Zibanejad has hat trick, Rangers cruise past Flyers

PHILADELPHIA -- Mika Zibanejad had a hat trick, and the New York Rangers ended a five-game skid with a 6-3 win against the Philadelphia Flyers at Xfinity Mobile Arena on Saturday.

Artemi Panarin, playing his 800th NHL game, had two goals and an assist, and Brennan Othmann scored his first NHL goal for New York (21-22-6), which had lost four straight in regulation and was 0-4-1 in its previous five. Spencer Martin made 25 saves in his first start of the season.

"The last couple of days have been pretty emotional for the whole group and to respond with an effort like they did tonight for me is evidence that these guys are quality people and they care a lot about each other and about the Rangers," said Rangers coach Mike Sullivan, who won his 500th NHL game.

It was the first game for New York since president and general manager Chris Drury released a letter to the fans Friday stating they will be retooling the roster around core players while trading some who have been a part of their recent successes.

"You have all kinds of feelings toward something like that coming out," Zibanejad said. "It's a lot of emotions and obviously we have the early game today, so not a whole lot of time, I think 24 hours from it being posted to us playing. Huge credit to the guys. … It's not an easy situation."

"The way we responded today and the way we played today was great."

Travis Konecny, Travis Sanheim and Trevor Zegras each had a goal and an assist for Philadelphia (22-17-8), which has lost six in a row (0-5-1). Samuel Ersson made 22 saves in relief of Aleksei Kolosov, who was pulled after allowing goals on the first three shots he faced in the first period.

Philadelphia has been outscored 31-12 during its skid.

"We've kind of just been shooting ourselves in the foot, making silly mistakes, I think," Flyers defenseman Cam York said, "It's correctable stuff, stuff that we haven't done all year up to this point. So obviously it's really frustrating. But we're going to continue to work at it and we'll clean it up."

Konecny put the Flyers ahead 1-0 at 6:22 of the first period with a shot from the right face-off circle.

The Rangers then scored three times on three shots in a span of 1:20 to take the lead.

Panarin tied the game at 7:05 when he scored from the top of the left circle, and Zibanejad put the Rangers ahead 2-1 at 7:26 with a shot from inside the blue line.

Othmann made it 3-1 at 8:25 when he finished a 3-on-1 rush with a shot from the right side. It was his first goal in 34 NHL games.

"Every day since I got my first call up, you're wondering when it's going to go in, and then it doesn't go in for 34 games, you're wondering if you're ever going to get that one," he said.

Zibanejad scored on the power play at 5:38 of the second period to make it 4-1. It was his 117th power-play goal with the Rangers, passing Camille Henry and Chris Kreider for the most in team history.

Zibanejad finished his 10th career hat trick with a goal on a 2-on-1 with J.T. Miller to make it 5-1 at 8:25. It was his ninth with the Rangers, tying Bill Cook for the franchise record.

"I'm happy for 'Meek,'" Sullivan said. "I think he's had a really good year for us. He's played extremely well consistently on both sides of the puck. He's a real good 200-foot player. The types of goals that he scores are goal scorers' goals. That one at the end of the power play, just coming down on his strong side and not having to massage that puck. He keeps it on his forehand and it's literally right under the bar. There aren't a lot of guys that can score those types of goals, and I think that speaks volumes for his talent level. He's really committed to trying to play the game the right way, the way we're trying to play. I think he's personified that most of the year."

Panarin scored from the left face-off circle for a 6-1 lead at 14:31.

Sanheim finished a short-handed 2-on-1 to make it 6-2 at 16:48.

Zegras got the Flyers within 6-3 at 8:01 of the third period with a goal from the right circle.

"It's been a frustrating go here, but we've got to correct it," York said. "With how tight our division is, you can't really afford to go on slides like this."

NOTES: Three of Zibanejad's 10 hat tricks have come against the Flyers, and his 23 goals against them are the most he has against any NHL team. He also has 17 points (nine goals, eight assists) during an eight-game point streak. ... New York's three goals in 1:20 was their fastest three goals since they did it in 1:03 on Nov. 13, 2021. ... Panarin's assist on Zibanejad's second goal was his 400th with the Rangers. He has 16 points (four goals, 12 assists) during a nine-game point streak. ... Sullivan became the 30th NHL coach with 500 wins. He is 500-333-118 with 15 ties in 966 games with the Rangers, Pittsburgh Penguins and Boston Bruins. ... Martin's start was his first in the NHL since Nov. 30, 2024 with the Carolina Hurricanes. ... Flyers forward Rodrigo Abols had to be helped off the ice with a lower-body injury with 13:50 left in the first period. "Yeah, it's not good," coach Rick Tocchet said. "I'm not going to get into it, but it's not good."