Morin gets first NHL goal, Flyers end skid against Rangers

PHILADELPHIA --
Samuel Morin
scored his first NHL goal for the Philadelphia Flyers in a 2-1 win against the New York Rangers at Wells Fargo Center on Saturday.

"It's the best moment of my life, obviously," Morin said. "I don't score a lot of goals. Was a big moment, big [win] for us. A big moment for me. I'm going to enjoy it and reset for tomorrow."
Nolan Patrick scored for Philadelphia (16-13-4), which ended a four-game losing streak. Brian Elliott made 24 saves.
Mika Zibanejad scored for New York (15-14-4), which had its three-game winning streak end. Igor Shesterkin made 35 saves.
"That was a hungry and desperate team obviously," Zibanejad said. "They came out hot in the beginning. I thought they were throwing pucks on net, they were spreading us in our own zone. ... We didn't do a good enough job to get the pucks behind them and try to outwork them. They were good today, but we didn't really come up to our level."

Morin put the Flyers ahead 2-1 with 4:27 remaining in the third period. The Rangers turned over the puck in their end and Flyers forward Nicolas Aube-Kubel passed the puck back to Morin, whose shot from the point got past Shesterkin.
Selected by Philadelphia with the No. 11 pick of the 2013 NHL Draft, Morin was playing his 15th NHL game and second since being moved back to defenseman. The Flyers shifted the 25-year-old to left wing during training camp and he played four games there earlier this season.
Morin was limited to 28 games between the NHL and the American Hockey League in 2017-18 and 2019-20 because of a core muscle injury and twice tearing the ACL in his right knee.
"It's been a hard couple of years for me," Morin said. "I was just trying to take it day by day. ... I got a lot of support here with the Flyers, good teammates, good family. Worked hard, and now I'm there and I'm trying to stay in the lineup."
Elliott said, "It's pretty special. This guy's been through a lot within the organization, a lot of injuries and surgeries, and he's always come back with a smile on his face every day, ready to work, can't wait to get back on the ice with the guys. I think that's why everyone was so happy. When you work so hard and guys can see it and he brings energy every day no matter if he's in the lineup or not in the lineup, it's something special. It rubs off on the guys and we're just so happy for him."
Zibanejad scored on the power play to put the Rangers ahead 1-0 at 10:54 of the first period. It was his seventh goal in the past three games against the Flyers. He scored six points (three goals, three assists) in each of the previous two games against Philadelphia, including an 8-3 win by New York on Thursday.
The Flyers trailed 6-0 in the second period Thursday but kept the Rangers from building their lead Saturday.
"They were on us, on the [defensemen], pretty hard, taking away the walls," New York defenseman Jacob Trouba said. "Tough to really get a handle on the puck and make a good, quality breakout. So a lot of grinding breakouts and not a lot of tape-to-tape breakouts, which obviously we prefer to do."
Patrick redirected a shot by Shayne Gostisbehere on the power play to tie it 1-1 at 12:52 of the second period. It was his second goal in his past 26 games.

NOTES:Zibanejad, who played his 300th game with the Rangers, has scored 15 points (seven goals, eight assists) in six games against the Flyers this season. He scored 12 points (four goals, eight assists) in his other 27 games. ... New York forward Ryan Strome had an assist to extend his point streak to an NHL career-best eight games (two goals, 11 assists) ... Rangers defenseman Adam Fox had an assist to extend his point streak to six games (one goal, 11 assists). ... New York acting coach Kris Knoblauch said he was not sure if he would be coach at the Washington Capitals on Sunday. Knoblauch has coached the past six games (4-2-0) in place of David Quinn, who has been out because of NHL COVID-19 protocol.