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Henrik Lundqvist, New York Rangers hang on against Philadelphia Flyers (Highlights)

During a Black Friday matinee, the new guy, Matt Puempel, and the New York Rangers took care of the Philadelphia Flyers on road ice.

  • New York Rangers 3 (15-6-1, 31 pts)
  • Philadelphia Flyers 2 (9-9-3, 21 pts)
  • NHL, Final, Box Score
  • Wells Fargo Center, Philadelphia, PA

Apparently, the kid was ready to make his mark with the New York Rangers.

Matt Puempel, fresh off of being claimed by Jeff Gorton, not only participated in his first game with his new club on Friday in Philadelphia, he tallied his first goal. It came in the first period on a beautiful backhanded pass by Jimmy Vesey, providing New York with an early 2-0 lead.

Just 1:34 prior, Derek Stepan put his club on the board first after his line — mainly J.T. Miller — came away with a nice forechecking shift.

In the second period, Nick Holden found a turnover and set up Kevin Hayes for this beauty of a deflection to give the Rangers the commanding 3-0 lead:

Early on, both teams were jacked up for this Black Friday matinee. The Flyers took exception to a Brandon Pirri hit (called as a boarding penalty) that resulted in a brouhaha that can actually be described as timid when New York and Philly are involved:

Chris Kreider was then challenged by Philly’s Brandon Manning a little later:

When the dust settled, however, it was Alain Vigneault‘s squad who successfully bounced back from the Wednesday night thrashing at the hands of Sidney Crosby and the Pittsburgh Penguins.

The true star of the day turned out to be the face of the franchise, Henrik Lundqvist. The future of hall of famer picked up the win while stopping 40-of-42 Philly shots. In fact, Philly outshot New York 42 to 23 for the game.

The two goal-scorers for the Flyers were Chris VandeVelde who used his skate to slide one past Hank and Shayne Gostisbehere who tallied one with goalie Steve Mason pulled late in the third.

Though trailing throughout the entire game, Philly made this one extremely interesting late. They put massive pressure on Lundqvist and the Rangers with Mason pulled, but simply couldn’t find the equalizer.

Now sitting pretty with 15 wins and 31 points, only one other NHL can claim as many wins (15) and more points (32) than the Rangers (Canadiens). Next up will be the Ottawa Senators at Madison Square Garden on Sunday night.

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Robby Sabo is a co-founder, CEO and credentialed New York Jets content creator for Jets X-Factor - Jet X, which includes Sabo's Sessions (in-depth film breakdowns) and Sabo with the Jets. Host: Underdog Jets Podcast with Wayne Chrebet and Sabo Radio. Member: Pro Football Writers of America. Coach: Port Jervis (NY) High School. Washed up strong safety and 400M runner. SEO: XL Media. Founder: Elite Sports NY - ESNY (Sold in 2020). SEO: XL Media. Email: robby.sabo[at]jetsxfactor.com