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Wrap: As ugly as it gets as Rangers brutalize Flyers, 9-0 |
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In a performance that was every bit as ugly as the final score, the Flyers got shredded, 9-0, at the hands of the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden on Wednesday. The Flyers trailed 2-0 after the first period and then were spectators in a seven-goal humiliation in the second period.
There was virtually nothing positive the Flyers could take from this game. They failed to compete for long stretches, were so bad defensively that goaltending was a complete non-factor in the outcome. No one played well on the Philadelphia side.
The toughest night belonged to the defense pairing of Travis Sanheim (minus-six in 32 shifts, 22:01 TOI) and Phil Myers (minus-six in 33 shifts, 21:41 TOI, two minor penalties in the first period). But they had plenty of company. The Flyers gave up at least one goal in every manpower situations, yielded multiple goals off off-man rushes, didn't even get a shot on goal out of a 3-on-0 of their own when there was still a chance to establish a semblance of order to the game and made horrific decisions with and without the puck.
Brendan Lemieux (2nd goal of the season) and Artemi Panarin (7th) staked New York to a 2-0 lead in the first period.
The Flyers were on the wrong end of a seven-goal savaging in the second period. Pavel Buchnevich tallied a pair of goals (9th and 10th) made it 4-0 early in the second period before Jacob Trouba (1st) further extended the lead ahead of a Mika Zibanejad shorthanded breakaway goal (4th). This was followed by a power play goal by Zibanejad (5th) and then an even strength Zibanejad goal (6th) on an odd-man rush to complete a natural hat trick. Yet another odd-man rush -- this one with no Flyers forwards arriving in the defensive zone at any point -- resulted in a Filip Chytil (4th) slam dunk as the score became 9-0. The third period was uneventful with the game out of hand.
Brian Elliott lasted 27:30, giving up five goals on 13 shots. Carter Hart went the rest of the way. He stopped 12 of 16 shots.
Alexandar Georgiev notched the shutout win for New York. His toughest saves were mainly in the first period. He denied all 24 shots he faced.
Apart from the changes in goal, both teams' starting lineups had different looks than on Monday. For the Flyers, forwards Andy Andreoff and Connor Bunnaman started while Oskar Lindblom and Nicolas Aube-Kubel were scratched. Defensemen Erik Gustafsson and Robert Hägg returned to the lineup while Shayne Gostisbehere and Nate Prosser were removed.
For New York, defenseman Adam Fox and forward Pavel Buchnevich exited COVID-19 protocol and returned to the lineup. The Rangers were without head coach David Quinn and his entire assistant coaching staff for COVID-19 protocol reasons. Former Flyers assistant coaches Kris Knoblauch and Gord Murphy, now the head coach and associate head coach on the American Hockey League's Hartford Wolf Pack, substituted behind the Rangers' bench along with Rangers' assistant GM Chris Drury.
The Flyers return to the ice on Thursday to play the New York Islanders.
Philadelphia Flyers Blogger •NHL.com • 
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