Flyers stunned in overtime by Adam Fox and Rangers
New York Rangers celebrate a goal by Mika Zibanejad, obscured at center, as Philadelphia Flyers’ Travis Sanheim (6) looks at the scoreboard during the second period of an NHL hockey game Tuesday, March 26, 2024 in New York. (AP Photo/Peter K. Afriyie)
The Philadelphia Flyers (36-27-9) took on the New York Rangers (47-20-4) tonight in New York City as the Flyers begin to countdown the games till the playoffs arrive. This was the third of four games the two rivals have played against each other this season and the first of two at Madison Square Garden. The Flyers showed resilience and kept themselves in the game countless times but it wasn’t enough as they fell short 6-5 in overtime.
Let’s recap what went down and what went wrong tonight for the Flyers.
The 1st period began and both teams seemed to be neck and neck. Both teams held each other in check as both the Flyers and Rangers were making strong offensive pushes that seemed to be stuffed by the defense at the last second. The most notable of these defensive stops came after Bobby Brink was able to slip past a shifting Ranger defense with the puck but was stopped by the hand of Igor Shesterkin who made an incredible save to hold off the Flyers. The Flyers kicked into high gear after this period as they were able to get their offense rolling with the help of a powerplay late in the period. The Flyer although empty on the score column led the shots column 15-9 as they headed into the 2nd Period.
With 17 minutes and 2 seconds still to go in the 2nd period, Scott Laughton was able to lead the Flyers off and put the Flyers up 1-0 early into the 2nd period.
Minutes later, Ryan Poehling was able to extend the Flyers’ lead as he was able to tip in a shot by Scott Laughton that put the Flyers ahead 2-0. At about 15 minutes and 28 seconds into the 2nd period, the Rangers finally found their way into the score column as Mika Zibanejad was able to seal a snapshot that sent us into the 3rd period at 2-1.
Action was not at a premium in the 4th as both teams found their groove offensively and it was off to the races. The Rangers led things off as Jonny Brodzinski was able to send a wrist shot into the back of the Flyers net to tie the game at 2. When it rains it pours and the Rangers stayed true to that as Alexis Lafrenière scored the 3rd unanswered Rangers goal giving them the lead of 3-2. Travis Konecny was finally able to dig the Flyers out of this hole they found themselves in as he was able to snipe an unassisted wrist shot into the back of the net to tie the game up 3-3!
Vincent Trocheck made it clear the Rangers weren’t going to quit though as almost 3 minutes later he tipped in a goal off of the assist from Mike Zibanejad. As the score began to rise and rise Owen Tippet found an opportunity to score as he found his 26th goal of the season off of a backhanded shot that once again tied the Flyers and the Rangers at 4-4.
The game stayed nowhere near over though as neither team was ready to give up just yet. Alexis Lafrenière attempted to close the Flyers out as he collected his second goal of the night putting the Rangers up 5-4 late in the 3rd period. With just a few minutes to go, all hope seemed lost on the Flyers bench, but Tyson Foerster was able to save the Flyers’ chances by sending a rebounded shot through traffic and into the back of the net to send us into overtime!
Overtime ended as soon as it started as Adam Fox stunned the Flyers with a shot that won the Rangers the game 6-5 and clinched a playoff berth for the New York Rangers. The Flyers continue their race for a ticket to the playoffs and with only 9 more games to go in the season, it’s going to make every game a must-win going forward.
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