Adam Fox was the difference Thursday night, and the Rangers needed every bit of him.
New York’s 3-2 comeback win over the last-place Flyers at Madison Square Garden was built on third-period goals from Pavel Dorofeyev and Tye Kartye, but the whole thing turned because Fox kept dragging the Rangers back into the fight. In a game where plenty of his teammates came and went with their effort, Fox delivered the kind of steady, forceful, all-situations performance that can save a team from itself.
Trailing 2-1 late, the Rangers finally found their push through Fox. He held the puck in near the blue line, then slipped a smart pass to Mika Zibanejad on the right-wing wall during the power play. Zibanejad answered with a sharp feed to Dorofeyev, who blasted a shot past Joseph Woll’s shoulder to tie it 2-2 with 6:08 left in regulation.
Then Fox did it again.
Less than two minutes later, he spotted Kartye and sent a perfect pass from his own end to the forward’s stick, behind all five Flyers skaters. Kartye was in alone and beat Woll with a shot past the glove, flipping what looked like a bad home loss into a win the Rangers could actually feel good about.
Fox finished with two assists and now has 21 points this season. He became the fourth Rangers defenseman ever to reach 20 points in 17 games or fewer, joining Brian Leetch, Brad Park and Sergei Zubov. He also logged a season-high 25:28 of ice time and was on the ice for the final 1:44 as New York closed it out.
That mattered because the Rangers had no margin for error. They were 0-6-0 when trailing after two periods before Thursday, and they came into this one after ending a four-game losing streak with a win Tuesday over the St.
Louis Blues. With a four-game road trip next and a 1-5-1 record away from home, this was the kind of game they could not afford to waste.
The Rangers had actually started well. They opened the scoring in the first period and won puck battle after puck battle over the first 20 minutes.
But the second period changed the shape of the night. The Flyers, last in the NHL at 2.17 goals per game, took control in the middle frame and carried a 2-1 lead into the third.
New York was better in the final period, but Fox was the engine. He was named the game’s third star, though that felt light for the impact he had on the result.
Dorofeyev’s goal was a big moment in its own right. It was the kind of breakthrough the Rangers and the player himself had been waiting for, especially with the debut of the Hometown Remix jersey in the mix.
The former Vegas Golden Knights sniper, who is making $11 million annually, had hit the post earlier in the game and hadn’t been at his best defensively. Still, he came through with the kind of goal that can change a night.
He now has three goals in his last five games and five this season, with Thursday’s being the most important of the bunch.
There was also a clear swing point in the third period. The Rangers had already started to tilt the ice by winning more puck battles and getting more pucks and bodies to the net.
Their urgency looked a lot more like the first period, when Kartye and J.T. Miller set the tone with a hard, aggressive style.
Denver Barkey’s slashing penalty at 13:13 looked like the moment the game could turn, even with the Rangers’ power play having been mediocre this season. It did turn there. Dorofeyev scored on the man advantage, Kartye followed shortly after, and the Flyers’ chance to escape Madison Square Garden with a win disappeared.
In Other News...
Wolf Pack's Offense Vanishes As Rangers Goalie Picture Gets Interesting
The Hartford Wolf Packs recent momentum hit a wall in Hershey, where a 4-1 loss to the Bears snapped a three-game point streak and left the offense searching for answers. Even so, there was a notable development in net for the Rangers organization, with Joonas Korpisalo on a conditioning loan to Hartford and getting a look as the goalie picture continues to take shape.
Hartford did manage one goal in the defeat, but it was not enough to keep pace in an Atlantic Division matchup that quickly tilted away from them. The Wolf Pack now head to Rochester to continue their road trip, and for the Rangers, the bigger takeaway may be less about the final score than the fact that Korpisalo is back in game action and part of the conversation again. [Read more 🡒]
Rangers May Need To Act Fast On Tye Kartye
Tye Kartye has given the Rangers exactly the kind of low-cost production teams spend all season trying to find, and his fit has only become more obvious as the games have piled up. Through 16 games, he has chipped in 4 goals and 7 assists while giving New York a useful, affordable option in a lineup that is always being measured against the salary cap.
The question now is whether the Rangers can keep that value from becoming a short-term benefit only. A player who arrives cheaply and produces immediately tends to force an early conversation about the next contract, especially when the front office has to balance roster flexibility with the chance to lock in a useful piece before his price climbs. [Read more 🡒]
Kucherov Just Turned Tampa Bays Biggest Contract Fight Into Something Bigger
Nikita Kucherovs situation in Tampa has shifted from a contract dispute into something much larger, and it now reads like one of the leagues most closely watched standoffs. The Lightning winger asked for a trade, pointing to poor communication and a lack of respect rather than making this strictly about money, even as he remains a pending unrestricted free agent with a massive next contract hanging over everything.
Tampas front office and coaching staff have said they do not intend to move him, and most around the league still expect him to stay through the season before testing the market in free agency. If it gets to that point, the ripple effect could be significant, with several teams already viewed as realistic landing spots and the Rangers among the clubs keeping a close eye on how this plays out. [Read more 🡒]