Recap: Rangers Blow 2-0 Lead, Lose 3-2 to Flyers in Overtime

It’s been 21 days since the New York Rangers last played a hockey game. Hosting the Philadelphia Flyers for game 58 of the season, the Rangers returned from the Olympic break and received some notable reinforcements to their lineup. Both Igor Shesterkin and Adam Fox who have missed significant time with injury, made their return to the lineup along with veteran winger Conor Sheary. Here’s how the team lined up with a close to healthy roster save for Matt Rempe and Adam Edstrom who is still easing back into things: 

Prior to puck drop, the Rangers honored the five members of the organization that contributed to Team USA’s gold medal win in Milan. Vincent Trocheck, J.T. Miller, Chris Drury, Mike Sullivan and David Quinn. 

First Period

The Rangers got off to a great start with a pair of Grade-A chances. On the first shift, Mika Zibanejad fed Adam Fox across the slot on an odd-man rush but was robbed by Samuel Ersson. Two shifts later, Brendan Brisson came close to his first goal as a New York Ranger on a point blank chance that Ersson managed to keep from trailing in. That set the tone early as the Rangers were out-shooting the Flyers 7-2 through the first half of the opening period. 

Just four seconds away from the exact midway point of the period, Sam Carrick threw the puck on net on a weird angle from the boards that managed to sneak through Ersson’s legs. Just a complete mental lapse on Ersson’s part as Carrick picked up his fourth of the season to make it a 1-0 game.

Igor Shesterkin's first big challenge of the night came with about five minutes to go in the first as Jamie Drysdale had a point blank chance all alone in the slot. Shesterkin stood strong and came up with the save to help the Rangers hold onto the lead.

Within a minute later, Brennan Othmann took a nasty hit from Garnet Hathaway which resulted in Carrick going after him. The two dropped the gloves which sent them to the locker room early and gave the Rangers the first power play of the game. Hathaway was assessed a minor boarding penalty in addition to the fighting major. It was a bit of a lackluster man advantage as the Rangers are still trying to get used to a power play without Artemi Panarin in the picture. 

Shots at the end of the period were 9-5 in the Rangers favor as they led in shot attempts 16-8, 3-0 in high danger chances and won all but five of the 19 face-offs.

Second Period

It only took the Rangers a minute and a half to add to their lead in the second as a nice passing play from the second line began and ended with Alexis Lafrenière. After passing the puck off to Trocheck, he went straight to the net where Will Cuylle would set him up perfectly with a pretty no look pass, allowing Lafrenière to bury it, extending the lead 2-0.

This woke the Flyers up a bit as they peppered Shesterkin with a flurry of offense shortly after the Lafrenière goal. As Bobby Brink chipped at a rebound, Othmann delivered a cross-check to his back which gave the Flyers their first power play of the night. They Flyers continued to generate offense but luckily for the Rangers, Shesterkin continued to be fantastic as he had a couple of big saves to help them kill off the man advantage.

Closer to the midway mark of the game, the Rangers went back to the penalty kill as Sheary was called for high-sticking. The Rangers wouldn't come out of this one unscathed as a nice pass from Noah Cates found Matvei Michkov open at the doorstep to bring the Flyers within one, 2-1.

Some chaos ensued a few minutes later as Cuylle hit Christian Dvorak hard down low which upset some Flyers players. Trevor Zegras continued to go after him as the play went on and ended up talking an incredibly dumb penalty as he clipped Cuylle in the face with the stick to send the Rangers back to the power play. The Rangers didn't get anything done through the first minute and a half and ended up taking a stupid penalty of their own as Trocheck was called for a cross-checking.

No goals would come from either penalty as the teams returned to full strength and settled into the end of the second period. The Rangers held on to their 2-1 lead as they no trailed in the shots on goal count 15-14 in Philadelphia's favor. A chippy, eventful period as the Flyers were finding their game and skating toe-to-toe with the Rangers through forty minutes.

Third Period

This time it was the Flyers with a quick response in the new period as Zegras tied the game up just 39 seconds in. He picked up the puck at his own blue line, led an odd-man rush and absolutely sniped a shot over Shesterkin's blocker side, making it a 2-2 game.

With twelve and a half to go, the Rangers went back to the penalty kill as Lafrenière was called for slashing. No harm done as the Rangers held them without a shot on goal to kill off the advantage and return to even strength. The Rangers would be shorthanded again with five minutes to go as Vladislav Gavrikov was called for high-sticking but again, were successful in killing it off.

In the final minute of regulation, Michkov pulled off a flashy move to bring the puck to the net but ended up crashing into Shesterkin. The Rangers held onto the puck with the delayed penalty call but with 8.6 seconds to go, the Flyers got a hold of it. This one would require bonus hockey to reach a decision as the score was tied 2-2 after sixty minutes with shots also tied, 23 apiece.

Overtime

The Rangers began overtime with a 4-on-3 power play as a result of the Michkov goaltender interference. Despite the surplus of chances the Rangers had on the man advantage, Michkov came out of the box and snuck a shot through Shesterkin to decide the game as the Rangers picked up a point in a pretty disappointing overtime loss.

The Rangers are back at it this weekend as they'll host the Pittsburgh Penguins for a matinee matchup on Saturday.