Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
Lindblom scores, Stolarz leads Flyers past Rangers
NEW YORK >> Oskar Lindblom scored early, Anthony Stolarz stopped 38 shots for his second NHL shutout and the Philadelphia Flyers held on to beat the New York Rangers 1-0 Tuesday night for their season-high fifth straight win.
Stolarz, making his eighth start this season and 12th of his career, got his first shutout since Dec. 11, 2016, at Detroit in his second NHL start. The Flyers, who have won six of seven overall, have outscored opponents 20-10 during their winning streak.
Alexandar Georgiev finished with 18 saves — including all seven Philadelphia shots he faced over the final two periods. New York, playing for the first time in 10 days, had won three straight.
The Flyers were coming off a 3-1 win at home over Winnipeg on Monday night in their first game back after their long break.
Stolarz made 13 saves in the first period, 12 in the second and 13 in the third.
Filip Chytil hit a goalpost from between the circles about eight minutes into the third, keeping the Rangers off the scoreboard. Stolarz then made a sprawling save in front on Brendan Smith’s shot that deflected off a Flyers player with about two minutes to go.
Trailing 1-0, New York controlled play in the second period, outshooting Philadelphia 12-3.
••• Shayne Gostisbehere missed a second consecutive game Tuesday with a bruise somewhere on his lower body. Christian Folin will never forget the first.
“It’s something you are going to look back at when you’re older,” he said. “And you’ll think, ‘That’s a pretty cool thing.’”
Actually, it was an oddly hockey thing. And it nearly cost the Flyers a defenseman for what would be a victory over the Winnipeg Jets. Since players who were alerted earlier in the day that they would be scratched that night are not required to report to the arena until a half-second before the puck drops, there was Folin, in his downtown Philadelphia home, hanging out. With the intent to do a small pregame workout and then watch the game from the press box, he would be in no hurry to beat the rush to the arena.
Yet shortly before the game, Gostisbehere was declared unable to play. So the Flyers got around to calling Folin, the veteran defenseman, asking him to hurry down Broad Street.
“I looked at my phone, and it was 6:34 that I got the call,” said Folin before a Tuesday game at Madison Square Garden. “The call lasted 14 seconds. So I just jumped in my car and drove over. I was checking my mail. So I just said, ‘OK, I better get over there.’”
In a twist that would leave sports scientists livid, Folin had just eaten dinner at 6. So along with driving through game-time traffic to arrive before the puck-drop, Folin had to digest his food. Then, as if no one were expecting it, there was another impediment: Seems there was a line of fans trying to squeeze into the arena. Who’d have guessed? “They were trying to get in,” Folin shrugged. “I said, ‘Actually, I have to get in. I have to play now.’”
Folin jumped into uniform and played 9:12, not including the miniskate-arounds he took during stoppages of play. He had two hits and two blocks, and he assisted on Phil Varone’s first-period goal.
“We told him we just wanted to mix things up for the writers, so we had him come in late,” interim head coach Scott Gordon said. “I thought he played great. For being in that circumstance and to come in, having literally just eaten dinner, I thought he played one of his best games that he’s played since I’ve been here. I thought he was really good.”
Entering his 25th game as a Flyer Tuesday, Folin had no goals and two assists.