Entering Thursday, the Flyers had earned just two points in the standings in the last eight games, all losses. It created quite the discourse over the last several days, as the team was reeling from embarrassing losses to Columbus and Montreal. If those two games, or any of the others on the losing streak for that matter, had gone anything like Thursday night against the New York Rangers, the discourse would have been a lot different.
The Flyers scored twice in the second period to open up a two-goal lead, then capped it off with a smothering third period in a 4-1 victory over the Rangers at Madison Square Garden.
The Flyers got on the board first at 4:21. Travis Konecny set up a trailing Cam York off the rush. York fired and scored his 10th goal of the season to make it 1-0.
The Rangers got the game tied late in the first on a 5-on-3. Artemi Panarin scored his 47th goal of the season from the left circle to even things up at one.
Through 20 minutes, shots were 12-9 Rangers.
The Flyers got the lead back at 3:29 of the second. Bobby Brink put a puck on net that hit the stick of K’Andre Miller and deflected past Jonathan Quick for Brink’s 11th goal of the season.
Late in the period, the Flyers added some insurance. Konecny stripped Mika Zibanejad of the puck in the defensive zone, starting a rush the other way. Konecny finished it off with his 32nd goal of the season, setting a new career high, to make it 3-1 with 46.2 seconds left in the second.
Through two periods, shots were 23-20 Rangers.
The Flyers got more insurance at the 5:56 mark of the third. Noah Cates scored on a two-on-one for his sixth goal of the season to make it 4-1.
From there, the Flyers shut things down, limiting the Rangers to just two shots in the third.
Sam Ersson finished with 24 saves on 25 shots in the win. Quick made 23 saves on 27 shots in the loss.
Konecny and Ryan Poehling each had two points in the win.
The Flyers return home on Saturday evening to take on the New Jersey Devils at 5 p.m.
Box Score
| 1 | 2 | 3 | T | |
| Flyers | 1 | 2 | 1 | 4 |
| Rangers | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
Scoring Summary
1st Period
- PHI Cam York (10) (Travis Konecny) 4:21
- NYR Artemi Panarin (47) PP (Adam Fox, Mika Zibanejad) 18:19
2nd Period
- PHI Bobby Brink (11) (Ryan Poehling) 3:29
- PHI Konecny (32) (Poehling) 19:13
3rd Period
- PHI Noah Cates (6) (Sean Couturier, Travis Sanheim) 5:56
Game Statistics
| Flyers | Rangers | |
| Shots | 27 | 25 |
| Power Play | 0/4 | 1/4 |
| Hits | 17 | 18 |
| Faceoff % | 42% | 58% |
| Giveaways | 1 | 6 |
| Takeaways | 6 | 5 |
| Blocked Shots | 19 | 8 |
| Penalty Minutes | 12 | 12 |
