PHILADELPHIA — Wins like this have been a rarity for the Rangers as of late.
The kind where the team leaves little doubt about how it’s going to go. A complete 60-minute effort has not been the norm for this Blueshirts team over the past couple of seasons, but this 6-2 win over the Flyers on Monday night was a reminder that it is, in fact, still possible.
The Flyers were seven points out of the second wild-card spot entering the game, but this loss to the Rangers may have put their playoff aspirations out of reach.
In their third game skating together since J.T. Miller was placed on injured reserve with an upper-body injury, the Rangers top line of Gabe Perreault, Mika Zibanejad and Alexis Lafrenière has been meshing nicely.
On Monday, the trio was a force.
They combined for four goals and three assists during both 5-on-5 play and the power play, with Zibanejad leading the way with three points (two goals, one assist). Vincent Trocheck chipped in just as much with three assists in the victory.
The Rangers power play bounced back from a disappointing performance in New Jersey this past weekend to go 3-for-4 against the Flyers. Without Miller, Perreault joined the top unit with Lafrenière, Trocheck, Zibanejad and Adam Fox.
Perreault was at the heart of the play of the game, when the 20-year-old made a no-look backward pass to Zibanejad on the power play to give the Rangers a 5-1 lead in the second period.
That came after Perreault scored a goal of his own with the man advantage.
Waiver pickup Tye Kartye capped the Rangers scoring with his first goal in a red, white and blue uniform.
The Rangers built a 3-0 lead going into the first intermission for the first time this season.
It was one of the most dominant first periods of the season. They pushed the puck and pushed the pace. The power play was in sync and, despite only going 1-for-2 through the opening 20 minutes, it didn’t work against the team’s momentum when they didn’t capitalize.
There was a variety to the offensive threats the Rangers posted.
Noah Laba swept in a rebound after battling in front of the Flyers net.
Zibanejad continued his dominance over Philadelphia, burying a feed from Lafrenière from behind the goal line to make it 24 goals in 52 career games against Philly.
Lafrenière then ripped the puck off both posts and in from between the circles on power play.
