal.

Shots

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The first two periods were ugly for the Rangers, and the on-ice product showed it. The Flyers went full turtle in the third, and it cost them dearly.

Scoring Chances

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Much like the shot chart, the first two periods were ugly for the Rangers. When the Flyers turtled, the Rangers got a more chances and quality chances.

Individual Corsi

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Keith Yandle is really good at this hockey thing.

Shot Locations

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The front of the net was blocked up pretty nicely by the Flyers, but they gave up a bunch of shot attempts from the high slot. The Rangers were a bit porous in the slot early, hence the shots for the Flyers down low.

Shift Chart

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The shift chart, at least for defensemen, is all over the place with the McDoangh injury. Worth noting that Yandle got a boatload of time in the third period. He was easily the best Ranger on the ice, and it showed.

This was the kind of game that the Rangers didn’t necessarily deserve to win because of the penalties in the second period, but they got the two points anyway. That’s two in a row for the Rangers, and this was a big win without McDonagh or Rick Nash.

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