Travis Konecny and Derek Grant each recorded a goal and an assist as the Philadelphia Flyers extended their winning streak to a season-high six games with a 5-3 victory over the host New York Rangers on Sunday afternoon.
The Flyers tied a season high with three power-play goals and added a short-handed tally en route to their ninth win in the past 10 meetings with the Rangers. Philadelphia also improved to 16-5-1 in its last 22 games and remained three points behind Washington for the lead in the Metropolitan Division.
Philadelphia's Matt Niskanen and Sean Couturier scored power-play goals in the first period while Michael Raffl scored a shorthanded tally. Grant scored the Flyers' only even-strength goal, and Konecny added the Flyers' third power-play goal.
Philadelphia goaltender Carter Hart made 23 saves and improved to 9-2 in his past 11 starts.
Mika Zibanejad scored two power-play goals and Pavel Buchnevich also scored on the man advantage as the Rangers lost for only the third time in their past 12 games. Artemi Panarin assisted on both Zibanejad goals to extend his points streak to a career-high 13 games.
New York's Henrik Lundqvist made his first start since Feb. 3 and allowed five goals on 26 shots as the Rangers dropped consecutive games for the first time since Jan. 19-21.
Niskanen and Courtier scored rebound goals in the opening 11:19 on power plays, and Raffl made it 3-0 by converting Grant's cross-ice pass and lifting the puck over Lundqvist with 2:07 remaining in the first.
Grant made it 4-0 83 seconds into the second by finishing off an odd-man rush, and Zibanejad's redirection of Panarin's pass made it 4-1 with 7:26 left. The Flyers took their second four-goal lead three minutes after Zibnaejad's first goal on Konecny's redirection goal.
Buchnevich made it 5-2 by redirecting the puck past Hart 5:33 into the third, and Zibanejad made it a two-goal game by finishing off an impressive move a little over seven minutes later. Zibanjejad nearly scored again, but Hart made a point-blank stop about two minutes later and the Flyers held on after the Rangers pulled Lundqvist with about two minutes left.
--Field Level Media
Philadelphia | NY Rangers | |
Derek Grant 2 | Points | Mika Zibanejad 3 |
Derek Grant 1 | Goals | Mika Zibanejad 2 |
Travis Sanheim 2 | Assists | Tony DeAngelo 2 |
Travis Konecny 1 | Power Play Goals | Mika Zibanejad 2 |
Michael Raffl 1 | Short Handed Goals | N/A |
Carter Hart .885 | Save Percentage | Henrik Lundqvist .808 |
Carter Hart 23 | Saves | Henrik Lundqvist 21 |
Team | Shots | Goals | Power Play | Penalty Kill | Penalty Mins | Face Offs Won |
Philadelphia | 26 | 5 | 3-5 | 3-6 | 12 | 25 |
NY Rangers | 26 | 3 | 3-6 | 2-5 | 20 | 26 |