NEW YORK — The climb back into the playoff hunt has been a long one for the Rangers with plenty of teams in the Eastern Conference keeping them company in the Wild Card standings. On Thursday, the Blueshirts played one of them as the Flyers matched the Rangers with an identical point total at 50. Only one of the teams would earn two points and keep pace in the playoff hunt and a strong first period made certain that it would be the Rangers.
A 6-1 victory for the Rangers on Thursday pulls the Rangers to within one point of the two wild card spots, currently held by Tampa Bay and Columbus. New York has now pulled even with Ottawa and Montreal in the standings, all with 52 points. The only other team without a regulation loss among their last 10 games in the entire NHL are the Metropolitan Division leaders, the Washington Capitals.
“It’s nice,” said center Filip Chytil. “In the tough moments, we didn’t lose our heads. We know the team we have and didn’t forget how to play hockey in those couple of months. Sometimes we have stretches like that in a season and it’s about how a team responds.”
Down 1-0 early, the Rangers rallied to score the remaining four goals of the night. Braden Schneider’s third goal of the season deflected in to tie the game at one exactly nine minutes into the first period. Adam Edstrom gave the Rangers a lead they wouldn’t lose a minute and 24 seconds later with his fifth of the season.
K’Andre Miller and Chytil added to the scoring with goals in each of the next two periods to build a Rangers cushion. Adam Fox added an empty net goal while defending a 6-on-4 advantage late in the third while Reilly Smith would poke in a power play goal in the final two minutes of the game. Igor Shesterkin surrendered an early goal to the Flyers but would stop the other 35 shots he faced to earn the win in net.
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Schneider starts the scoring
Braden Schneider picked a good time for his first time this season to get a point in consecutive games. For the first time in more than a year, the defenseman has earned a point in back-to-back games. Schneider had an assist in a 5-0 win over Ottawa on Tuesday and followed that with his third goal of the season, tying the game at one in the first period.
“I thought we did a good job of keeping them in front of us,” Schneider said. “We did a good job of managing our game and getting pucks behind them and getting in on the forecheck. Once we got down there, I thought we had a lot of movement and we were able to create and take a lot of things to the net.”
It’s the first time Schneider has had a point in back-to-back games since assists against Washington and Seattle on Jan. 14 and 16 of last year. Not only did Schneider tally on the scoresheet, but all six defensemen had at least one point on Thursday, which pleased Laviolette.
“It seemed like everybody had some contributions in there tonight,” said Laviolette. “I thought all of the lines played well and the defense.”
Panarin reaches milestone
Artemi Panarin earned his 50th point and 30th assist of the season on Thursday, earning an assist on K’Andre Miller’s second period goal. It’s the 10th straight season that Panarin has registered at least 30 assists in a season, making him one of 19 active NHL to hold an active streak for a decade.
Panarin has a plus-minus during that span of +157, ranking him fifth among those players with 10 straight seasons of 30-plus assists. The four players ahead of him are a prestigious few: Sidney Crosby, Victor Hedman, Nathan MacKinnon and Connor McDavid.
Shesterkin’s shutout streak ends early
After consecutive shutouts in net, Igor Shesterkin needed less than three minutes without allowing a goal on Thursday to claim a new career best. It didn’t happen.
The Flyers broke out with a 3-on-1 advantage near center ice, resulting in an Owen Tippett goal, his 14th of the season. After 85 seconds of play, the Flyers were up a goal and Shesterkin’s shutout streak ended at 165:28.
“I don’t have to talk about him at all because he’s speaking with his performance on the ice,” Chytil said. “He’s unbelievable. We know that he’s great, but we know we have to help him and I think we have done a good job of doing that over the past month.”
It ends as the 18th-longest shutout streak in Rangers history, 62 seconds short of Shesterkin’s career-best, which he established from March 4 – March 14 last season.
“He made some really big saves in the second period and allowed us to build on that,” said Laviolette. “He’s been playing like that. He has been right on point and that has given us a chance.”
