Rangers use balanced attack to tear apart Flyers as point streak reaches 10

The last time the Rangers faced the Flyers, their season was beginning to fall apart as they lost their season-high fifth straight game in Philadelphia.

However, in a rematch Thursday night at Madison Square Garden, the Blueshirts continued to push that disastrous streak 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 that the end of 2024 and the beginning of 2025 was a night and day difference for the Rangers would be an understatement.

Philadelphia can attest to that better than anyone 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, Thursday. night.

“I thought we did a really good job of focusing on our territory first and protecting our goalies,” said Braden Schneider, who was the first of three Rangers defensemen to score Thursday night. “If we make it easy for them, we can score. We have the skills to score and we did a good job trying to kill those big chances and I think it worked. Good defense always leads to good offense, so if we play good D, that creates for us on the other end as well.

Since January 2, the Rangers’ 19 points are the NHL record, and their 43 total goals also lead the standings.

With the Flyers hot on their heels in the Eastern Conference wild-card race, the Rangers managed to gain some separation while tying their longest point streak since Jan. 27-Feb. 24 of last year.

Two nice deflection goals indicated the level of combat the Rangers had in the middle of the ice, where they were fighting for space and had their sticks in the right places.

They simply owned the front of the Internet, where they constantly attacked and created traffic.

All six Rangers defensemen had at least one 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 everyone contributed tonight,” said head coach Peter Laviolette.

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The Flyers got to the pucks first as they opened the scoring less than a minute and a half later, when a three-on-one Flyers rush resulted in the puck deflecting off Owen Tippett’s skate.

From there, the Rangers took a big step forward offensively.

They worked the O zone, drove well and connected on passes multiple times putting the puck exactly where they wanted it.

Schneider then headed to the net with the puck before placing it on a Flyers player’s stick to tie the score.

Less than a minute and a half later, Adam Edstrom got his stick on a Ryan Lindgren shot to take the home team’s first lead of the game.

The Rangers continued to put together solid shifts in the offensive zone despite trailing 17-8 in shots on goal midway through the third.

After working the puck effectively for a while, Miller drilled a wrist shot from the top slot to give the Rangers a 3-1 lead at 4:44.

Filip Chytil flew all night before finally conceding with a deflection of an Urho Vaakanainen shot just 5:15 into the third period.

Icing the game shorthanded later in the final period, Fox scored into an empty net for his third goal of the season before Reilly Smith’s power play goal late in the game ended the drubbing.

“I think everyone in that room knew what we were capable of and what a good team we were,” Miller said. “Honestly, I think it was just a matter of belief. I think these last two games we showed a lot of good things and how good a team we can be when we’re in it.