ANOTHER GAME, ANOTHER LOSS – RANGERS DESCENT GAINING MOMENTUM 

OFFICIAL GAME REPORTS    GOALIES
Game Summary       PHI: M. Neuvirth (ND), A. Lyon (W)  NYR: H. Lundqvist (L)
Event Summary

–       THREE’S COMPANY – The Rangers have tallied three or more goals in each of the last two games, recording seven goals over the span. In addition, the Blueshirts have registered three or more goals in 32 of 60 games this season.

–       TEAM EFFORT – Four different Rangers tallied a goal and nine different Rangers recorded at least one point in the game.

–       TOP TEN – Mats Zuccarello registered his 10th goal of the 2017-18 season today. The Blueshirts have nine players who have recorded 10 or more goals this season (Grabner, Nash, Zibanejad, Hayes, Buchnevich, Miller, Vesey, Kreider, and Zuccarello).

–       FIGHT NIGHT – The Rangers registered three fighting majors in the first period of today’s game (Pavel Buchnevich, Tony DeAngelo, and Cody McLeod). The Blueshirts had three fighting majors in one period (as well as in one game) for the first time since the first period on Mar. 19, 2012 vs. New Jersey (Stu Bickel, Brandon Prust, and Mike Rupp – all at 0:03 of the first period).

–       SHOOTING GALLERY – The Rangers recorded 40 shots on goal in today’s game, as 15 of 18 skaters registered at least one shot on goal in the contest. New York has recorded 40 or more shots on goal in two of the last three games and in six games in 2017-18. The Blueshirts have registered 30 or more shots on goal in each of the last four games, in six of the last eight games, and in 32 of 60 games in 2017-18. The Rangers have recorded 10 or more shots on goal in each of the last nine periods and in 11 of the last 12 periods.

–       KILL ZONE – New York was 1-for-1 (2:00) on the penalty kill in today’s game. The Rangers have killed off 26 of their opponents’ 30 power play opportunities over the last 11 games (86.7%), dating back to Jan. 25 at San Jose.

–       STAYING DISCIPLINED – The Blueshirts were shorthanded two or fewer times in a game for the fourth consecutive contest and for the seventh time in the last 11 games.

–       FIRST IN SCORE – The Rangers tallied the first goal of the game for the 27th time this season.

–       HITTING MACHINE – New York was credited with 28 hits in today’s contest, and 12 different skaters recorded at least one hit in the game.

–       Peter Holland registered two points (one goal, one assist), including his first goal as a Ranger, recorded four shots on goal, and posted a plus-one rating. He has tallied three points (one goal, two assists) in two games against the Flyers in 2017-18.

–       Kevin Hayes tallied the first goal of the game, registered two shots on goal, and posted a plus-one rating. He has tallied a point in five of the last six games, registering seven points (three goals, four assists) over the span. Hayes ranks fourth on the Rangers in goals this season (14).

–       Rick Nash registered a goal, recorded five shots on goal, and tied for the game-high with two takeaways. Nash has registered 10 points (nine goals, one assist) in the last 16 games (since Jan. 16) and is tied for third in the NHL in goals over the span. He has recorded 799 points in his NHL career.

–       Mats Zuccarello tallied his 10th goal of the season, led all skaters with seven shots on goal, and posted a plus-two rating in 19:36 of ice time. Zuccarello leads the Rangers in points this season (42). He has recorded 10 points (two goals, eight assists) in the last 14 games.

–       Brady Skjei registered an assist and recorded two shots on goal while skating in a game-high 24:39 of ice time. Skjei has registered six points (one goal, five assists) in the last 13 games. He ranks third among Rangers defensemen in assists (16) and points (19) this season. In addition, Skjei has led the Rangers in ice time in five of the last seven contests. He is the only defenseman who has skated in all of the Rangers’ 60 games this season.

–       Pavel Buchnevich tallied an assist, was assessed a fighting major, and was credited with four hits. He leads the Rangers in points at MSG this season (25; nine goals, 16 assists). Buchnevich has recorded eight points (two goals, six assists) in his last nine games.

–       Ryan Sproul recorded an assist, tied for the team-high with three blocked shots, registered two shots on goal, and posted a plus-one rating in 18:23 of ice time. He has registered an assist/point in each of the last two games, and both assists have been primary assists.

–       Nick Holden tallied an assist, tied for the game-high with two takeaways, and was credited with three hits. Holden has recorded three assists/points in the last six contests.

–       Cody McLeod registered his first assist/point as a Ranger, was assessed a fighting major, led all skaters with six hits, and registered three shots on goal.

• Alain Vigneault, New York Rangers head coach

On today’s game…

“It started off with old-time hockey, a lot of fights and a lot of goals. I thought offensively we had some good looks, defensively they got a couple opportunities there. Our guys battled. They tried hard. In the third, I mean no excuse, but we were running on fumes there a little bit with five games in seven days. Guys came out and tried to bounce back from our game yesterday and came up short.”

On whether it’s a struggle mentally right now…

“This is definitely not a pleasant time for us. But again, you have to keep doing your jobs, both players, and coaches, and that’s what we’re going to do.”

On the team’s young players…

“Our young players are playing well. They’re playing to their strengths. Every team, at some point, has injuries and you have to find ways to win. And that’s what we’re trying to do right now. We’re coming up short, but we’re trying to find ways to win.”

• Dave Hakstol, Philadelphia Flyers head coach

On the team’s confidence in Alex Lyon…

“I think our confidence level in him has been at a high level all the way along. It’s nice to see him go in and have success. He’s worked hard for it. That’s how you build confidence from within your teammates. It’s how you approach every day, it’s how you work. It’s obviously a nice step for him to go in and have success in the net and continue building confidence.”

On scoring seven goals…

“It was that kind of night. It seemed like, especially in the first half of the game, there wasn’t a lot of hard, tight play around either net. I thought we got a little bit better as we went into the second and third periods. We got a little bit better around our net. We were a little bit harder on second pucks after Alex (Lyon) made some big first saves. Then I thought we got a little bit better with the puck going the other direction. We got a little bit more direct and a little more efficient. I give our guys credit, they found a way to win.”

• Mats Zuccarello, New York Rangers forward 

His thoughts on today’s game…

“We are playing dumb defensively. [We are] letting people beat us to the pucks, letting people beat us in front of the net, tips, and getting beat up the ice. They got some easy goals today. I think we didn’t play a bad game. We created a lot of chances, but it’s hard when you give them goals like that, easy goals. We work so hard to get a goal right now and we just give it back to them as easy as that. That is not good enough. It’s been going on for too long. We have to be tougher in front of our net. It’s just not good enough.”

On the tough starts to the games…

“It’s really, really hard right now. It’s for sure frustrating. Everyone can see that. [When we are] giving up easy goals and playing dumb, like I said, and getting beat up the ice. We have to be better than that. I wish I knew what to say to you guys. I honestly don’t know what to say.”

• Henrik Lundqvist, New York Rangers goaltender

On today’s game…

“Disappointing; I thought we did a lot of good things.  Offensively we had a lot of good looks, scored four goals.  You give up seven, it’s not a good feeling.”

On what is happening defensively in front of him that is leading to the goals in past two games…

“I have to be better.  Obviously, there are a lot of mistakes.  We’re getting deflections in our own net, they’re getting deflections in our net, odd-man rushes – that’s where we are getting hurt right now.  I just have to start with myself, somehow find energy and confidence to play your game.  It’s hard.  I talked about it yesterday where you try to convince yourself you’re doing the right things out there.  But it’s hard when you give up so many goals to stay confident and make that extra save even to be solid.  I’m not looking to do anything extra – just start by being solid to give the team a chance.  But when you are fighting it a little bit as a group, and me as a goalie, that’s hard to even be solid at times. You try to overdo things, challenge the shooter, then they go across and I’m late to come across.  Then we have the deflections, where I just have to try to be better on deflections because it’s a big part of the game right now.”

• Brady Skjei, New York Rangers defenseman

His thoughts on today’s game…

“This one definitely stings. The team is in our division. The way we came out, we had a lot of energy. We just can’t get the job done in the third. Our team energy at the start of the game [was good]. We had some guys stepping up physically that usually don’t and guys scoring goals. But at the end of the day, it’s two points lost and it hurts for sure.”

On what the team can work on over the next few days…

“Watching video is one thing. We’ve been working on our defensive zone a lot the last few days. Even though the score wasn’t great tonight, I felt that our defense had a few bad bounces here and there but overall was better than the other day. We have to really regroup here, we have to make a push here, keep getting better every day and staying with the process.”

On the difference in the third period…

“I think maybe a little bit too much east and west. I think the start of the game we were going north and south and getting pucks in deep and keeping it simple and towards the end of the game there was maybe a little too much side to side. I think we are at our best when we are going up and down the rink playing with a lot of speed and I think at the end of the game we didn’t do that.”

• Alex Lyon, Philadelphia Flyers goaltender 

On how he feels after his first career NHL win…

“I feel like it’s been a long time coming. Realistically it hasn’t been that long since I played those games, but in your mind, it feels longer than it actually is. I’m just happy, relieved I think more than anything.”

On his first career NHL win being in Madison Square Garden against Henrik Lundqvist…

“A first NHL win you can talk about for a long time, I would like to think regardless. It was good, fun building, great atmosphere and can’t give enough credit to the guys. They played really well.”

• Andrew MacDonald, Philadelphia Flyers defenseman

On Alex Lyon’s first career NHL win…

“Yeah, he came in there, made some really big saves in the second. I thought he did an awesome job. I can’t say enough about his effort. It’s not an easy situation to be in, but he came in and did the job. 

On if it’s a positive to get wins without putting together a complete 60-minute effort…

“It’s that time of year, February and March, it’s a real grind and you’re playing every other day. These are tough games, but like you said we’re finding ways to win and it’s a testament to a good team and good team effort. We’re sticking out there and even though it’s tough to play a full 60 (minutes) every single night, we’re just grinding when we have to and capitalize when we have opportunities.”

–       Tomorrow (Monday, Feb. 19): Team is OFF
–       Tuesday, Feb. 20: Team is OFF
–       Wednesday, Feb. 21: Practice, 12:00 p.m. at MSG Training Center
–       Next Game: Thursday, Feb. 22 at Montreal (7:30 p.m. ET – TV: MSG 2)

*Schedule subject to change                          

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