Live Blog: Rangers at Flyers
Puck drops at 12:30 p.m. on NBC
Pregame
The starting lineup, courtesy of Jesse Spector:
Flyers: Sergei Bobrovsky, Braydon Coburn, Kimmo Timonen, Dan Carcillo, Mike Richards, Kris Versteeg
Rangers: Henrik Lundqvist, Dan Girardi, Marc Staal, Brandon Dubinsky, Artem Anisimov, Ryan Callahan
The Capitals won last night, subsequently taking over first place in Eastern Conference by one point.
The Hurricanes won last night, moving within one point of the 8th-place Rangers. The Canes play the 7th-place Sabres later today.
The Rangers haven’t won in Philadelphia since Dec. 19, 2009.
Flyers’ center Danny Briere is a late scratch, due to a lower-body soreness.
NBC has dubbed this game ‘serious business’.
First period
0:35 — Rangers controlling the play early on.
0:45 — Fight! Brandon Prust and Sean O’Donnell go at it in the Flyers corner after Prust delivers a clean hit. Because every hit now seems to lead to a fight. Lame.
1:39 — Nice rush by the Flyers. Shot blocked.
2:35 — Marian Gaborik comes back the other way, Bob gloves it. Gaborik’s starving for a goal.
3:40 — More shoving after the whistle.
4:00 — Wojek Wolski, no wonder the Coyotes got rid of you.
5:20 — Callahan nice drop pass to Anisimov. Shot, save.
5:51 — Flyers go the other way. Weak penalty on Callahan, who slid to block a shot and knocked over Timonen.
7:52 — Flyers can’t get much going. Tic-tac-toe play leads Coburn taking a shot, then breaking his stick. Power play over.
Would just like to point out how much I don’t like these early afternoon games.
11:36 — Rangers shooting high on Bob. They just have to get closer to him. And have traffic. The usual.
12:25 — Flyers get to work behind the net. JVR goes to the front of the net, Sean O’Donnell goes down low, takes a shot, JVR gets the rebound. Flyers 1, Rangers 0
16:46 — Lundqvist makes the save on Leino. Girardi with him the whole time. Not really the way the Rangers should be playing following the goal.
17:37 — Good plays up and down the length of the ice for both teams. Bob sets aside Stepan’s shot.
18:01 — More shoving after the whistle. Carcillo makes himself known to Lundqvist. I’m sure it wasn’t intentional. It never is.
18:20 — Matt Carle takes the hooking penalty on Ryan Callahan. Time to go to work, Rangers.
Ugh, I wish there was a way to not listen to this broadcast. I cringe a lot.
19:26 — Nice work on the power play. Love Bryan McCabe working the point. Coburn high sticks Marc Staal, who goes down from it awkwardly. 5 on 3. Let’s go.
Rangers working well outside but who’s going in front of the net?
19:59 — McCabe’s one timer goes in! Lots of traffic in front of the net. Going upstairs because the clock was at 0 but looks fine. Rangers now will go 5 on 4, which will carry over to the second. Rangers 1, Flyers 1.
First intermission
Shots are 12-11 Rangers.
Rangers still have 1:26 left on the power play. Plenty of time for another goal. Good to see the power play woke them up. Looked a little defeated after the Flyers scored.
McCabe’s goal officially came with 0.7 seconds left in the period. Whew. Rangers need to carry over this momentum.
Marc Staal led game with 9:12 on ice. Kimmo Timonen led the Flyers with 8:32.
Each team dished 15 hits. Giroux and JVR both had 3.
Giradi had 3 blocked shots.
Second period
Game back under way … but my feed didn’t show the first two minutes. Not OK.
4:10 — Rangers call a time out? Couldn’t make line change (icing), resting top guys.
5:52 — 2 on 1 Rangers, Christensen with the shot. Wolski with him. Nice work by Avery to make it happen. Bobs gets a piece of it.
6:49 — Nice read by Eminger to strip the puck away from … I didn’t catch who. The guy in orange.
7:28 — Long shot by Coburn, easy save. You’re not going to get those types of shots by Lundqvist that often. Or ever.
I’m getting distracted too easily. Somebody do something.
Staal’s nose broken? And he’s still out there?
11:18 — Oh geez. Rangers take the too many men on ice penalty. Rangers had no clue what was going on. Prospal taking one for the team and serving it.
12:08 — PK doing awesome work along the boards, able to chip it out.
13:05 — Boos raining down at Wells Fargo Center after Dubinsky’s shot goes high. Pretty sad looking power play.
13:30 — Rangers score! Fedotenko, at the right place at the right time. Girardi and Staal doing all the work near the net. Prospal got a shot off and Fedotenko pops in the rebound. Rangers 2, Flyers 1
13:54 — Goal-scorer Fedotenko takes a big hit and goes down. Boyle wants none of it and goes after Coburn. Two big men. Lots of holding each other and getting little punches in. Yikes. Boyle takes much of the abuse.
16:03 — McDonagh going off for hooking JVR as he goes to the net. Consequently JVR crashes into Lundqvist. Getting really pissed at everyone crashing into Lundqvist lately. This one didn’t look too bad though.
16:57 — Staal blocks a hard shot by Meszaros, shaken up but still has to be in it. Ahhh. Frantic pace.
Rangers bodies flying everywhere.
18:03 — Flyers’ power play over.
19:59 — Flyers get two final shots off quickly.
Second intermission
Flyers lead in shots, 25-22.
Staal taking a beating today, but has played 19:39, more than three more minutes than the Flyers’ leader, Matt Carle.
After starting off the period half asleep, the Rangers have woken up.
Third period
0:45 — Gaborik take an early penalty, high sticking Mike Richards.
2:58 — Gaborik comes out of the box and goes right to the puck. Gets a shot off. More boos.
3:22 — Going 4 on 4 with McCabe (roughing) and Carcillo (slashing)
4:06 — Lundqvist has to be quick when Coburn sneaks in for the shot.
4:32 — Unfortunate change as a hurt McDonagh going to the bench leads to an opening. Zherdev scores. Rangers 2, Flyers 2.
5:16 — Rangers going on the power play as Hartnell heads to the box for cross checking.
6:27 — Bobs with a nice save on Wolski.
7:16 — Flyers successfully kill off the penalty. Meh.
Play picking up, teams playing with more urgency.
18:73 — Lots of extra curricular activity in front of the Rangers’ net.
Flyers playing like they want to win this in regulation.
End of regulation: Rangers 2, Flyers 2. Rangers get at least one point out of this, which moves them two ahead of the Hurricanes, four ahead of the Maple Leafs and one ahead of the Sabres.
Overtime
Flyers with big shots on net, first Lundqvist gets a piece of it, second goes wide.
Wolski tried to get past two defenders. nice try.
Flyers can’t get the 2 on 1 going, pass goes off Flyers’ stick.
Flyers all over the Rangers.
Rangers trying to generate something late.
Overtime over. Both teams deserve this one point. Rangers are 8-3 in shootouts this season, Flyers 3-6.
Shootout
Zherdev up first, goes square on Lundqvist, save.
Christensen, the shootout specialist, brings Bobs down and roofs it. 1-0 Rangers
Giroux goes in, Lundqvist gets the poke check.
Wolski scores! Looks like it went off the post maybe? Either way, it’s good, 2-0 Rangers.
Rangers win, 3-2. I can breathe easy now.