Vlad’ to the bone
Blueshirts’ other deadline prize beats Flyers with OT winner
PHILADELPHIA — The Rangers waited to start getting serious about Wednesday night’s game for about as long as they’ve been waiting for Patrick Kane to arrive.
It didn’t bite them in the end, though, as Vladimir Tarasenko scored 2:32 into overtime to give the Blueshirts a 3-2 victory over the Flyers. After an 0-3-1 stretch, the Rangers will carry two victories in a row into Kane’s debut Thursday night on Broadway.
Speaking about the late comeback, Tarasenko said, “it’s very important to know how to do it, especially before playoffs, but I don’t think we should play like this. We can play better. Our second period wasn’t very good. It’s very nice to come back from behind and it’s very nice to get a win, but our game should be better.”
Ragged and prone to turnovers for much of the night, the Rangers perked up midway through the third period when Chris Kreider deflected Tarasenko’s shot to even the score at 2. It was Kreider’s 26th goal of the season, getting him halfway to last year’s once-in-alifetime output.
“The third period was real good,” coach Gerard Gallant said. “I thought we played pretty well in the first period also, but that second was a stinker for us. But they bounced back after that and had a real good third period and found a way to get two points.”
Asked what message was delivered in the second intermission, Gallant said, “Oh yeah, there was something said: ‘Get back to work!’ ”
The Rangers played the game with a lineup that was two men short, dressing 11 forwards and five defensemen. Kane was missed up front. Ryan Lindgren, listed as day-to-day with an upper-body injury, and K’Andre Miller, serving the first game of his three-game suspension, were out. Braden Schneider was back on the ice. On Thursday, they will be back to 18 skaters. Kane will play and the Rangers will be eligible to call up a defenseman (likely Libor Hajek or Matthew Robertson) if Lindgren can’t return.
“Honestly, the players didn’t mind [the extra workload]. There was nobody coming back to the bench gassed,” the coach said. “I think they really enjoyed it, to be honest with you.”
The game’s opening goal on the power play was a work of Artemi as Panarin started a crisp tic-tac-toe sequence that went from his stick to Tarasenko’s to Mika Zibanejad’s to the back of the net in rapid fashion.
A sizable contingent of New York fans in the arena got up an audible version of the Rangers’ goal song before being shouted down. Boos for Tony DeAngelo and chants of “I-gor” filled the air throughout. Denis Potvin’s name was even brought up at least once. The Rangers were unable to match their faithful’s intensity, until they did.
Three minor penalties stalled their momentum. On the third one, Adam Fox lost control as he was trying to fish the puck out of the corner and it squirted in front to Owen Tippett, who flicked it past Igor Shesterkin. Then in the second period, Scott Laughton swooped in along the goal line and sent a shot just underneath the crossbar to give the Flyers the lead that wouldn’t last.
And now it’s on to the Patrick Kane era. “It’ll be exciting, his first game with our group and we’ll meet him tomorrow, so it’ll be fun,” Gallant said.