PHILADELPHIA – The New York Rangers came to town riding an 11-1-1 streak, and left with another win, this time a 3-1 decision over the Flyers in a Friday matinee.
Mike Zibanejad broke out of his scoring doldrums with a double in the win.
“That was a really good [Metropolitan] division game,” Rangers coach Peter Laviolette said. “It was almost as advertised the way we thought Philly would play. They’re fast, they’re tenacious, they’re heavy in the battles, and I thought our guys came right out from the drop of the puck and had to play a certain way and we did. So, it was a really good win for us on the road.”
Igor Shesterkin made 36 saves for the win.
New York improved to 14-3-1.
Zibanejad scored with 45 seconds of game fresh ice used in the opening stanza, off a nifty feed from Blake Wheeler on the right wing boards for a 1-0 lead.
“I think all the wins that we’ve had, the season that we’ve had so far, has made the personal struggle of scoring a lot easier to handle,” Zibanejad said. “And it’s just nice to be able to contribute and help out in a win. That’s about it. As long as we win, I don’t really care.”
Chris Kreider hit for his 11th of the season at 1:53 of the first to give the Rangers a 2-0 advantage after 20 minutes.
The line of Wheeler, Kreider, and Zibanejad accounted fr all the scoring.
“They’re really starting to generate some chances and that’s nice to see,” Laviolette said. “There’s been lots of times where I think they’ve played good games and they’ve had lots of looks and they’ve hit posts and they could have scored goals, they could have generated and it just hasn’t happened for them. It’s nice to see the results go that way for them to build off of that.”
Kreider scored after losing the face-off at the right dot, but intercepted a pass going D-to-DÂ down low, leaving him with easy wrist shot for the unassisted goal.
“I think we just got away from our structure, got away from our game plan and what has made us successful,” the Flyers’ Cam Atkinson said.
The Flyers dropped to 10-9-1.
Zibanejad hit for his double at 7:41, of the middle frame, off an even niftier pass from Wheeler for a 3-0 lead.
“I was really fortunate for a lot of years to play with a couple of great right-handed centerman in Bryan Little and Mark Scheifele and Mika is a guy that feels a lot like ‘Scheif.'” Wheeler said. “His ability to create space, his ability to lug the puck up the middle, he plays really fast, and if you get him the puck in the right areas he’s going to score. For me, it feels like a guy who’s kind of a perfect fit because I’m kind of always looking to make that next play and when you get him the puck, he’s going to put it in the net.”
Sean Couturier ruined Shesterkin’s shutout bid with a goal at at 17:39 of the second for the 3-1 final.
The Flyers were scoreless in six power play chances; the Rangers failed to score on their two chances.
“They’re a pretty good penalty kill,” the Flyers Travis Sanheim said. “We had a few looks. I think we have to be more straightforward generating shots at the net. Just start outworking penalty kills like we were before.”
Carter Hart made 16 saves in the loss.
 
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