PHILADELPHIA – Despite recent records the Flyers and New York Rangers did not disappoint the Philadelphia crowd Saturday afternoon though the outcome was not what the locals had hoped. The Rangers found a way to edge the Flyers, 3-2, in the skills competition.
Mats Zuccarello scored the game-winner on a nifty set of dekes that had Steve Mason going the wrong direction in the Flyers net.
Goalie Henrik Lundqvist (#30), Center Luke Adam (#17) – photo by Lewis Bleiman
“I think we just kept battling all game,” defenseman Dan Girardi said. “Just stuck with it. They tied it up but we didn’t let that get us down. Kept plugging away, got the two points.”
Henrik Lundqvist made 34 saves through 65 minutes of play and then stoned all three Flyers shooters in the shootout; it was his 20th win of the season and the 11th time he has made the accomplishment in his career.
“I take a lot of pride in my numbers,” Lundqvist said. “You work hard and I want to make the most of it with my career. Try to work hard and try to help this team to win games.”
Brayden Schenn and Wayne Simmonds scored for the Flyers; the latter was a power play goal that sent the game to overtime.
“It was a hard game,” Rangers coach Alain Vigneault said. “They’re a real good team; they’re playing with a lot of confidence right now. I think we got the timely saves we needed. There’s no doubt that they tied it up on a real strong power-play move. [Lundqvist] was able to shut them down in the shootout and [Zuccarello] got us one.”
Chris Kreider and J.T. Miller scored for the Rangers in regulation.
“He (Kreider) played a good game,” Vigneault said. “He scored obviously a big goal there, a nice play by [Derek] Stepan and Nash. He’s definitely using his speed and his size. He needs to continue. He needs to bring that every game.”
Defenseman Kevin Klein (#8), Right Wing Wayne Simmonds (#17) – photo by Lewis Bleiman
There was a sense of some frustration for the Flyers that they should have had the two points.
“I think we were pretty consistent with the way that we wanted to play,” captain Claude Giroux said. “Like any other game we’re going to have mistakes here and there. But I think we did a good job of playing the way we wanted to play.
“To know that we were pretty close to getting two points, it’s actually really frustrating,” Giroux said. “We thought that we deserved to win this game. But we can’t get frustrated about this. We need to move on and keep playing the way we’re playing. If we keep playing the way we’re playing right now we’re going to win a lot of games and put ourselves in good position every game to be able to get the two points.”
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