In what was one of the most wild games in terms of a powerhouse offensive showing that just could not result in goals, the Rangers finally find a way to beat Carter Hart in overtime as they extend their win streak to three. The Rangers absolutely dominated the Philadelphia Flyers for the vast majority of the game but between brilliant goal-tending from Carter Hart and at least five shots going off the post, the game remained scoreless for all of regulation. For two goalies that had not lost a game in regulation up to this point, one of them ran the risk of putting that streak to bed. Before we get to the overtime excitement, let’s talk about how we got there.
The game got off to a bit of a slow start as it took a while for either team to really get going. As time went on, the Rangers came to life more and more but that wouldn’t really start until the second half of the period after the Kreider penalty. The Flyers got the first opportunity with a man advantage roughly eight and a half minutes into the game from a bad Rangers offensive zone penalty. You can debate whether this really even was a hold, Kreider’s hand never left his stick and he didn’t really go out of his way to keep Nick Seeler out of the play. Nevertheless, Kreider would go off for two and the Rangers would be short-handed. Throughout the night, special teams looked great and that’s including the penalty killers. Barclay Goodrow had a good rush with Vincent Trocheck that resulted in a scoring chance but as we know, nothing would come throughout regulation.
As the first period came to an end, the Rangers were playing the game as if they were on a never ending power play and that would continue into the second period. The Rangers would outshoot the Flyers 14-4 through the second, totaling their tally at 23-11 through two. This may not sound like a lot but when you factor in the amount of puck possession the Rangers had as well as all the posts and other almost chances, you realize just how dominant they were throughout the evening. The longer the period went on the more you were left in disbelief every time you heard that puck ring off the post. The Rangers would get their first of three power play opportunities about seven minutes into the second and with each man advantage they had, came an abundance of quality chances as their power play was certainly on point.
Carter Hart was no question the difference maker. If there was any other goalie in net for Philly this easily could have been another 9-1 kind of night for the Rangers with how strong their offense was. The end of the second period got a little rowdy as almost out of nowhere, a lengthy after the buzzer scrum ensued that would leave the Blueshirts shorthanded to start the third. As expected with Philly’s style of play, if you can’t beat them, beat them. It was clear by this point that the Flyers were totally being outplayed and they just don’t have the star power to compete with the Rangers. Their best bet at trying to beat them, would be to start getting chippy and try to get under their skin. Ryan Lindgren to no one’s surprise did a bulk of the heavy lifting in the scrum but to some surprise, Julien Gauthier was right there in the trenches. While defending his teammates, Gauthier literally had Travis Sanheim by the neck.
Given how the third ended, it seemed as though the third period had potential to get even rowdier but for the most part, the pace of the game set by the Rangers just continued. The Rangers got two more looks on the power play but Hart continued to stand up to the task. Not only was it seeming more and more likely that this game was destined for overtime, but the fear that one stupid mystic could easily cost the Rangers the game certainly started to set in from a fans perspective. Sure enough, there were a couple moments where that fear became urgent as the Flyers had a handful of chances towards the end. Thankfully, Igor Shesterkin came up huge and made the big saves when he needed to.
To overtime we went and finally, after several minutes of back and forth, Mika Zibanejad sent Chris Kreider on a breakaway where he pulled off a slick forehand to backhand move to beat Carter Hart, sending Philly off to Toronto with one point less than they wanted. A huge goal for Kreider who earlier in the game, hit the post on a breakaway. Nice to see him get another chance to make that one up, especially in such a high stakes moment.
While the Rangers certainly weren’t rewarded on the scoreboard as much as they would have liked to have been, there isn’t much more you could have asked for from them. You have to love the perseverance of this group. There was no frustration at any point, they just stuck to their game plan and continued to put on the pressure, throwing everything they had on net. Defensively, there were certainly some areas that could use fixing. Jacob Trouba for one didn’t have the best of games with a couple of pretty bad turnovers. One of which resulted in Shesterkin needing to come up with a big save. Aside from turnovers, there wasn’t much the Rangers didn’t best the Flyers in. Their face-off percentage was down, however with the amount of puck possession they had it wasn’t too much of a concern.
Shesterkin did his job and landed his first shutout of the season in the process, stopping all 19 shots from the Flyers. While he wasn’t particularly busy throughout the night, he stood tall and came up big when he had to. He will look to build off that performance as the Rangers will be back at it on home ice Thursday Night against the Boston Bruins. With the win against Philly, the Blueshirts are officially on a win streak as they will look to make it four with another rival matchup. They’ll be tested a little harder as Boston is off to a great start on the season but as long as they keep up with how they’ve been playing and tighten up defensively, there’s no reason they can’t keep the wins coming.
Chris Feldman
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