Rangers lose Kreider, ground in playoff race, as Flyers roll

The Rangers were bound to lose at some point, and the only hope was that any loss wouldn’t be too damaging. Unfortunately the Rangers not only lost to the Flyers 5-2, but they lost Chris Kreider to a fractured foot. Luckily for the Rangers, both Columbus and Carolina lost as well, but any points not earned are points lost in the playoff race for the Rangers, as they have a few teams to leapfrog.

The Rangers were outplayed by Alain Vigneault’s Flyers all night long. This shouldn’t be a surprise – the Flyers were surging, the Rangers were playing the second of a back-to-back, and Carter Hart was also having himself a night. It’s not about the loss, it’s about how they respond on Sunday.

Rangers 1, Flyers 0 – Panarin can pass

This is a beautiful pass by Artemi Panarin to spring Jesper Fast. Knowing he had to shoot and couldn’t dip the shoulder and drive, Fast took the initial shot to force the rebound, then smartly followed that up. He’s a very smart hockey player.

Flyers 1, Rangers 1 – Broken stick confusion

Brendan Smith broke his stick on this, which caused confusion as he reached for Phil Di Giuseppe’s stick because he couldn’t cover Sean Couturier in front. Mika Zibanejad couldn’t get there in time, and Jacob Trouba followed the puck behind the net instead of sticking Couturier. My guess is that if they could do this again, Trouba and Smith switch coverage, but this game is bang-bang sometimes.

Flyers 2, Rangers 1 – Have to cover the back door

Tony DeAngelo got burned by something he usually does on offense – he didn’t cover the back door for the rebound. DeAngelo excels at getting pucks on net low and hard to force rebounds, which is what Aube-Kubel did here, and James van Riemsdyk buried the rebound.

Flyers 3, Rangers 1 – Defensive zone turnovers and goals

DeAngelo had a rough period. That’s a blatant turnover and two passes later it’s in the net.

Flyers 4, Rangers 1 – Back door deflections

Two straight Royal Road passes and Claude Giroux has his second of the night. The Rangers looked sluggish and lost Giroux on the ice. I’m not quite sure why both defensemen were so far in front of the crease, nor do I know if that’s by design.

Flyers 5, Rangers 1 – Jack-in-the-box odd man rush

Just as the Rangers’ powerplay expired, the Flyers sprung a 2-on-1. DeAngelo commits early, seeing Zibanejad back, and breaks up the initial rush, but Jakub Voracek, fresh out of the box, gets the loose puck with tons of room while Kevin Hayes gets himself open for the Royal Road pass/goal.

Flyers 5, Rangers 2 – The Rangers finally get one

This was a good shift by this line on the 4-on-4. They pressured the Flyers, forced turnovers, and eventually Brett Howden banged home a rebound. Turnovers force chaos No gif on this one – guessing everyone was already frustrated.

Shot Heatmap – Flyers dominate

This is about what you should have expected from this game. It matches the eye test – the Flyers controlled the whole game, both quality and quantity. It’s s clunker, it happens.

Skater Results – More of what you expected this game

Again – about what you should have expected from this game. The DeAngelo-Staal pair was targeted by the Flyers early and often, and they had an awful night.

It’s best to forget this one and move on. The story will be about how the Rangers respond on Sunday afternoon. Losing Kreider is going to hurt them big time, though.