PHILADELPHIA — With seven rookies in their lineup, the Flyers came out with youthful energy on Wednesday night at the Wells Fargo Center, but that only carried them so far before the New York Rangers’ seasoned, skilled roster wore them down in a 4-0 loss.
Alexandar Georgiev made 28 saves to post the shutout for the Rangers.
Reenergized by the excitement of three call-ups, two season debuts and a home debut, the Flyers dominated the much more successful and experienced Rangers through the first 10 minutes. But the Rangers were the first to score when Kaapo Kakko capitalized on a Flyers defensive breakdown.
After getting on the board, the Rangers were able to even out the play for the rest of the first period. It stayed even through the second until Kakko beat Tanner Laczynski for prime position in the blue paint where he easily tapped the puck in for his second goal. The third Rangers goal was scored by yet another wide-open player, Artemi Panarin on a goal that looked much like those scored by the Washington Capitals against the Flyers the night before.
The Flyers stopped the bleeding in the third and earned a power play in the final minutes. They also pulled their goalie, but instead of giving them the advantage, they gave up an empty-net goal by Andrew Copp. Their response to the embarrassing 9-2 loss the night before was to get shut out by the Rangers.
New kids
Eight minutes into the game, Chris Kreider (50 goals) broke away for an open shot with just Felix Sandstrom in the way of the Flyers goal. Sandstrom (one NHL game) calmly faced Kreider down and made the save. He eventually let in three, but all were on defensive breakdowns in front of him. After facing 33 shots, his calm demeanor remained.
Laczynski helped the Flyers create offense in his season debut, but he also helped the Rangers on offense, directly contributing to the second New York goal. He didn’t have any shots in his nine minutes of ice time.
Egor Zamula, also in his season debut, had two shots on goal and played 22 minutes but also had a very obvious delay-of-game penalty that put the Rangers’ dangerous power play unit (25.9%) on the ice.
Bobby Brink, who made his home debut in his second NHL game, helped create some good power-play shot opportunities and demonstrated his ability to move the puck. He finished with one shot on goal.
Feeling feisty
Early in the game, prompted by two Rangers hits in a row, the Flyers started getting physical, with Joel Farabee and Kevin Hayes getting up in the visitors’ faces. While no penalties were called, a bunch of Flyers ended up in the box not long after.
First, Noah Cates was called for holding. Then Hayes was called for slashing. Down five-on-three, Scott Laughton and Travis Sanheim got upset with Kreider, and a scrum ensued. Laughton and Kreider went to the box, resulting in three Flyers in the penalty box at once.
It was the perfect time for the Flyers to fall apart. Impressively, they held off the Rangers power-play unit, which is second in the NHL, on the extended five-on-three. The falling apart came later.
Finishing touch
Sometimes, the Flyers’ high shot count hides the fact that they may have been shooting the puck but weren’t creating solid chances. Wednesday night, the shots on goal couldn’t demonstrate just how impressive many of the Flyers’ opportunities were.
The problem was, they just couldn’t finish them.
There were numerous passes to teammates open in front of the net that missed by inches, deflections amid scrums that were slightly off and breakaways that the Flyers couldn’t capitalize on. Hayes, Farabee, and Zack MacEwen were just a few of the players who got the crowd excited with no reward, but Travis Konecny had the most missed opportunities.
What’s next
The Flyers fly to Buffalo for the first of their home-and-home back-to-back with the Sabres on Saturday at 7 p.m.
