Rangers rout Flyers at Garden to extend their point streak to 10 games

K'Andre Miller of the Rangers celebrates his second-period goal against the Philadelphia Flyers at Madison Square Garden on Thursday. Credit: Jim McIsaac
This seemed improbable just a few weeks ago when the Rangers went 4-15 in the final 19 games of 2024 and fell into last place in the Metropolitan Division on New Year’s Day.
But they have surged since the calendar flipped to 2025. Now they’re back in the playoff picture.
Red-hot Igor Shesterkin stopped 33 of 34 shots and the Rangers scored six straight goals after falling behind early to rout the Flyers, 6-1, on Thursday night at the Garden.
The win extended the Blueshirts’ point streak to 10 games (7-0-3) and pulled them within one point of the second wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference.
“Of course it’s nice,’’ center Filip Chytil said of the Rangers’ turnaround (8-1-3 in January). “But even in the tough moments which we had, I think we didn’t lose our heads because we know what team we have and we just didn’t forget to play hockey in a couple of months.
“So sometimes you have [bad] stretches like this in a season, and it’s just about the team, how it responds. And I think for the last month, we’re responding in a good way.’’
Six Rangers scored, and Chytil’s redirection of Urho Vaakanainen’s shot gave the Blueshirts a 4-1 lead at 5:15 of the third period after they had been largely outplayed in the second.
Three of their goals came from defensemen — Braden Schneider, K’Andre Miller and Adam Fox — and all six defensemen had at least one point. Adam Edstrom and Reilly Smith (on the power play) had the other goals.
“I think it’s great,’’ Schneider said of the scoring from the defense. “We talked about playing five-man defense, [and] I think we’ve done a really good job of doing that. And same thing in the ‘O’ zone. When we can all get moving and create things, I think it’s hard to defend.
“And I thought our ‘D’ did a great job at getting movement going, getting shots to the net, and then our forwards also did a good job at backing us up when we went down [deep in the offensive zone] and same thing, we were working all together.’’
After Owen Tippett’s goal gave the Flyers the lead 1:25 into the game, Schneider’s goal at 9:00 of the first period tied it at 1. It was his third goal of the season and his first since Oct. 22, and it ended a 41-game goal drought.
“It felt good,’’ said Schneider, whose centering pass intended for Smith bounced off the stick of Flyers defenseman Egor Zamula and got past goalie Samuel Ersson. “I was hoping to find Smitty, but I’ll take that for sure. It’s a good feeling to get the monkey off the back.’’
Shesterkin was coming off consecutive shutouts and entered the game 5-0-1 in his last six starts, with a 1.45 goals-against average and .943 save percentage since his return from injured reserve with an upper-body injury. He had not given up a goal in his last 164 minutes and three seconds.
His shutout streak ended early when Tippett crashed the net on a three-on-one and the puck banked in off his skate, but the 29-year-old Russian — who has allowed one goal in the last 10 periods he’s played — was unbeatable after that. He was especially big when the Flyers dominated possession and outshot the Rangers 17-9 in the second period.
“You think about him in that second period; it’s a game, [and] he made some really big saves,’’ coach Peter Laviolette said. “He allowed us to build on that. He was fantastic in the second. He’s been playing like that. He’s been right on point with his game, and that’s given us a chance.’’
Miller’s shot through a crowd got by a screened Ersson to make it 3-1 at 4:44 of the second period, and after the Rangers survived that period, Chytil’s goal seemed to secure the result for the Rangers.
Fox scored a shorthanded goal into an empty net to make it 5-1 at 16:53 of the third period before Smith added his 10th goal at 18:15.
“We didn’t really, like, let off the gas,’’ Schneider said. “I think we did a good job at . . . managing their rush, because they’re looking to create off their fast team. [We were] just keeping things in front of us, and then being able to get into their zone and to continue. I think the best defense is playing in their end. So I think we did a good job at that.’’
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