Mika Zibanejad scores twice as Rangers beat Flyers
PHILADELPHIA — Mika Zibanejad had said all the right things as the games piled up and his goals total stayed uncharacteristically low. “Eventually one will go in somehow,’’ he would say, or “I have to keep shooting.’’ Mostly he could comfort himself with this: Although he wasn’t scoring, the team was still winning, always the most important thing.
Zibanejad finally broke out Friday afternoon, scoring two goals — his third and fourth of the season and his first two in five-on-five play — and Igor Shesterkin made 36 saves as the Rangers closed out their four-game road trip with a 3-1 victory over the Flyers at Wells Fargo Center.
“I’ve said this before. I think all the wins that we’ve had, the season that we have so far, has made the personal struggle scoring a lot easier to handle,’’ Zibanejad said. “And it’s just nice to be able to contribute and help out in a win.’’
The win was the second straight and 12th in the last 14 games (12-1-1) for the Rangers, who continue to lead the Metropolitan Division at 14-3-1. They will return home Saturday afternoon against the Boston Bruins, who own the league’s best record at 14-2-3.
Zibanejad opened the scoring 45 seconds into the game, finishing a two-on-one pass from Blake Wheeler (two assists).
Linemate Chris Kreider capitalized on an awful giveaway by Philadelphia defenseman Travis Sanheim off a Flyers faceoff win, intercepting Sanheim’s pass and beating Carter Hart with his 11th goal to make it 2-0 at 1:53.
Zibanejad’s second goal, a lunging one-handed redirection off another pass from Wheeler, put the Rangers up 3-0 at 7:41 of the second period. The Flyers got on the board with a tip-in goal by Sean Couturier at 17:39.
The Rangers’ penalty kill, which was superb in the 1-0 win over Pittsburgh on Wednesday, killing all five Penguins power plays, had another big day, killing all six Philadelphia power plays.
“Obviously, our goaltending has been outstanding. That’s a huge part of it,’’ Jacob Trouba said of the penalty-killing. “But we’re not really getting ourselves in trouble. We’re kind of just read-reacting, jumping, doing our jobs. And we know when one guy goes [after the puck], we’re kind of reacting off that, and we’re killing pretty much as a group . . . Obviously don’t want to kill six penalties in the game, but I think the PK has a lot of confidence of going out there and we take a lot of pride in doing that job.’’
Notes & quotes: Coach Peter Laviolette said C Filip Chytil, who is on injured reserve with a suspected concussion, finally has gotten back on the ice after not playing since Nov. 2. “He’s skated a couple times,’’ Laviolette said. “Hopefully that continues to ramp up when we get back home.’’ . . . Laviolette coached the 1,448th game of his career, tying him with Hall of Famer Dick Irvin for 10th most in league history.
Colin Stephenson covers the Rangers for Newsday. He has spent more than two decades covering the NHL and just about every sports team in the New York metropolitan area.
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