Igor Shesterkin made 33 saves on 34 shots and Artemi Panarin added a goal and an assist as the New York Rangers downed the Philadelphia Flyers by a final score of 4-1 on Wednesday night at Madison Square Garden.
It’s the Flyers’ seventh-straight loss while the Rangers skated to their fourth-straight win in a classic case of two teams headed in completely opposite directions.
The action is below, though it’s not for the faint of heart.
Puck drop
So when things aren’t going well for a team there are good things that can happen and yet bad results still happen. Case and point being the Rangers’ first power play where the Flyers actually had a decent kill going but watched a Jacob Trouba blast undo all their previous work to result in a 1-0 deficit less than four minutes in.
Carter Hart was screened — by his own defenders — on that one as the Flyers’ night got an inauspicious start.
TROUBA with a 🚀from the point! #NYR
It’s a Powerplay Goal! pic.twitter.com/qZCLEnYLLQ
— Rangers on MSG (@RangersMSGN) December 2, 2021
Despite a solid amount of shots towards the Rangers net and Igor Shesterkin, the Flyers didn’t find the back of the net in a flurry following the Trouba opener.
Dryden Hunt would add to the lead with a slick play underneath the coverage of Ivan Provorov and a quick shot beating Hart to stretch the lead to 2-0 not before 10 minutes were elapsed.
Under the stick and through the legs 👌 pic.twitter.com/MU96P8ORLT
— Rangers on MSG (@RangersMSGN) December 2, 2021
Not an ideal first 20 minutes for the Flyers looking to end a six-game losing skid to say the least.
After 20: Rangers 2, Flyers 0
The second period didn’t get off to a great start as the Rangers would pad their lead with an early goal to make it 3-0.
Kreider with the finish…FALLING DOWN pic.twitter.com/3afz8QkWQV
— Rangers on MSG (@RangersMSGN) December 2, 2021
Chris Kreider’s 16th just 34 seconds in moved things from comeback mode to “don’t lose 8-0” mode.
A five-minute major for boarding on Hunt would give the Flyers a chance to get back to respectability, though that did involve the power play producing…well, anything.
A slew of saves from Shesterkin — seven in total — and some borrowed sticks later and the Flyers were turned away on all five minutes of their power play earned by Justin Braun’s bloody face.
When it’s not going your way, it’s really not going your way.
A glimmer of hope as Morgan Frost poked one home with a little over 10 minutes left in the second as the Flyers pulled within two at 3-1 and plenty of game left — and hopefully not on the power play.
Morgan Frost pokes home his first of the season to cap off a strong shift. pic.twitter.com/NSfKuSayaH
— Ryan Gilbert (@RGilbertSOP) December 2, 2021
After 40: Rangers 3, Flyers 1
The Flyers came out to start the third with an effort to get back into the game, but it didn’t seem to carry the desperation you’d expect from a team headed for potentially their seventh-straight loss.
It wasn’t that they weren’t trying to do anything, but it just wasn’t the tenaciousness and aggressiveness that you’d have figured to see. For example, just four shots on goal through the first 12 minutes of a period and down two goals.
That allowed the Rangers to ease back in as the period waned on and essentially silence the Flyers’ comeback bid in a slow and methodical fashion.
Helping keep the Flyers’ slim hopes alive was a stellar effort from Hart, denying couple grade A chances from the Rangers from odd-man rushes to one-timers. As has been the case much in the last dozen games, the man in the crease deserved a far better fate.
Carter 🥵 Hart 🥵 pic.twitter.com/BHKaPojOC1
— Ryan Gilbert (@RGilbertSOP) December 2, 2021
To add insult to injury Adam Fox would gift the Flyers one final chance to fail on the power play with four minutes left. After nothing was doing — shocker — Hart would vacate the net for the extra skater with two minutes left.
The only question was whether or not the Rangers’ netminder would try and score a goal really. Instead it was Artemi Panarin picking Claude Giroux’s pocked and sealing the deal with his sixth of the season to make it 4-1 New York.
Final: Rangers 4, Flyers 1
BSH Three stars:
1. Igor Shesterkin
2. Carter Hart
3. Artemi Panarin
