After a strong first period and a late second period goal to gain some momentum back, the Philadelphia Flyers could not hold off the New York Rangers in the opening matchup of their Rookie Series.
The Rangers took Game 1 4-2 behind goals from Karl Henriksson, Dylan Roobroeck, Ryder Korczak, and Matthew Robertson. The Flyers received goals from camp invite Matt Brown and 2023 4th-round draft pick Alex Čiernik.
Nolan Maier stopped 22 shots for the Flyers, while Dylan Garand made 32 saves for New York in the road victory.
FIRST PERIOD
Both teams came out of the gate firing and eager to play in this one. There were plenty of shots flying and some chippiness as well, which can always be expected between the Flyers and Rangers.
Brendan Furry picked up the game’s first penalty just 3:30 into first period for hooking, sending the Rangers on the power play. The Flyers did a good job of keeping New York mainly to the outside, but goaltender Nolan Maier was strong when he had to be and kept the Rangers off the scoreboard.
The Rangers would get another power play with 9:03 remaining as Zayde Wisdom was called for high-sticking, but once again Meier and the Flyers staved off another Rangers man advantage.
Wisdom and Matt Rempe would end up dropping the gloves not long afterwards after Wisdom took exception to a hit that the big Ranger forward laid on him.
Matt Brown was able to break the ice and give the Flyers the first goal of the game on the power play with exactly one minute to spare in the opening frame.
1-0 in favor of the Flyers is how the first twenty minutes would wrap up, with Philadelphia leading in shots 13-12.
SECOND PERIOD
The Rangers came out for the second period with more energy and were throwing everything at Maier, and eventually a hard Karl Henriksson pass attempt was deflected up in the air and over the goaltender to even the game at one goal apiece.
With 12:43 remaining in the middle frame, Matthew Robertson seemed to impede Zayde Wisdom’s progress to the net and Wisdom tumbled into Dylan Garand, which set off a get-together at the end boards behind the net.
Robertson was called for interference and the Flyers earned another power play. Unfortunately, the Rangers held them off and killed off Robertson’s penalty.
With 4:54 remaining, New York took their first lead of the game as Dylan Roobroeck fired a shot from the slot to make it 2-1 Rangers.
The Flyers had a brief power play opportunity with 4:04 left in the period, but a Tyson Foerster high-stick negated that just eight seconds later to make it 4-on-4.
Fortunately, Philadelphia was finally able to capitalize late and Jacob Gaucher found Alex Čiernik with 30.8 seconds remaining in the period to even the score at 2-2, which is how things would stand after forty minutes of play.
THIRD PERIOD
It was a very even and bitter first half of the final period, as both teams had their chances but their respective goaltenders made key saves and no one could find a way to score.
But with 10:04 remaining, Brett Berard and Ryder Korczak caught the Flyers napping in the defensive zone, and Korczak capitalized on a wide-open opportunity in the low slot and fired a dart by the glove of Nolan Maier to give the Rangers back the lead by a score of 3-2.
The Flyers tried their best to apply pressure on offense and even pulled Maier for the extra attacker inside 2 minutes to go in the third, but Matthew Robertson fired a shot at the empty net that bounced off the glove of Bobby Brink and in to make it 4-2 New York.
4-2 in favor of the Rangers is how Game 1 of the Rookie Series would end up despite a late push by Philadelphia.
3 STARS OF THE GAME: 1) Ryder Korczak (NYR), 2) Matt Brown (PHI), 3) Alex Čiernik (PHI)
UP NEXT
The Flyers and Rangers face off again tomorrow at 5:05pm ET for Game 2 at PPL Center. 2023 second-round pick Carson Bjarnason will start in goal for Philadelphia and will play the entire game. Tomorrow’s game will be streamed on NBC Sports Philadelphia+.
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