Rangers score 6 straight, top Flyers to extend point streak to 10

NEW YORK -- Igor Shesterkin made 33 saves, and the New York Rangers scored six straight goals to extend their season-long point streak to 10 games with a 6-1 win against the Philadelphia Flyers at Madison Square Garden on Thursday.

Shesterkin is 6-0-1 with 10 goals against for a .948 save percentage and 1.39 goals-against average in his past seven starts, including one goal against in his past 10 periods. New York, which has won two games in a row, is 7-0-3 with 17 different goal scorers since Jan. 5.

It's a stunning turnaround for the Rangers, who lost 16 of 21 games from Nov. 21-Jan. 4.

"Of course it's nice, but even in the tough moments, which we had, I think we didn't lose our heads," Rangers forward Filip Chytil said. "We know the team we have and we didn't forget (how) to play hockey in a couple months. Sometimes you have stretches like this in a season, it's about the team and how it responds. I think for the last month we're responding in a good way and that's why we're winning these hard games. We have to keep going like this."

Chytil, Adam Fox, K'Andre Miller and Reilly Smith each had a goal and an assist. Braden Schneider scored, and Urho Vaakanainen, Ryan Lindgren and Will Borgen each picked up an assist as all six New York defensemen had at least one point in the same game for the first time since Dec. 8, 2019.

"We talk about playing five-man defense and I think we've done a really good job of doing that," Schneider said. "Same thing in the O-zone. When we can all get moving and create things it's hard to defend. I thought our 'D' did a great job at getting movement going, getting shots to the net and then our forwards also did a good job of backing us up when we went down. We were all working all together and it's fun playing offense like that."

Owen Tippett scored, and Samuel Ersson made 31 saves for the Flyers (22-21-6), who had both a three-game winning streak and season-long six-game point streak end. They were 5-0-1 in their previous six games.

"One of the keys to the game is their goalie," Philadelphia coach John Tortorella said. "I mean, we end up with 24, 25 scoring chances and couldn't solve him. On the other end of it, point shots with deflections. I don't think we blocked enough shots. A couple good tip-ins by them. Sometimes those are plays you don't even notice in the game; they tipped them tonight and it hurt us."

The Flyers had a 1-0 lead 1:25 into the game, when Tippett connected off a 3-on-1 rush. Travis Konecny's pass to Tippett into the slot redirected into the net off his skate, ending Shesterkin's shutout streak at 165:28.

But the Flyers couldn't grab hold of the momentum after that goal.

Schneider tied it 1-1 at 9:00 when his pass to Smith hit off Egor Zamula's stick and went in.

Adam Edstrom gave New York a 2-1 lead 1:24 later with a high slot deflection of Lindgren's shot from the point at 10:24.

"They get one, then they get another, and you're behind on the road against a confident team," Philadelphia forward Garnet Hathaway said. "That's hard to come back from."

Miller made it even harder when he scored to make it 3-1 at 4:44 of the second period.

Artemi Panarin spun with the puck at the left-wing half-wall, moved up to the point and dished it across to Borgen, who quickly found Miller in the middle. He carried it to the top of the circles and scored with a blocker-side wrist shot through Vincent Trocheck screen on Ersson.

"We had some sustained O-zone pressure, broke down their defense and 'Borgs' made a great play finding me in the middle," Miller said. "I tried to make myself open and tried to get something on net."

Shesterkin made 17 saves in the second period. Tortorella said he counted 10 scoring chances in the period.

"I thought we developed a lot of offense," Tortorella said. "We couldn't solve their goalie."

Chytil extended the lead to 4-1 at 5:15 of the third period, scoring on a deflection of Vaakanainen's shot.

The Rangers outshot the Flyers 14-6 in the third after getting outshot 17-8 in the second.

"They were flying in the second period," Chytil said. "Luckily we scored one goal and we went two goals up. Then we scored the fourth one and it gives us more confidence in the third period."

Fox scored a short-handed empty-net goal at 16:53 to make it 5-1, and Smith added a power-play goal at 18:15 for the 6-1 final.

"Everybody in this room knew what we were capable of and how good of a team we are; I think it was just a matter of believing, honestly," Miller said. "These last couple games we've shown a lot of good things, how good of a team we can be when we're on. It's been great fun the last couple of weeks."

NOTES: This is the third straight season the Rangers have had a point streak of 10 or more games. It's also the 14th time in team history. … The Rangers lead the NHL with 43 goals in January. … Fox has 40 points for the sixth consecutive season. The only defensemen in Rangers history with as many consecutive 40-point seasons are James Patrick (seven from 1985-92) and Brian Leetch (six from 1993-99).