Last night, the New York Rangers defeated the Philadelphia Flyers 6-1 at Madison Square Garden, improving their record to 24-20-4, while the Flyers fell to 22-21-6. The Rangers are now 7-0-3 in their last 10 games and stand just one point short of the Columbus Blue Jackets in the wild card race, with a game in hand.
The Flyers struck first just a minute into the game. Samuel Ersson stopped a shot from K’Andre Miller, and Owen Tippett took the puck the other way, creating a three-on-one before Travis Konecny found Tippett in front, giving the Flyers the lead and their only goal of the game. Halfway through the period, Arthur Kaliyev hustled to beat Anthony Richard to a loose puck along the boards and passed it to Braden Schneider, who skated past the Flyers’ defense and threw a pass in front of the net, which deflected off Flyers’ defenseman Egor Zamula and past Ersson, tying the game for the Rangers. The Rangers struck again a minute later, with Adam Edström deflecting a point shot from Ryan Lindgren, putting the Rangers in the lead, where they would remain for the rest of the first period and the game.
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The only goal of the second period came a quarter of the way through when Will Borgen found Miller in the slot, and Miller whistled a wrister past Ersson, giving the Rangers a 3-1 lead. The Flyers had chances in the second period, including a power play, but Igor Shesterkin stopped all of them en route to a 33-save performance, including 17 in the second period. The Rangers found the net three more times in the third; a deflection from Filip Chytil, an empty-net goal from Adam Fox, and a power-play goal from Reilly Smith in the waning seconds after finding a puck that had squirted through Ersson’s pads. The Rangers put on a scoring show and earned another hard-fought and important two points.
Rangers Takeaways
- Since the start of 2025, the Rangers have looked like a different team. They are 8-1-3, have a plus-14 goal differential, their power play is scoring at a 29% clip, and they are performing well at even strength—an area that was a major issue last season on both offense and defense. Per Mollie Walker of the New York Post, the Rangers lead the league in points (19) and goals for (43) since Jan. 2. A month ago, the Rangers looked dead in the water, with questions swirling about whether they needed to tank and who might be traded. But they have turned things around, are getting scoring throughout the lineup, and now sit just outside a playoff spot with just under half the season remaining. While there are still question marks, if they can make the playoffs, a hot team with a hot goalie could wreak havoc in the Eastern Conference.
- Chytil should not be traded. He had a goal and an assist last night, bringing him to 20 points in 39 games this season, a 42-point pace. He does almost everything right but struggles to finish. He easily could have had another goal last night, and that seems to be the story with him. If he converted more of the chances he creates, which are plentiful, he could easily crack 30, maybe even 40 goals in a season. While this is Chytil’s eighth NHL season, he is only 25 years old, and trading him would be a mistake. The rumors linking the Rangers and the Canucks have mentioned Chytil, but the Rangers have a cost-controlled 2C with the potential to become even better if he can improve his finishing. It’s a similar situation to when the Ottawa Senators traded a 25-year-old Mika Zibanejad. While Zibanejad has struggled this season, history does not look kindly on the Senators’ trade of Zibanejad for Derick Brassard. The Rangers should not risk finding themselves in that same position.
- Shesterkin has been otherworldly since the calendar flipped to 2025. He started the season 11-15-1 with a .906 save percentage, but since the beginning of 2025, he is 6-0-1 with a .948 save percentage and two shutouts. He has been the backbone of the Rangers for his entire career, and when he is playing at this level, the team is as tough to beat as anyone. As things stand, the Rangers look more like last season’s team, which won the Presidents’ Trophy, than they did at the start of this season.
