Postgame RAV4: Flyers Rattled by Rangers

The Philadelphia Flyers lost to the New York Rangers, 6-2, at Xfinity Mobile Arena on Monday evening. New York took control right away and the Flyers were unable to battle back.  Philadelphia finished their season series against New York with a 1-2-1 record.

Noah Laba (7th goal of the season) gave New York a quick lead in the first period. By the end of the period, a Mika Zibanejad tally (26th) off an Alexis Lafreniere setup and a Lafreniere goal (PPG, 15th) from a Zibanejad feed opened a 3-0 cushion by intermission.

Early in the second period, Matvei Michkov (PPG, 16th) cut the deficit to 3-1. Gabriel Perrault (PPG 6th) got it back several minutes later to create a 4-1 edge. Late period goals by Zibanejad (PPG, 27th of the season and second of the game) and Tye Kartye (4th) opened a 6-1 edge.

Sean Couturier (7th) made it 6-2 in the latter stages of the third period.

Dan Vladar allowed six goals on 24 shots before he was pulled at the end of the second period. Samuel Ersson (3 saves on 3 shots) went the rest of the way in goal.

Igor Shesterkin earned the win in goal for New York. He stopped 31 of 33 shots from Philadelphia.

FIRST PERIOD SYNOPSIS

Sixty four seconds after the opening faceoff, the Rangers had a 1-0 lead. Noah Laba deposited the loose rebound of a Matthew Robertson point shot in the crease. Tye Kartyae drew the other assist. The Robertson shot went in and then out of Vladar's glove.

The Noah Cates line created pressure down low in the New York zone. Through four minutes, shots were 2-2.

In his first game back from injury, Travis Konecny narrowly missed a scoring chance near the right side of the net. At 8:13, Vladar fought off some traffic in front to prevent a point shot rebound. 

Serial Flyers killer Zibanejad made it 2-0 at 13:07. The goal scorer was open in the slot to take a pass out from Alexis Lafreniere and rifle a shot past Vladar. The second assist went to Vladislav Gavrikov.

At 14:27, Trevor Zegras took an offensive zone holding penalty. New York went to the game's first power play. Christian Dvorak had a shorthanded scoring chance broken up by Shesterkin.

Philly went to the power play at 16:37. Gavrikov went off for cross-checking along the defensive wall. The power play ended with an Alex Bump high-sticking minor at 18:01.

New York made it 2-0 at 19.23. Lefreniere scored from the high slot off a pass from Zibanejad. The other assist went to Vincent Trocheck, who rode Jamie Drysdale off the puck behind the net. 

Shots: Flyers 8 - Rangers 12
Faceoffs: Flyers 9 - Rangers 10

SECOND PERIOD SYNOPSIS

Owen Tippett turned on the jets for a self-created partial breakaway at 1:28. Shesterkin turned the puck aside.

At 3:03, the Flyers went to the power play after Adam Fox shot the puck over the glass from the defensive zone for a delay of game penalty.Hustling to a loose rebound in the paint, Michkov stashed it home to get the Flyers on the scoreboard. The assists went to Drysdale and Zegras at 3:54.

Through 6:10, second period shots were 7-2 Philly after a Flyers push following the Michkov goal. However, Konecny was called for an offensive zone holding penalty, putting New York on its third power play.

New York scored its second power play goal at 6:40 to lead 4-1. Perreault got cinched in the lower left slot to score. The assists went to Trocheck and Fox.

Shesterkin turned aside an Alex Bump shot from near the hash marks. As the game hit the midpoint, second period shots were 8-4 Flyers but New York maintained a three goal lead.

Vladar made back-to-back saves in a scramble near the net to keep the deficit at 4-1.

Cates went for a sweep check on 17:39 but accidentally tripped the New York forward. The Rangers went to their fourth power play and bagged their third power play goal of the night. At 18:40, Zibanejad cashed it in. The assists went to Perrault an Trocheck.

The lead swelled to 6-1 at 19:00 on a point shot from Gavrikov that Kartye tipped home. The second assists went to Laba.

Shots: Flyers 13 (21 overall) - Rangers 12 (24 overall)
Faceoffs: Flyers 12 (21 overall) - Rangers 8 (18 overall)

THIRD PERIOD SYNOPSIS

Ersson entered the game in relief to start the third period. The Flyers went to their third power play on a Braden Schneider hooking minor at 1:00. Philly did not generate any shots.

Through 6:03, shots were 1-0 New York.Three minutes later, the Sean Couturier line applied some forechecking pressure and generated a pair of shots.

At roughly the 12:00 mark, Shesterkin made two saves in a scramble in close.

Couturier knocked home a centering pass from Grebenkin for the Flyers' second goal at 15:28. The second assist went to Luke Glendening, who made the initial forechecking play in deep.

Shots: Flyers 12 (33 overall) - Rangers 3  (27 overall)

Faceoffs: Flyers 8 (29 overall) - Rangers 8 (26 overall)

Flyers Starting Lineup

Alex Bump — Christian Dvorak — Travis Konecny
Denver Barkey — Noah Cates — Matvei Michkov
Carl Grundstrom  — Trevor Zegras — Owen Tippett
Nikita Grebenkin — Sean Couturier — Luke Glendening

Travis Sanheim — Rasmus Ristolainen
Cam York — Jamie Drydale
Nick Seeler -- Noah Juulsen

Dan Vladar

[Samuel Ersson]

Postgame RAV4 (RAV4 Things Revisited)

1. Attack mentality

As has happened far too often this season, the Flyers dug an early hole for themselves. They spent too much time in their own zone and the hole got progressively deeper.

2. Solving Shesterkin

Heading into the game, the Flyers offensive missions are to create traffic for layered screens and deflections. Additionally, the Flyers aimed to minimize Shesterkin's involvement in wheeling the puck to teammates for quick breakouts.

That simply didn't happen in the first period. The Flyers did better in creating chances in the second period but struggled to finish. Meanwhile, the Rangers kept racking up the goals.

3. Young Flyers forwards

No one made much of a positive impact in this game: young and experienced players alike.

4. Special teams

Philadelphia went 1-for-3 on the power play. They were 1-for-4 on the penalty kill.