Bantering Points: 1/5/17

The Rangers rebounded in a big way last night, defeating the Philadelphia Flyers 5-2. With another two points in the bag, New York will not be in action again until Saturday, when they'll be in Columbus to take on the Blue Jackets. Here are today's news and links

Rangers News:

• Highlights: NYR 5, PHI 2 (5:04 Video via NHL.com)
• Game Recap: Multi-goal efforts from Kevin Hayes and Michael Grabner powered New York to a road win in Philadelphia (CBS)
• Larry Brooks speculates about whether Brady Skjei is a suitable full-time partner for Ryan McDonagh (NY Post)
• Steve Zipay writes that Henrik Lundqvist was in vintage form during last night's game, and needed to be until the Rangers found their legs (Newsday)
• Justin Tasch relayed word from Ryan McDonagh before New York took the ice last night, saying that the team needed to put forth more complete efforts (NY Daily News)
• Jim Cerney wonders whether the team's effort against Buffalo was a blip on the radar, or something to be concerned about going forward (The Hockey Writers)
• Tom Urtz Jr. points out that Alain Vigneault has finally begun reducing Dan Girardi's minutes (Blueshirt Bulletin)
• Scott Charles offered his thoughts on last night's victory at the Wells Fargo Center (Blueshirt Bulletin)
• Kevin Baumer updates how the team has been performing at the halfway point of the season (Blue Seat Blogs)
• Brandon Cohen explains some fans should have a greater appreciation for Derek Stepan (Blue Line Station)
• Postgame Notes: New York improved to 7-0-0 on the second half of back-to-back games with last night's win (Official Team Site)
• Postgame Interviews: Alain Vigneault, (2:07) Henrik Lundqvist, (4:14) and Kevin Hayes (1:17)
• He played in 228 games for the Rangers before the lockout, and played for all three of the New York-Metropolitan area teams. Yesterday's player in the picture was.....Vladimir Malakhov (Wikipedia)/

Around the NHL:

• Sunaya Sapurji reports that with Canda's victory over Sweden in yesterday's World Junior Championship, Canada and USA are set to square off in the gold medal game (Puck Daddy)
• Rory Boylen examines some of the longest winning streaks in NHL history (Sportsnet)
• Jared Clinton reflects on former #1 Overall Pick Patrik Stefan's infamous empty net miss, as today is it's tenth anniversary (The Hockey News)
• Came Tucker states that although Gary Bettman isn't optimistic about NHL participation in the 2018 Olympics, Donald Fehr does not share the same feelings (NBC Sports)/

Do you know who the Ranger in the picture is?