The New York Rangers turned in one of their best showings in recent weeks in their most recent game, except when it came to opponents on the power play.
The Rangers hope to earn another win and limit their trips to the penalty box Thursday night when they host the Philadelphia Flyers.
New York is 2-5-1 in its past eight games since winning six of its first eight contests. The Rangers snapped a four-game losing streak with Tuesday’s 3-1 victory over the visiting St. Louis Blues.
After allowing 22 goals during the skid, the Rangers received a 32-save performance from rookie goalie Dylan Garand, who also helped the team survive six power plays, one shy of its season high.
New York’s success rate on the penalty kill is 90.4%, but it has taken a combined nine penalties for hooking, slashing and high sticking over the last five games.
“I think it’s a little concerning that the type of stick infractions that we’re taking game in and game out,” coach Mike Sullivan said. “That’s a conversation we’ve had in between periods. I gotta think about next steps on that one, but we’ve gotta do a better job of our responsibility with our sticks.”
Defenseman Adam Fox scored New York’s first goal and added an assist. He also spent time killing penalties and also anchoring New York’s power play.
Garand has played in each of the last 11 games for the Rangers.
“Obviously, it’s my first experience going through this in the NHL, and there’s lots of things you can learn,” he said. “Obviously, we play a lot of games, you know — how to manage that physically and mentally, all the noise kind of around the NHL. It’s new.”
Philadelphia’s 37 goals are the second fewest in the Eastern Conference. The Flyers are 4-3-1 in their past eight games after opening with nine straight losses (0-6-3) and are 1-5-1 on the road heading into the opener of a five-game trip.
Eleven of Philadelphia’s first 17 games have been decided by two goals or less, including Tuesday’s 4-2 home loss to the Minnesota Wild.
The Flyers gave up two goals in a span of 31 seconds in the first period and another tally 42 seconds into the second before Tyson Foerster and Denver Barkey scored.
“You take a lot of positives from that,” Philadelphia’s Travis Konecny said after missing the net five times. “You walk away with, we gave up a couple bad ones, but we competed, we played hard, consistent, the same way we’ve been playing. But when it’s the hole we’re in right now, it’s a loss. It’s unacceptable. We need to win games.”
Philadelphia’s comeback attempt occurred on a night the team had 25 shots on goal. The Flyers also took their latest loss on a night when Trevor Zegras was given a 10-minute misconduct penalty, reportedly for conduct toward an official.
“I think we played a pretty good game,” Flyers coach Rick Tocchet said. “… For me, it’s just the missed chances. We had missed opportunities; I think we had nine or 10 scoring chances where we missed the net, and they don’t.”
The Rangers won three of four games between the teams last season and are 12-1-2 in the past 15 meetings.