Lyon, fast finish help take down Rangers
NEW YORK » Pressed into action after Flyers starter Michal Neuvirth left with a lower-body injury, rookie goaltender Alex Lyon was confident at Madison Square Garden having played there before for Yale.
In his fourth NHL game, Lyon calmly went out over the next 40 minutes and made 25 saves for his first NHL win as the surging Flyers rolled past the slumping Rangers 7-4 Sunday for their sixth win in seven games.
“It was good, fun building, great atmosphere and I can’t give enough credit to the guys,” said the 25-yearold Lyon, who signed with the Flyers as a free agent in April 2016 after three years at Yale. “A first NHL win you can talk about for a long time.”
Travis Konecny scored the tiebreaking goal late in the second period to provide the margin of victory. His 15th goal of the season at 15:40 snapped a 4-4 tie.
Claude Giroux and Jori Lehtera scored in the third to finish off the win, Rangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist allowed all seven goals. Giroux’s goal was his 20th of the season and the 200th of his NHL career.
Flyers coach Dave Hakstol expressed confidence that possibly having to go with Lyon in games ahead would be a welcome challenge for his club, which is just three points behind Washington for the Metropolitan Division lead.
“We’ve won games as a team. And we’ll continue to do that,” Hakstol said. “Whoever is in net for us will do a good job.”
The Flyers are 22-8-3 since Dec. 4, when they won at Calgary to end a 10game winless streak. Philadelphia also extended its winning streak on the road to five games.
“In the third period, Alex made some big saves for us,” Giroux said. “He was solid.”
The Rangers have lost four straight games. They are 3-11-0 since beating Buffalo at home Jan. 18 and 6-15-0 since downing the Sabres in the Winter Classic Jan. 1.
“You give up seven, it’s not a good feeling,” Lundqvist said. “I have to be better. Obviously, there a lot of mistakes.”
This game started in throwback Rangers-Flyers fashion with a fight at center ice between Rangers forward Pavel Buchnevich and Flyers defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere just 15 seconds into the game.
There were two more bouts in the opening 20 minutes — a tussle between Rangers defenseman Tony DeAngelo and Flyers forward Wayne Simmonds and another between veteran fighters Dale Weise of the Flyers and the Rangers’ Cody McLeod.
Each team also scored three times in the first.
Kevin Hayes gave the Rangers the early lead when he redirected a point shot by defenseman Ryan Sproul are past Neuvirth. Hayes’ 14th goal of the season came at 1:30.
Philadelphia knotted the score at 4:53 when defenseman Andrew MacDonald scored his fourth of the season.