PHILADELPHIA, Pa- Returning home after an unsuccessful road trip earlier this week, the battle between Broadway and Broad Street took place on Wells Fargo Center ice as the New York Rangers and Philadelphia Flyers faced off for the final meeting of the season.
Meeting the Rangers three times prior to Saturday’s series finale, Philadelphia dropped to New York in all three meetings.
Last facing off in the “Thanksgiving Showdown” home on home series on November 28th and 29th, Flyers fell 3-0 at the Wells Fargo Center and 5-2 at Madison Square Garden the following day. The Flyers last took a win over the Rangers in Game 6 in the first round of the 2014 Stanley Cup Playoffs in 5-2 win on home ice. New York went on and eliminated the orange and black in Game 7.
The rivalry between these two clubs continues to boil.
Image by Lewis Bleiman
With Rangers go to man, Henrik Lundqvist still out of the lineup with an upper-body injury, backup goaltender Cam Talbot took his stance in between the pipes. Across the ice in the home team’s net, Steve Mason stood, making his first start since having knee surgery early February.
Beginning where they left off, the first period immediately became fast and physical.
Rushing into the Rangers zone, Matt Read went to work. Sending the puck into Talbot, Sean Couturier took a chance off of Read’s rebound. With the puck skipping to the other side, Read found the puck on his stick, sneaking it past the goal line. Scoring his 6th of the season, Read had the Flyers on top.
Getting the Rangers on the board just 25 seconds later, J. T. Miller sent the puck to the back of the net for the 6th time this season.
The physical play continued with pushing and shoving along the boards.
Guilty of cross checking, Rangers Captain Ryan McDonagh found himself in the penalty box. Going on the power play for the first time in the game, the Flyers were not successful.
Having chances on both ends of the ice as the period came to the close, the game remained tied at 1 with shots even at 9 a piece.
Sent to the sin bin for hooking early in the second period, Flyers Captain Claude Giroux looked on. Struggling to capitalize, the Rangers did not succeed.
Image by Lewis Bleiman
Receiving medical attention after blocking a shot from Rick Nash, defenseman Nicklas Grossmann went down. Making his way to his feet, Grossmann was escorted off the ice and made his way down the Flyers tunnel. Grossmann did not return in the contest.
Skating into the Flyers zone, New York began the rush. Beat Mason with the top shelf shot, John Moore netted his first goal of the season, earning the lead for the Rangers.
As power play time expired for the orange and black, Braydon Coburn sent the puck into Talbot. Deflecting the shot in front of the net, Michael Raffl scored his 14th of the season.
Mishandling the puck in the neutral zone, Flyers gained control. Jakub Voracek began skating into the Rangers zone. Sending the puck high and wide, Voracek could not gain the lead for his club.
Image by Lewis Bleiman
With 2 second remaining in the period, Giroux took another time out in the sin bin for slashing.
As the horn sounded signaling the end of the second period, pushing and shoving took place center ice. Exiting the ice in their separate directions, the Flyers and Rangers were tied at 2.
Starting the final 20 minutes with 1:58 of man-advantage time remaining on the clock, the blue shirts hoped to gain the lead.
Gaining control of the Rangers power play, former Ranger Michael Del Zotto found the puck. Scoring his 6th goal of the season shorthanded, Del Zotto gave the Flyers 3-2 lead.
Image by Lewis Bleiman
Testing Mason late in the third period, the goaltender continued to please the fans of Wells Fargo Center as they rose on their feet after making impressive saves, keeping the Flyers in the lead.
With 3:01 left in the period, Carl Hagelin found himself guilty of high sticking, sending the Flyers to the man-advantage. The Flyers were unable to produce.
Sending Talbot to the Rangers bench, Rangers had an extra attacker on the ice. Scoring the insurance goal into the empty net, Wayne Simmonds sent the Flyers fans on their feet.
The Philadelphia Flyers took the 4-2 win over the New York Rangers.
“We did a good job cycling the puck,” Raffl recalled his second period goal. “Vinny got it Colby [Coburn], and I think he just fired it for a tip, and it happened to tip it in.”
Looking back on his 6th goal of the season, Matt Read said, “Couturier shot it, and there was a rebound, the puck kind of popped up in the air. I swung at it, and very luckily I hit it back in front of the net and swung at it again.” He continued, “I don’t know how it went in. I just saw it kind of rolling in behind him.”
After suffering from blood clots this summer and putting a hold on his NHL career this season, Kimmo Timonen was cleared to skate with the Flyers team just two weeks ago. Making his personal goal to play against the Rangers Saturday night, Timonen did not make an appearance. Spending eight years on the Flyers roster, Timonen was traded to the Chicago Blackhawks in exchange for 2015 second-round pick and 2016 conditional pick Friday night.
Image by Lewis Bleiman
“I want to thank the Flyers organization as well as the great Flyers fans for their support over the last 8 years,” the defenseman wrote on his Twitter account following the announcement of the trade. “It’s been a good ride.”
After announcing the trade, Flyers general manager Ron Hextall stated, “When you can get this type of a return and put Kimmo in a spot where he’s on one of the top teams, it works for both sides. If he wouldn’t have been amicable to being traded, we wouldn’t have traded him. He meant too much to this organization.” He continued, “This is a special player. The return is a fair return. It’s fair for Chicago, it’s fair for us.”
Timonen and the Chicago Blackhawks will make their way to the Wells Fargo Center on March 25th.
What’s next for the orange and black? With the trade deadline just two days away, the face of the Flyers team could look different when the Calgary Flames come to town Tuesday night.
Puck drop between the clubs is slated for 7 p.m.
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