The Times Herald (Norristown, PA)
Flyers surge past Rangers behind rookie goalie
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 on 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-year-old Lyon, who signed with Philadelphia as a free agent in April 2016 after FLYERS 7, RANGERS 4 Up next for Philadelphia: The Flyers host Montreal on Tuesday. 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 10-game winless streak. Philadelphia also extended their 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