The Philadelphia Flyers couldn’t muster up a second consecutive victory after being defeated by the New York Rangers, 6-3.
James van Riemsdyk opened the scoring early in the first period before the Rangers scored 3 unanswered goals. Scott Laughton scored a shorthanded goal at the end of the second period but Jimmy Vesey scored the eventual game winner midway through the third period. The Rangers also scored 2 empty netters – one of which came with the Flyers on a power play. Carter Hart made 29 saves on 33 shots, Morgan Frost scored the Flyers’ third goal, Jaroslav Halak made 29 saves on 32 shots, and a quartet of Rangers – Mika Zibanejad, Artemi Panarin, K’Andre Miller, and Barclay Goodrow – each scored 2 points and combined for 3 goals and 5 assists.
Quite a bit of moves took place before tonight’s game against the New York Rangers. The Flyers’ head coach, John Tortorella, announced that he scratched leading point-getter Kevin Hayes after he was benched in the third period of their previous game. The Flyers then announced that Lukas Sedlak’s contract was to be terminated after he left the club to return home to the Czech Republic, Cam Atkinson was placed on the IR even though he cleared for contact a few weeks ago, Kieffer Bellows was recalled from the Lehigh Valley Phantoms, Patrick Brown was to return to the lineup and take Hayes’ spot, and Tony DeAngelo was set to return to the lineup as well – after a 4 game absence – in place of Justin Braun. If that wasn’t enough, Zack MacEwen wasn’t spotted during warmups so the Flyers had no choice but to dress 7 defensemen as Braun made his way back.
The top line remained the same with James van Riemsdyk, Owen Tippett, and Morgan Frost. Noah Cates was placed in the middle of Joel Farabee and Travis Konecny, Scott Laughton was manning the third line with Kieffer Bellows and Olle Lycksell on his wings, and Patrick Brown and Nicolas Deslauriers represented two-thirds of the fourth line. The defence was going to be shifted around all game with the extra rearguard but to start the game DeAngelo returned back to the third pair with Nick Seeler. And of course, lost in the sauce was Carter Hart starting in his second consecutive game and coming off a 48 game performance.
FIRST PERIOD
The majestic trio of van Riemsdyk, Frost, and Tippett connected once again to get the game started. van Riemsdyk and Tippett played pitch and catch with spin-o-rama moves before the former tucked in home past Jaroslav Halak for his 5th goal of the season, 7:11 into the first period.
The Rangers had a chance on the previous play but the shot towards the goal missed wide and was shot so hard that it rimmed out of the zone to van Riemsdyk, who jettisoned into the offensive zone before finishing off the play.
With all the changes that the Flyers went through before the game, it didn’t seem like they missed a beat – at least to start the game – as the pace was end-to-end, offensively-minded, and a fun brand of hockey that we haven’t seen much of.
van Riemsdyk had another chance a few minutes later after being set up by an outlet pass from Frost. His scoring chance was gloved down by Halak however. And if you could believe it, the very next shift that they came on the ice turned into a scoring chance, this time for Owen Tippett that went just wide of the net.
With 3:02 remaining in the first period, Artemi Panarin tied the game up at 1 apiece. Coming out of their own zone, Panarin sent an outlet pass up to Mika Zibanejad in the middle of the ice, he passed it to Barclay Goodrow entering the zone, who then set a cross-seam pass to Panarin for the one-time finish for his 7th of the season.
Almost 2 minutes later, Adam Fox was called for a holding minor, giving the Flyers power play 1:14 before the intermission break to potentially take the lead. Unfortunately, they weren’t able to set up or fire a shot on goal but still entered the intermission with 46 seconds of power play time. The shots were 8 apiece, the score was 1 apiece, something the Flyers would gladly take.
SECOND PERIOD
The Rangers came out of the penalty kill with a scoring chance from Artemi Panarin who had the hot hand to start the game. His shot rang the crossbar as it travelled through a maze of bodies but fortunately bounced out. 4:26 into the second period, the Flyers got their second power play of the game after Ben Harpur sailed one over the glass for a delay of game minor.
The final 10 seconds of the power play and beyond was where the Flyers were at their best as Travis Sanheim was absolutely robbed on a one-time opportunity in the slot. Then Tippett and Farabee had a few whacks at a loose puck but the Rangers made a wall in front of their goaltender, blocking everything. With the pressure mounting, K’Andre Miller was whistled down for a cross-checking minor 23 seconds after the Harpur’s minor concluded.
Shortly after coming out of the penalty box, Miller jumped on a Sanheim bobble at the blue-line, went to the races, was then tripped up by defenseman, but he got up and finished the breakaway by tucking it past the skate of Hart.
The Rangers then doubled their lead after Panarin and Zibanejad sweetly set up Goodrow for a tuck-in finish after opening up Hart’s five-hole, 12:14 into the period and 3:05 after Miller initially took the lead.
With the Flyers losing their grip on the game, Sanheim was then called for a cross-checking minor after losing track of his man in Chris Kreider. The Ranger made a move on Hart as well and then tried to tuck his chance over the line but Hart looked to have padded it away before it fully crossed. It was reviewed before the power play began but it was as close as you could get.
After the Rangers came within inches of making it a 4-1 lead twice, Scott Laughton pounced on a Panarin turnover at the blue-line, went to the races, and tucked it in between the five-hole of Halak to cut the deficit in half with 1:50 remaining in the second period.
The Flyers killed the rest of the penalty and entered the intermission down by 1 after the Rangers scored 2 goals within 3 minutes midway through.
THIRD PERIOD
Jimmy Vesey scored his 3rd goal in his last 2 games to give the Rangers a 4-2 lead, 6:22 into the third period. The puck was dumped in and as Hart went behind the net to slow it down, he decided to wrap it around the boards. It was cut down by Vincent Trocheck who quickly passed it forward to Vesey who then finished off the play with a spin around glove-high.
1:31 later, Morgan Frost – yet again with the first line – ripped a snap shot through Jacob Trouba and past Jaroslav Halak’s glove for his 5th of the season to cut the deficit in half. Cam York passed it forward to Travis Sanheim coming out of their own zone, the latter made a move at the neutral zone before leaving it for Frost to walk in and snipe one past the Slovakian goaltender.
With 3:20 to go in regulation, the Flyers were awarded their 4th power play of the game thanks to a slashing minor courtesy of Trocheck. With just over 2 minutes remaining the Flyers pulled Carter Hart for the extra attacker but the Rangers quickly pounced on the puck and Jacob Trouba sent it the length of the ice into the empty net for a 5-3 lead and a very important shorthanded goal.
Tortorella pulled Hart again and Ryan Lindgren was awarded a goal as the referees believed Tony DeAngelo’s slash on Kaapo Kakko prevented a goal that would’ve gone in. The goal was the second empty-netter in a matter of minutes after the Flyers had a glorious opportunity to tie things up late. Unfortunately, the power play was bleak and the Rangers took the game 6-3.
UP NEXT
The Flyers host the Columbus Blue Jackets on Tuesday night in their final home game of 2022.
