Goal Breakdown: Flyers at Rangers

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Tonight’s breakdown is courtesy of The Suit and Dave. All in all, the Rangers played a very strong game. They followed up their great win against Toronto with another good showing against a Philadelphia team that will likely be heading to the playoffs.  The game had its ups and downs, and the Rangers took way too many penalties, but their special teams came to play, killing off several third period penalties. It also helps that Ryan Callahan added a powerplay goal in the second.

On to the goals…

Flyers 0, Rangers 1

Great forechecks breed gret goals. The play starts with Boyle and ends with Boyle. Brian was working the puck deep in the Flyers endzone, using his big frame to protect the puck. Ferriero comes in along the half boards and provides great puck support. Benn passes the puck to MDZ at the point, who just rifles one through traffic and in. Boyle moved into the high slot and screened Bryz.

Flyers 0, Rangers 2

The Rangers finally got some player and puck movement on the power play and when you get those two elements, good things happen. The play starts with MDZ finding Nash on the zone entry. Nash takes it low in the zone, draws coverge and works the puck up to Girardi at the point. Girardi feeds MDZ with a lateral, who draws coverage and sends it back to Girardi. Dan finds Nash in the high slot and litterally draws the whole PK towards him. Nash passes the puck to MDZ, who dropped behind coverage and was stationed at the left post. MDZ one touches it to Cally for the put home. Just a terrific goal.

Dave’s got you from here…

Flyers 1, Rangers 2

Joe actually had a nice breakdown of this goal on TV, and there’s not much to add here. The Rangers, after taking a bad penalty, got caught out of position with three guys battling along the boards in the corner. Jeff Halpern was the lone Ranger not in the corner, but he too drifted way too far in the play. Once the puck was free, Halpern bit on the play behind the net, leaving all four Rangers either in the corner or below the goal line. Once Halpern bites, it means there are at least two open Flyers at the point. Kimmo Timonen makes a good call and moves to the top of the circle. All Wayne Simmonds had to do was put the puck on his tape. It also helps that Timonen had a perfect shot.

There were a lot of tense moments in the closing minutes, but Hank stood tall and preserved the 2-1 win. The win gives the Rangers their first back-t0-back victories of the year, and gets them back to .500.