Rangers rally in third to beat Flyers, finish 3-2 on long trip

PHILADELPHIA — The way things have been going for the Rangers this season — and for the struggling Philadelphia Flyers — it almost had to end exactly as it did, with the Rangers finding a way to win and the Flyers finding a way to lose.

Closing out their five-game, 11-day road trip, the Rangers rallied from down a goal in the third period on goals by Filip Chytil and Chris Kreider on Saturday night and beat the Flyers, 3-2, at Wells Fargo Center.

"We definitely go into games confident that we could win, and I think we just kept playing well,’’ defenseman Adam Fox said. "The whole game, we had a lot of chances, and you know, got some saves also [26 by Igor Shesterkin], but yeah, we’re finding different ways to win. I think that shows the resilience of this group, and it was nice to end the road trip like that.’’

"The season’s been good so far, but tonight’s game, I thought it was gonna be a tough one,’’ said coach Gerard Gallant, who returned to the bench after missing two games while in COVID-19 protocol. "The long flight [Friday] . . . getting in at 7 o’clock in the evening, coming all the way back here [from California] and then playing the next day.

"But you know, they played hard, they played good, a consistent hockey game. They played for 60 minutes . . .    We competed, we played well, and everybody chipped in.’’

The win also put the Rangers back in first place in the Metropolitan Division with 54 points. The Carolina Hurricanes, who beat Vancouver, 4-1, on Saturday, have 52.

The Rangers trailed 2-1 after Flyers rookie defenseman Cam York scored his first career goal at 10:11 of the third period, but Chytil’s goal 37 seconds later tied it. Chytil, playing his second game as the right wing on the line with Artemi Panarin and Ryan Strome, drove the net and swept in a cross-crease feed from Panarin for his fourth goal of the season and first in 11 games.

Then Kreider set up in front of the net, where he screened Flyers goalie Carter Hart, got his stick on a shot by Fox and tipped it past Hart for his 24th goal of the season. Kreider, who on Thursday was selected to play in the NHL All-Star Game, is tied with Toronto’s Auston Matthews for the third-most goals in the league, behind Leon Draisaitl’s 26 and Alex Ovechkin’s 25.

Fox, who had two assists, said he tried to get the puck to where Kreider could do something with it.

"I think it was more just trying to get it to the net,’’ Fox said. "When you’re out with him, it’s try and get it to the area, and his stick usually finds the puck.’’

Besides Gallant, assistant coach Mike Kelly and forwards Ryan Reaves and Julien Gauthier exited COVID protocol and were back Saturday. Assistant coach Gord Murphy went into protocol.

The Rangers took a 1-0 lead at 5:54 of the first period on a power-play goal by Mika Zibanejad. It was their first power-play goal on the five-game road trip, breaking an 0-for-12 drought.

Oskar Lindblom’s rebound goal at 11:45 of the period tied it. It was the first goal allowed by Shesterkin since Tampa Bay’s Corey Perry scored an extra-skater tying goal with 1:57 left in regulation on New Year’s Eve, a span of 138 minutes, 42 seconds.

By Colin Stephenson

colin.stephenson@newsday.comColinSNewsday

Colin Stephenson covers the Rangers for Newsday. He has spent more than two decades covering the NHL and just about every sports team in the New York metropolitan area.