In a sloppy, yet exciting battle the Rangers fall short to the Flyers 4-3. In the grand scheme of things, it shouldn't really be that much of a surprise that the Rangers lost this game. The Rangers are quite literally missing half of their top 6 forwards and top 4 defensemen. You could counter with the fact that the Flyers are dealing with their own missing pieces and recent Covid-19 returnees and that's what would result in this game, a good, sloppy game.
From the first couple of minutes it looked as though Philadelphia was going to win 8-0. Igor Sheshterkin stood strong in the beginning as the Flyers reached double digits in scoring chances before we were even ten minutes into the game. There were moments when teams traded off chances but when Erik Gustafsson found the back of the net off a slap shot from the point, it wasn't looking good. Luckily, a couple minutes later the Rangers headed to the power play and Kreider found his first of three goals that night.
Special teams were the story of this game, the teams traded off two penalties a piece in the first and ended the game with 13 total penalties, the Rangers winning in that category. One thing I truly don't understand with the Rangers and have to question David Quinn on is the Too Many Men penalties. First of all, getting one in the dying seconds of a game where you are down by a goal and already have an extra attacker from pulling the goalie is the most New York Rangers thing to ever happen. Nevertheless, it seems as though we are averaging one of those penalties a game which adds significantly to the problem of taking penalties. Luckily for us, the Flyers were taking penalties as well and two of our goals came from the power play. Unluckily for us, the Flyers capitalized on two of theirs as well.
For what it's worth, the Rangers played alright with what they had but just fell short. There was plenty of time with the empty net to try and tie it up they just couldn't generate puck possession in the offensive zone and unfortunately because of how early Sheshterkin was pulled, their key guys were tired in the final shift. Despite allowing four goals, Igor stood on his head throughout the game and is starting to get a taste of what Henrik Lundqvist had to do throughout his time stealing wins for the Rangers. I have to say, Igor's ability to aggressively play the puck and clear the zone on his own is so beneficial. Not only is he going to score on an empty net one of these days but he's going to create so many breakaway chances for the Rangers top guys.
Unfortunately goal scoring is still a concern. Kreider was the only one who could find the back of the net, Mika was still getting grade A chances but couldn't finish. Blackwell and Strome had a couple of really good opportunities as well but at the end of the day the Rangers need more. Rangers fans certainly gasped for breath when Ryan Lindgren, who surprisingly had the least amount of ice time out of the six Rangers defensemen, went crashing into the boards off a hit from Carsen Twarynski. Fox and Lindgren have without a doubt been the Rangers most reliable D pair this season. However, without Trouba and Miller at the second pair, the blueline is hurting. Brendan Smith and Anthony Bitetto continue to impress but simply can't be relied on as a second pairing. Depending on when Miller becomes available again it might be worth looking into giving Tarmo Reunanen a shot.
Chris Feldman
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