The Rangers and Flyers played themselves to a snooze last night, with the first two periods taking much longer than they should have. With only two goals and four stoppages for penalties (two fights) through those periods, it was clear both teams were playing sloppily. Icings, offsides, everything. Just bad hockey.
On the bright side, Henrik Lundqvist looked solid all night. He was poised, not jumpy, and just positionally sound. He had a rough year last season, and I think he took it to heart. He also held the team together in OT during the penalty kill. If this is the Hank we get during the season, perhaps the Rangers finish higher on those point predictions.
Rangers 1, Flyers 0
Tony D makes a move at the blue line and Lias punches it home 🚨 @NYRangers | #NYR pic.twitter.com/5eCHIvzuSz
— Rangers on MSG (@RangersMSGN) September 27, 2019
This was some good puck movement by Tony DeAngelo at the point. Eventually he gets the puck on net, and it takes a bounce off Vlad Namestnikov, off Carter Hart, and then Lias Andersson batted it out of the air for the goal. Crash the net, and good things happen.
Rangers 1, Flyers 1
Pucks on net. Good things happen. pic.twitter.com/aeZynntnBQ
— Philadelphia Flyers (@NHLFlyers) September 27, 2019
Crashing the net works the other way too. Travis Konecny crashed in front, getting body position on Mika Zibanejad, and had the Kevin Hayes pass go off his skate, then off Zibanejad’s skate, and past Henrik Lundqvist.
Bonus: That Joel Farabee post
https://twitter.com/BlueSeatBlogs/status/1177364504692383744
This is exactly what you don’t want Marc Staal to do. This was terrible defending, and he turned a non-issue into a Grade A chance.
This was a really boring game with tons of stoppages. I’m sure you guys got that point from my hot takes post last night as soon as the game ended. Those hot takes posts are great when there’s only two goals to really look at in a game. Glad you guys like that, and hope you guys continue to find the goal breakdowns useful.
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