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NEW YORK – Matvei Michkov’s two-goal night was capped with the overtime-winner as the Philadelphia Flyers (26-21-11) beat the New York Rangers (22-29-7) 3-2 at Madison Square Garden on Thursday.
Along with Michkov, Trevor Zegras scored for the Flyers. Sam Carrick and Alexis Lafreniere scored for the Rangers.
It was the second straight all-around sloppy game. The Flyers were outplayed early on, and the Rangers held a 2-1 lead heading into the second intermission. Just like the night before, the Flyers tied it early in the third. Unlike Wednesday, Philly did not slip on Thursday and remained in the game. After a crucial overtime penalty kill, Michkov capped off his great offensive night with the overtime winner.
Here is how we got to the final score.
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Sam Ersson was tested early and often on Thursday night. The Rangers came out with plenty of jump and were dominating the Flyers. Most of the early action was played in front of the Flyers’ net.
Ersson was holding his own for the most part, including an excellent sliding save early in the period. However, a flukey shot from the right side boards by Sam Carrick (4) got past Ersson, and the Rangers took the early 1-0 lead.
The Flyers settled things down in their own end, but could not get anything going offensively. Philly killed off a Garnet Hathaway boarding penalty and kept the game 1-0 heading into the first intermission.
However, just over a minute into the second period, Alexis Lafreniere (13) scored from right in front of the crease, extending the New York lead to 2-0.
The Flyers had a power-play chance following a Brennan Othmann cross-check, but could not score. Noah Cates had an excellent chance on a second-chance effort, but was robbed by Igor Shesterkin, and Philly remained scoreless after the power play.
The Flyers got their power-play redemption just over five minutes later. Back on the man-advantage following a Conor Sheary high stick, Matvei Michkov (14) scored with a one-timer up close from the right side off a pass from Noah Cates (17) and Owen Tippett (17).
Two more power-play chances were given, one for each team. Trevor Zegras got called for a high-stick, an undisciplined one at that. That Rangers power play was cut short after Cates drew an interference call on Vincent Trocheck, which led to some 4-on-4, then eventually a Flyers power play.
Neither team scored, and the game went into the second intermission with the Flyers trailing 2-1.
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It was deja vu. Just 39 seconds into the third period, Trevor Zegras (21) tied the game at 2 on the rush with an assist from Travis Konecny (33) and Travis Sanheim (20).
So, just like the night before, the third period was the start of a brand new hockey game.
The next seven minutes of hockey were just sloppy. There is no other way to put it. Neither team could complete a pass, nor could they generate any real pressure. It became a back-and-forth battle of mistakes.
The Flyers got a big chance on the power play with 12:32 to go after Lafreniere got called for a slash on Sanheim.
Nothing came from that attempt, but the Flyers were given another shot after Vladislav Gavrikov got called for a high stick with 5:20 to go in regulation. The Flyers may have had no better chances than the two Cates had on the doorstep following a sick Zegras pass, but Shesterkin stood tall, and New York killed the penalty.
The Rangers’ netminder came up huge during the power play.
Philly had a chance in the final seconds of the game, but Michkov was stopped by Shesterkin and picked up a goalie interference penalty on the play.
The game went to overtime, and the Flyers opened the extra frame on the 4v3 penalty kill.
Sam Ersson came up big time for the Flyers during the overtime penalty kill, keeping the Flyers in it and making a handful of big stops. Matvei Michkov came out of the box, and following a scrum in front, Sean Couturier (22) sprung him on a rush, where Michkov (22) scored his second goal of the game, winning it 3-2 for the Flyers.
The Flyers head home for the first time after the break on Saturday when they take on the Bruins at 3:00 p.m. EST at Xfinity Mobile Arena.
Read More: Flyers Blog: It’s Time to Shift to Sellers at the NHL Trade Deadline
Flyers Blog: It’s Time to Shift to Sellers at the NHL Trade Deadline
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