In a battle of Metropolitan Division rivals, the New York Rangers got the best of the Philadelphia Flyers.
The Rangers got off to a quick start and never looked back, but the Flyers looked like a team that started the season with a 1-7-0 record.
The Rangers had their forechecking game going early. The puck was dumped into the Flyers zone and Mark Streit got the puck, but turned it over to Daniel Carcillo. Carcillo skated to the side of the Flyers net untouched and slide the puck past goaltender, Ray Emery. It was Carcillo's second goal of the season and it came 2:14 into the first period.
Then 28 seconds later the Rangers struck again. The puck was again sent into the Flyers zone, but this time two Rangers players pressured Flyers defenseman, Braydon Coburn into turning over the puck. Chris Kreider spotted a wide open Rick Nash, in the slot, who fired the puck past Emery for a 2-0 Rangers lead.
Flyers head coach, Craig Berube, decided to take his timeout after the Nash goal to try and get his team going in the right direction. It seemed to work. There were chances for both teams, but the score remained 2-0 Rangers until the 9:24 mark of the first period. Coburn was pressured by the Rangers forecheck and turned the puck over again. Mats Zuccarello came up with the puck and sent it to a wide open Derick Brassard, who put it past Emery for his eighth goal of the season.
The Flyers had 17 shots in the first period but couldn't get anything past Rangers goaltender, Henrik Lundqvist. They had their opportunities but the Rangers either cleared the puck out of the crease or Lundqvist decided to cover up the puck.
In the second period, the Rangers power play unit finally solved the Flyers penalty killing unit. The Flyers had killed 26 straight penalties before allowing the power play goal to Kreider. Sean Couturier, a regular on the penalty kill, failed to clear the puck out of the zone. Nash sent to puck to Kreider, who skated into the slot area, and put the puck off Coburn's skate and past Emery for the 4-0 Rangers lead.
The Flyers only managed six shots on net in the second period, but solved Lundqvist in the third period when Ryan McDonagh went off for holding Wayne Simmonds. The Flyers setup in the Rangers end and went to work on the power play. Vincent Lecavalier, Streit and Sean Couturier played catch with the puck until Streit was at the center point and took a slapshot. The puck found the back of the net with Lundqvist being screened in front by both Tye McGinn and Brayden Schenn.
The Flyers waited until there was about 5:00 left into the game to put some effort into the game. The team was physical, helped each other out on the forecheck, got traffic in front of the net, and battled for loose pucks.
Lundqvist stopped 37 of the 38 shots that he faced in the game and Emery stopped 31 of the 35 shots that were directed at him.
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