The last time the Rangers played the Flyers, their season was beginning to fall apart as they dropped their season-high fifth straight game in Philadelphia.
In a rematch Thursday night at Madison Square Garden, however, the Blueshirts continued to push that disastrous stretch further and further into the rearview mirror as they extended their point streak to 10 games with a 6-1 over the same Flyers team.
To say the end of 2024 and the start of 2025 have been a night-and-day difference for the Rangers would be an understatement.
Sam Carrick (left) and Matt Rempe (73) celebrate after a first-period goal by Adam Edstrom (not pictured) in the Rangers’ 6-1 blowout win over the Flyers on Jan. 22, 2025.
Philadelphia can attest to that better than most as a team that didn’t have to exert much effort to beat the Rangers, 3-1, on Nov. 29 but struggled to impose its will on the game in any way, shape or form Thursday night.
“I think we’ve done a really good job at focusing on our end first and protecting our goalies,” said Braden Schneider, who was the first of three Rangers defensemen to score Thursday night. “If we’re making their job easy, we can score. We have the skill to score and we’ve done a good job of trying to eliminate those big chances and I think it’s been working. Good defense always leads to good offense, so if we’re playing good D, then it’s creating for us on the other end, too.”
Since Jan. 2, the Rangers’ 19 points are the most in the NHL, and their 43 total goals also top the leaderboard.
With the Flyers right on their tails in the Eastern Conference wild-card race, the Rangers were able to separate themselves a bit while also tying their longest point streak since Jan. 27-Feb. 24 of last year.
A pair of pretty deflection goals indicated the Rangers’ battle level in the middle of the ice, where they fought for their space and had their sticks in all the right places.
Igor Shesterkin makes a save on Rodrigo Abols during the Rangers’ blowout win over the Flyers.
They simply owned the net front, where they consistently attacked and created traffic.
All six Rangers defensemen tallied at least a point for the first time since Dec. 8, 2019, with K’Andre Miller and Adam Fox leading the way with a goal and an assist each.
“It seemed like everybody had some contributions in there tonight,” head coach Peter Laviolette said.
The Flyers were getting to pucks first to start as they opened the scoring less than a minute and a half in, when a three-on-one Flyers rush resulted in a puck deflecting in off Owen Tippett’s skate.
From there, the Rangers hit a stride offensively.
They worked the O-zone, cycled well and repeatedly connected on passes by putting the puck exactly where they wanted to.
K’Andre Miller skates ahead of Anthony Richard as he moved the puck up ice during the Rangers’ blowout win over the Flyers.
Schneider then drove to the net with the puck before banking it in off a Flyers player’s stick to even the score.
Less than a minute and a half later, Adam Edstrom got his stick on a Ryan Lindgren shot to capture the home team’s first lead of the game.
The Rangers continued to string together strong shifts in the offensive zone despite getting outshot, 17-8, through the middle frame.
After effectively working the puck around for a bit, Miller wristed one home from the high slot to give the Rangers a 3-1 lead at the 4:44 mark.
Filip Chytil was flying around all night before finally cashing in with a deflection of a Urho Vaakanainen shot just 5:15 into the third period.
Icing the game while shorthanded later in the final frame, Fox scored an empty-netter for his third goal of the season before Reilly Smith’s power-play goal at the tail end of the game capped the drubbing.
“I think everybody in this room knew what we were capable of, how good of a team we are,” Miller said. “I think it was just a matter of believing, honestly. I think these last couple of games we’ve shown a lot of good things and how good of a team we can be when we’re on.”
