PHILADELPHIA — The way things have been going for the Rangers this season — and for the struggling Philadelphia Flyers — it almost had to end exactly as it did, with the Rangers finding a way to win, and the Flyers finding a way to lose.
Closing out their marathon, five-game, 11-day road trip, the Rangers rallied from down a goal in the third period on goals by Filip Chytil and Chris Kreider Saturday night to beat the rival Flyers, 3-2, Saturday in the Wells Fargo Center.
The win allowed the Rangers (25-10-4) to close the road trip with two straight victories and a 3-2 record, while the Flyers remained winless in 2022, and winless in their last seven games (0-5-2). The win also put the Rangers back into first place in the Metropolitan Division.
Igor Shesterkin made 26 saves for the Rangers.
The Rangers were down, 2-1, after Flyers rookie defenseman Cam York’s first career goal at 10:11 of the third period. But Chytil’s goal, 37 seconds later tied it 2-2. Chytil, playing his second game as the right wing on the line with Artemi Panarin and Ryan Strome, drove the net and swept in a cross-crease feed from Panarin for his fourth goal of the season, and first in 11 games.
Then Kreider did what he does, which is get in front of the net, where he screened Flyers goalie Carter Hart and got his stick on a shot by Adam Fox and tipped it past Hart for his 24th goal of the season. The Rangers are off until Wednesday, when they return to Madison Square Garden to host the Toronto Maple Leafs.
The Rangers got a whole bunch of people back from the COVID-19 list Saturday night. Coach Gerard Gallant, assistant coach Mike Kelly and forwards Ryan Reaves and Julien Gauthier all exited COVID-19 protocol and were back in action Saturday, while assistant coach Gord Murphy went into protocol.
Defenseman Jacob Trouba admitted at the morning skate that it’s been a little "nerve-wracking’’ to see someone new go into protocol almost every day, but the slow trickle of players and coaches entering protocol — as well as the NHL’s reducing the isolation period for COVID-positive personnel from 10 days to five — have definitely worked in the Rangers’ favor. They’ve been able to plug in reinforcements from their AHL Hartford affiliate and stay afloat, going 2-2 in the first four games of the trip.
"Obviously, we would rather have no COVID at all, but if we could have one guy at a time, and continue to play games, and get games in, then I think that’s benefit to us,’’ Trouba said. "Especially if we have the guys that can step in and play good roles for us and give us good games, I think that’s key going down the stretch.’’
The Rangers jumped out to an early lead on a power play goal by Mika Zibanejad, a one-timer from the left circle off a pass from Adam Fox that made it 1-0 at 5:54 of the first period. It was their first power play goal on the five-game road trip, breaking an 0-for-12 drought.
But the Flyers equalized when Oskar Lindblom backhanded in a rebound at 11:45 of the period. It was the first non-shootout goal allowed by Shesterkin since Tampa Bay’s Corey Perry scored an extra-skater tying goal with 1:57 left in regulation on New Year’s Eve, a span of 138 minutes and 42 seconds.
