New York Rangers tie franchise document with tenth straight win

PHILADELPHIA — Alexis Lafreniere scored, Matt Rempe netted his first profession aim and sparked his streaking membership with a first-period battle, because the New York Rangers tied a franchise document with their tenth straight victory, defeating the Philadelphia Flyers 2-1 on Saturday.

Igor Shesterkin made 39 saves for the surging Rangers, who can set a membership mark for consecutive victories on Sunday at Columbus. The Rangers, who’re main the Metropolitan Division, haven’t misplaced since Jan. 26.

“It was good,” Rangers coach Peter Laviolette stated of the win. “It had a little bit little bit of every part.”

Rempe, promoted from the American Hockey League final week, is the primary Rangers skater with a aim and a combating main in the identical sport throughout the first 5 video games of their profession since Ryan Callahan in March 2017, in accordance with ESPN Stats & Info analysis. Philadelphia veteran Nicolas Deslauriers battled Rempe in a heavyweight duel simply three minutes into the sport. Each gamers landed heavy punches, with Deslaurier getting minimize on the brow by one in every of Rempe’s laborious proper palms. The battle ended with Deslaurier tackling Rempe to the ice.

“That is , old school hockey battle,” Philadelphia coach John Tortorella stated.

However Rempe’s aim proved far more beneficial, as he scored the sport winner on the 6:31 mark of the third interval, serving to New York tie its franchise season document of consecutive wins, matching runs from the 1939-40 and 1972-73 seasons. It is also the NHL’s longest profitable streak this season behind the Edmonton Oilers’ 16-game surge from Dec. 21 to Jan. 27.

Rempe, a 6-foot-7 rookie sixth-round choose taking part in in his fourth profession sport, deflected Barclay Goodrow’s shot off his proper skate and previous goaltender Samuel Ersson with 13:29 to play. Ersson made 22 saves within the loss.

“That is unreal. It is in all probability the ugliest first aim in NHL historical past, however I am going to take it,” Rempe instructed ESPN after the win. “It is unreal, I am having a blast.”

His coach disagreed on Rempe’s description of the tally.

“He did precisely what he is purported to do, which is go to the entrance of the web and stand in entrance of the goaltender,” Laviolette stated.

Tyson Foerster scored for Philadelphia, which was defeated for simply the third time in its final eight video games. The Flyers, in third place within the Metropolitan Division, are actually 15 factors behind New York.

Lafreniere gave the Rangers a 1-0 lead with 8:04 left within the second when his wrist shot obtained via Ersson throughout a 4-on-4 scenario. It was his seventeenth of the season and third in two video games.

The aim capped a wild sequence that started when Philadelphia’s Garnet Hathaway was whistled for a double-minor high-sticking penalty. Philadelphia, which entered main the NHL with 13 short-handed objectives and the league’s second-best penalty-killing unit, almost obtained on the board, however Scott Laughton’s wrist shot that beat Shesterkin went off the crossbar.

Lafreniere nearly scored on the facility play two minutes after Laughton’s miss, however Ersson made the save of the sport, denying the backhand attempt with a stellar left pad save. Philadelphia then almost had one other nice short-handed likelihood, however Artemi Panarin held Cam Atkinson, leading to a Rangers penalty and a 4-on-4 scenario.

Philadelphia tied it 2:36 into the third when Foerster completed in entrance after a nifty move from behind the web from Laughton.

Rempe and Deslauriers jawed within the pregame warmups and it carried over to the ice, including to the rookie’s memorable month. Rempe fought New York Islanders robust man Matt Martin in his debut on Sunday and was ejected for a success to the top of New Jersey Devils ahead Nathan Bastian in New York’s 5-1 victory Thursday.

“He performed a heck of a sport,” Laviolette stated after Saturday’s win. “Had an excellent battle. Had huge hits. Put the puck behind the protection. He is been nice since he is been right here. You’ll be able to inform the gamers within the locker room love having him right here. He likes to hit and be bodily.”

Rempe entered with 22 penalty minutes in simply 9:47 of ice time in three profession video games. The 33-year-old veteran Deslauriers is not any stranger to the penalty field, having served 729 penalty minutes in 635 video games coming into Saturday.

The scrap appeared to ignite each groups for the afternoon begin.

Philadelphia’s main scorer, Travis Konecny, didn’t play as a result of an upper-body harm. He has 27 objectives and 54 factors this season.

The Related Press contributed to this report.