Philadelphia Flyers edge past New York Rangers 3-2
Mike Richards scored the game-winner in the middle stanza, as the Philadelphia Flyers held on to take 3-2 win over New York Rangers, at Madison Square Garden on Sunday night.
The Flyers had some key blows in the opening period, wrapped up some from Sean Avery in the middle period, and preserved their advantage in the final period to finish a long trip with a victory.
Flyers Captain Richards praised his side's performance and said, “We made it interesting, but we got the win. We’ve done a good job all year, closing hockey games off. Today was no different.”
Jeff Carter and Ville Leino also lit the lamp for the Flyers, who have won six of their last seven games to move one point behind Vancouver Canucks in the league standings. Philadelphia is tied for the top spot in the National Hockey League (NHL) with 16
road victories (16-5-3).
Defenseman Matt Carle provided two assists while Brian Boucher turned aside 34 shots, as Philadelphia extended their Eastern Conference lead to three points.
Boucher, who made 34 saves in the game, said after the game, "We're happy with where we are at, but we know there is still a lot of work to be done."
Wojtek Wolski and Derek Stepan tallied goals for New York, who have lost three of their last four games. Martin Biron made 24 saves in the defeat.
Carter got the Flyers on the board with a 1-0 lead in seventh minute of the first period. Carle let go of a slap-pass from the left point to Carter who was left unchecked in the slot. Carter then redirected the shot past the left pad of the Rangers goalie.
Leino then doubled Philadelphia's advantage with five minutes left in the opening period. It started when Andrej Meszaros controlled the disc behind the Rangers’ net, and sent a centring pass in front of the net, where Leino chipped the puck home.
Both goals were scored seconds after a New York penalty had expired.
Richards extended the Flyers lead to 3-0 lead with the 23rd short-handed goal of his career in the fifth minute of the final period. While skating on a nice passing play with Claude Giroux, Richards knocked the puck past the goalie into the net.
Rangers appeared to be dominating in the final period, as they got goals from Wolski and Stepan in a span of two minutes.
Wolski was the beneficiary of a nice Mats Zuccarello’s pass in the neutral zone midway through the third period. He skated down the left wing and slapped a shot from below the circle which escaped past the Flyers netminder.
Stepan recorded a goal two minutes later to cut the deficit to 3-2 for the Rangers. Zuccarello also assisted on this goal by giving a nice pass to Stepan who beat Boucher.
New York pulled Biron to the bench for an extra skater in closing minutes of the third period, but could not find a way back into the game.
Rangers Head Coach John Tortorella lamented his team's poor finishing after the game. He said, "We had a lot of chances. The second half of the game we had a lot of chances, especially in the third period. We just didn't finish."
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