The New York Rangers couldn’t capitalize on a big night from Jesper Fast as they fell to the Philadelphia Flyers on the road.
- New York Rangers 3 (32-34-8, 72 points)
- Philadelphia Flyers 4 (38-25-12, 88 points)
- NYR Goals: Mika Zibanejad (26), Jesper Fast (12, 13)
- PHI Goals: Travis Konecny (21, 22), Jakub Voracek (19), Oskar Lindblom
- NHL. Final. Boxscore.
- Wells Fargo Center, Philadelphia, PA.
The New York Rangers and Philadelphia Flyers battled it out for the first time since the Flyers embarrassed the Rangers late February. The Flyers continued to embarrass the Blueshirts taking this one 4-3.
Rookies Alexandar Georgiev and Alex Lyon were in net as both teams are battling injury problems at the goaltending position. Georgiev was in net as Henrik Lundqvist was out of the lineup following a collision Tuesday night.
The Rangers came out the better team to start this one breaking up plenty of scoring chances along with getting chances of their own. Despite the good start, a turnover from Neal Pionk would result in the puck in the back of the Rangers net.
The Rangers would answer back though, and who else would it be other than Mika Zibanejad?
Zibanejad has been on fire lately as he has now scored six goals in his last four games. On the play, Jesper Fast and Pionk would pick up the assists. For Fast, he has now recorded a point in seven straight games, a career high. Pionk has now recorded 11 assists over the last 11 games. He continues to lead rookie defensemen in points since being recalled on Feb. 8.
Sometimes you forget that the Rangers are rebuilding, and other times it’s blatantly obvious. On the Flyers second goal, it was blatantly obvious.
Voracek scores a 4v4 goal, giving the Flyers a 2-1 lead pic.twitter.com/uDiFsU6Rd1
— Shayna (@hayyyshayyy) March 23, 2018
Ryan Sproul and Brady Skjei were completely undressed as Jakub Voracek went right through the two to get the shot past Georgiev and give the Flyers the 2-1 advantage.
Philadelphia kept coming at the young goaltender as they outshot the Blueshirts 25-23 and were just throwing things at the net.
Konecny with his second goal of the night, Giroux with his third assist pic.twitter.com/VJ1SlNO6az
— Shayna (@hayyyshayyy) March 23, 2018
But the Rangers would fight on and of course, it was the line of Fast, Zibanejad, and Chris Kreider to bring the Rangers within one entering the third.
Fast scores, assisted by Sproul and Kreider pic.twitter.com/mznQOLzoxM
— Shayna (@hayyyshayyy) March 23, 2018
Fast just threw the puck on net taking a chance on the young Flyer goaltender and it paid off as Fast would score his 12th goal of the season, a career high for him.
A common theme that the Rangers have shown us all year is that they allow goals early in periods. Against Philadelphia, that would be the nail in the coffin.
Update: the #NYR are still allowing early goals in periods pic.twitter.com/TRZY5HeMl0
— Shayna (@hayyyshayyy) March 23, 2018
But of course the Rangers would answer and it would be Fast yet again to bring the Rangers within one.
Fast from O'Gara and Gilmour, Flyers up 4-3 pic.twitter.com/l2qxacrhQM
— Shayna (@hayyyshayyy) March 23, 2018
That would be all the Rangers could manage against Lyon who would make 33 saves on the night to lead the Flyers to the 4-3 victory.
Prior to the game, the Rangers announced that they had signed defenseman Ryan Lindgren to an entry-level contract. The Blueshirts acquired Lindgren in the Rick Nash trade at the trade deadline.
The Rangers will regroup and prepare to face the Buffalo Sabres Saturday night at Madison Square Garden.
