Flyers Can’t Hold Off Rangers’ Comeback, Fall 5-4 on Saturday

NEW YORK – With Artemi Panarin and Vincent Trocheck beating Sam Ersson in the shootout, the Philadelphia Flyers (17-10-7) could not outlast the New York Rangers (18-15-4) enroute to a 5-4 loss on Saturday at Madison Square Garden.

20-year-old rookie winger Denver Barkey did not look out of place one bit in his NHL debut, contributing two primary assists on the Flyers’ first two goals.

Travis Sanheim, Owen Tippett, Trevor Zegras, and Rodrigo Abols scored for the Flyers. Artemi Panarin scored twice, followed by a Vincent Trocheck goal for the Rangers.

It was a pretty evenly matched first period, with the New York and Philadelphia each exchanging chances, but neither pulling ahead. That was until the final seconds of the first period.

Rodrigo Abols won the defensive zone draw, with Travis Sanheim receiving the puck. Sanheim’s clearing pass got picked off by Mika Zibanejad along the boards. Carl Grundtsrom had already blown the defensive zone, looking for a last-minute rush. That left Artemi Panarin all alone on the left side of the ice. He received the pass from Zibanejad (15), and Panarin banged home the game’s opening score with 36 seconds remaining.

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Busy second period

After an evenly matched first, things got chaotic in the second.

The middle frame started much like the first – an evenly matched bout.

That was until an interference call on Will Cullye. Cullye crushed Matvei Michkov, causing an all-hands-on-deck scrum behind the net. Cullye was the only player to earn a penalty on the play.

Before the power play expired, Travis Sanheim (3) found the back of the net, tying the game at one on the power play for his first power-play goal since January 31st, 2019. Denver Barkey (1) earned his first career NHL point with the primary assist on the goal, with Michkov (11) earning the secondary.

Just 23 seconds later, the Flyers scored an even-strength goal. Owen Tippett (10) ripped the shot from the middle of the offensive zone, with Barkey (2) again picking up the primary assist. Cam York (12) also picked up an assist on the goal that gave Philly the 2-1 lead.

The Flyers like to score in bunches, and that is what they did. Just over three minutes after the Tippett goal, Philadelphia was back on the power play after Barkey drew a slash from Panarin, and they scored off the draw. Noah Cates (10) won the draw, with Jamie Drysdale (13) receiving the puck and feeding it to Trevor Zegras (15) for the bomb.

Zegras extended his point streak to seven games and gave his team a 3-1 lead.

However, the two-goal lead would not last long. 2:05 later, Panarin (13) picked off the Tippett pass in the neutral zone, took it all the way himself, and scored a slapshot to bring the Rangers back within one.

If you thought the scoring was over, think again.

Nicolas Deslauriers got a two-minute minor for boarding and five minutes for fighting Brennan Othmann, the recipient of the boarding. The Flyers were on the penalty kill, but the power-kill struck for the first time this season.

Travis Sanheim (13) caught the Scott Morrow pass, who found Rodrigo Abols (2) streaking, and snuck the short-handed goal past Igor Shestirken, giving the Flyers the 4-2 lead into the second intermission.

Rangers come back in the third

Playing with the two-goal lead, the Flyers had some cushion in the third period.

That went away with just under 10 minutes off the clock in the final frame. Vincent Trocheck (6) stuck with a broken play and was able to sneak a puck past Sam Ersson with assists from J.T. Miller (12) and Gabe Perreault (2).

Still, the Flyers had a one-goal lead and just 10 minutes to play.

That was until Rasmus Ristolainen sent a puck over the glass and earned himself a delay of game penalty. In the final minutes of regulation, down a score and up a man in their home arena, you could feel the goal from a mile away.

Mika Zibanejad (12) scored the game-tying goal with feeds from Morrow (2) and Cullye (11).

For the 14th time this season, the Flyers went into overtime.

Philly had a great chance just eight seconds into overtime after Panarin got called for is second slash of the game.

However, the Flyers could not convert at 4-on-3, and the Rangers got a big momentum-building OT penalty kill.

Following, neither team had a real chance. Within the final minute of OT, the Flyers had a rare second power-play opportunity in overtime, but could not convert.

This game needed a shootout.

Panarin and Trocheck scored on the Rangers’ first two attempts, Zegras and Konecny could not beat Shesterkin, and the Rangers completed the comeback, beating the Flyers 5-4.

Notes from the Game

• Sam Ersson stopped 23 of 27 Rangers shots and allowed both Rangers’ shootout attempts.
• Philly led shots 32-27, and also squeaked by faceoffs 30-29.
• Philadelphia blocked 21 shots vs. the 4 of the Rangers
• The Flyers had 10 giveaways, the Rangers had 23.
• The Rangers had 7 takeaways vs. the Flyers 1.
• Denver Barkey and Travis Sanheim each had multi-point games.
• Sanheim scored first power-play goal since January 31st, 2019 @ Boston Bruins.
• The Flyers scored twice on the power play, the team’s first power play goal since December 3rd vs. the Buffalo Sabres, where they also scored twice.

Read More: Denver Barkey to Make NHL Debut with Flyers on Saturday

Whats next

The Flyers return to Xfinity Mobile Arena when they host the Vancouver Canucks on Monday at 7:30 p.m. EST.