The Rangers comeback was enough to force overtime, securing them one point in the standings but Martin Jones shut them down in the shootout to give the Flyers the win. Another kind of off night for the Rangers, primarily for Igor Shesterkin who is in a bit of a funk, probably for the first time in his NHL career. Potentially even the first slump of his entire career which makes him even more impressive. The star net-minder holds himself to a high standard which is why he is one of, if not the best at his position. However, night’s like this where it’s just not working, his team has to step up and steal a win for him like he does for his team on so many nights. Unfortunately, the Rangers weren’t able to do that at all this weekend.
Despite out-shooting the Flyers 32-16 through the first two periods, The Rangers could not get on the board. This is even more surprising when you consider the fact that the Rangers had three power play opportunities in those two periods against the team with the worst penalty kill stats in the league. It was just another one of those nights for the Blueshirts which became evident when Cam York, who is becoming one of those guys who seems to only score against the Rangers, let a slap shot go that beat Shesterkin about six minutes in. Less than a minute later, Owen Tippet got his first as a Flyer off a shot in the slot that Shesterkin likely would’ve wanted to have back.
It’s hard to really pinpoint what went wrong in this one aside from calling it one of those nights. While Shesterkin hasn’t been happy with his performance lately, you can’t blame him for the losses. The Rangers clearly shot the puck enough, they just couldn’t seem to beat Martin Jones and even when they did, posts or bouncing pucks got in the way of it. The reunion of the revamped kid line had a great game and overall it was a much better effort than Friday Night’s effort against the Islanders.
The struggles continued when Joel Farabee scored 44 seconds into the third period off a backhander. It seemed as if all hope was lost at this point but less than a minute later, Artemi Panarin scored on a tip-in to break the goose egg, getting the Blueshirts on the board. It wasn’t looking like much else was going to get generated for the Rangers as they went through a pretty length stretch of only having a couple shots on goal but in the games final minutes, they put their feet on the gas and found some goals. Mika Zibanejad scored on a nice shot to bring them within one and then twelve seconds later, Andrew Copp scored on a beautiful tip-in off a Panarin shot, tied hockey game.
A late penalty by Chris Kreider gave Philly the advantage in the final 33 seconds of regulation but the Rangers penalty killers took care of business and to overtime the teams went. Each side would have their fair share of chances but it would have to be decided in the shootout. Martin Jones once again blanked the Rangers and Kevin Hayes would sneak a shot past Shesterkin in the third round to secure the extra point for the Flyers. Artmei Panarin probably came closest to scoring but the puck rolled at the last second, awkwardly bouncing off the blade of his stick.
One point out of four over the weekend certainly isn’t ideal for the Rangers but it is what it is. They won’t have too much time to dwell on it all as they have one day to prepare for another outing with the Devils whom they also struggled against. This team has a habit of playing to their opponent which unfortunately seems to include playing down to their opponents. With twelve games remaining, they currently sit two full points ahead of the Penguins. A realistic goal should be to win at least eight of those twelve games which should hopefully keep them in that second place spot if not higher. With a pretty consistent schedule to finish out the regular season, the time to lock in and get ready for the playoffs is officially a go.
Chris Feldman
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