Deja Vu for Flyers in Another Rout by Rangers

By Kevin Durso, Sports Talk Philly editor 

If last Wednesday's game wasn't enough, how about a near repeat performance eight days later, and a day after the GM addressed the media. 

The Flyers took the ice against the Rangers at Wells Fargo Center and should have had revenge on their minds. Instead, the Rangers scored three in the first and three early in the second to pile on. Carter Hart was chased from the game. Mika Zibanejad had another hat trick and six-point game. And the Flyers were shelled by the Rangers again, this time by a score of 8-3.

In the first couple of minutes, the Flyers appeared to be energized, delivering some physical play and creating some opportunity. Then the Rangers took advantage of a defensive breakdown and the rest of the period snowballed again.

The first goal for the Rangers caught the Flyers in a line change. Adam Fox entered the zone, drew two defenders, got a pass across the zone to Artemi Panarin, who centered for Ryan Strome at the front of the net to make it 1-0.

Just 52 seconds later, another breakdown led to a two-on-one where Chris Kreider fed Pavel Buchnevich for the goal to make it 2-0. 

Five minutes later, with the Rangers on the power play, Zibanejad picked up where he left off in the last game with a goal on a deflection to make it 3-0.

Through 20 minutes, shots were 8-7 Flyers.

The start of the second began with the Rangers back on the power play with carryover time from the first. It took 54 seconds for Zibanejad to light the lamp again on a one-timer. Just seconds later, another penalty put the Rangers back on the power play. Zibanejad struck again on another one-timer to make it 5-0 and complete another hat trick.

That also ended Hart's night. He allowed five goals on 11 shots. 

Just 32 seconds into Brian Elliott's night, a distance shot from K'Andre Miller found the net, making it 6-0. Yet another embarrassing rout was on.

Just over a minute after Miller's goal, Claude Giroux scored to break Igor Shesterkin's shutout bid. Kevin Hayes also scored on a power play at 13:34 of the period.

Through two periods, the Flyers were leading the Rangers in shots, 26-14, despite the lopsided four-goal margin.

The Flyers started the third period on the power play, but that couldn't prevent the Rangers from scoring again. Off a shorthanded rush, Fox was able to get the puck across to Buchnevich for a shorthanded goal, making it 7-2 just 33 seconds into the period.

Just under a minute later, Sean Couturier did score on the power play to bring it back to 7-3.

With two minutes to play, a loose puck behind Elliott was knocked home by Filip Chytil to cap the scoring.

Shesterkin finished with 41 saves on 44 shots. Elliott made 10 saves on 12 shots.

Zibanejad had six points for the second straight game against the Flyers. Fox had five assists. Strome had a goal and three assists. Hayes and Couturier each had a goal and an assist. Shayne Gostisbehere had two assists.

The two teams meet again on Saturday afternoon at 1 p.m.

Box Score

Scoring Summary

1st Period

• NYR Ryan Strome (11) (Artemi Panarin, Adam Fox) 8:01
• NYR Pavel Buchnevich (12) (Chris Kreider, Mika Zibanejad) 8:53
• NYR Zibanejad (8) PP (Fox, Strome) 13:36

2nd Period

• NYR Zibanejad (9) PP (Fox, Strome) 0:54
• NYR Zibanejad (10) PP (Strome, Fox) 2:06
• NYR K'Andre Miller (3) (Brendan Lemieux, Zibanejad) 2:42
• PHI Claude Giroux (8) (Kevin Hayes, Joel Farabee) 3:46
• PHI Hayes (10) PP (Sean Couturier, Shayne Gostisbehere) 13:34

3rd Period

• NYR Buchnevich (13) SH (Fox, Zibanejad) 0:33
• PHI Couturier (9) PP (Travis Konecny, Gostisbehere) 1:28
• NYR Filip Chytil (5) (Alexis Lafreniere, Jacob Trouba) 18:02

Game Statistics