Philadelphia Flyers right wing Wayne Simmonds (17) celebrates with defenseman Michael Del Zotto (15) and defenseman Luke Schenn (22) after scoring a goal against the New York Rangers during the second period of an NHL hockey game, Saturday, Nov. 28, 2015, in New York.
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Wayne Simmonds ended it with an empty-net goal with 49.3 seconds remaining.
“I thought he had a step right off the bat”, Read said of Simmonds. Unable to get the puck past the offensive blue line and unable to sustain any pressure made for a hard game for the Rangers, who have hit a bump on the road as of late. They will be back in action at Madison Square Garden against the Staal brothers of the Carolina Hurricanes Monday night. Schultz needed time to regain his skates and did not return after suffering an upper-body injury. The Rangers fell to 0-1-1 this season against the Flyers, who entered the game with just 42 goals in 23 games to the Rangers’ 70 goals in the same amount of matches.
The Flyers survived two first-period penalties that, for a time, left them with just three defensemen on the blueline.
“That’s a tough situation, especially in a back-to-back game”, said Flyers coach Dave Hakstol, whose team beat Nashville on Friday. “Guys have battled hard for each other”.
They also lost alternate captain Derek Stepan in that game for an “indefinite” amount of time, having two ribs broken as the result of an unpenalized late hit from the Bruins’ Matt Beleskey.
Remember when the Rangers couldn’t lose, no matter how they played? It’s the first time in his career that Mason has collected a shutout against the Rangers.
Schultz’s defense partner Luke Schenn confronted the hulking McIlrath and was beaten soundly in the fight while receiving a two-minute instigator minor, a five-minute fighting major and a 10-minute misconduct.
“I sat in the box there for what seemed like half a game”, Schenn said.
With all the drama that has surrounded the Rangers in the past few days, they managed to play a spirited first period – even if it finished in a scoreless tie.
At 12:24 of the second period, Simmonds outworked a defender in the neutral zone, took a ideal feed from Read and went in on a breakaway, burying a forehand wrister over Raanta to give Philly a 1-0 lead. “I think we’ve been working on that….”
At the 3:06 mark, Couturier got to the net and was the first one to reach a 50-50 rebound of a Simmonds shot, stashing it home past Raanta for his second goal of the season (and the first he’s put it with his stick). “But you look at the game as a whole, I thought our energy level and compete throughout the whole entire game was a huge factor in determining the outcome of the game”.
“It was huge”, Simmonds said.
Until the Flyers’ second line, which came into the game a combined minus-33, went plus-7 to stun the Rangers.
“The comments were very inappropriate”, Vigneault said.
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“We’re going to do deal with it”, Vigneault said, “and this is going to give other players a better opportunity to step on the ice and play”. “I am confident that they know can execute and play a lot better than we are right now”. Dan Boyle was New York’s lone scratch.
