N. Y. Rangers: Blueshirts in a Landslide

From the desk: RAISE GRESCHNER WITH THE GREATS

Rangers vs. Flyers series tied; 2-2

I - NYR 3; PHI 2*

II - PHI 4; NYR 3

III - PHI 5; NYR 4#

IV - NYR 9; PHI 0

*shootout

#overtime

Back to the Future: Blueshirts Post Largest Goal Total Since 1986 Smurfs Scored Ten Against the New Jersey Devils

No head coach, no staff, no problem.  

Or, was David Quinn the problem all along?  

That can be debated.  

In any event, minus their entire coaching staff crowding the bench area and busting their pucks, the Rangers veterans took it upon themselves to lead the troops after Monday's overtime backbreaker in an uproarious bounce-back effort against the Flyers on Wednesday.

Insofar as Quinn, Brendan Lemieux might have something to say.  After all, he's the one who lit the fuse igniting a Blueshirt explosion.  Lemieux converted feeds from Adam Fox and Bret Howden to open the scoring at 7:05 of the first period.  At 14:47, Artemi Panarin netted his seventh of the season for a 2-0 Rangers lead.

The Flyers, throughout the second period, appeared to be skating in the west side railyards.  The Rangers, in turn, unleashed a seven-goal attack against Philadelphia goalies Carter Hart and Brian Elliot.  Mika Zibanejad posted a hat-trick and assisted on two other goals by Pavel Buchnevich and another by Jacob Trouba.  Then with just 0:27 seconds left in the second period, Filip Chytil scored his fourth goal of the season for a 9-0 Rangers lead.

Alexandar Georgiev was back between the posts demonstrating a marked improvement in performance after getting the hook in each of his last two starts against Pittsburgh and Boston.  If anyone needed a confidence booster, it was him.  Georgiev faced 26 shots on goal and stopped them all for the shutout.

Circling back to Lemieux, it was his second goal and sixth point in limited minutes.  The Rangers need his physicality on the ice.  The Rangers got four points from their blueliners, a goal and assist from Jacob Trouba, and assists by Adam Fox and Libor Hajek.  Pavel Buchnevich finished with four points.  Even Bret Howdenn attempted a shot on goal.  So, you know things went well.

With the victory, the Rangers tie the season series against Philadelphia at two wins apiece.