NEW YORK — Just when you thought they were out, the New York Rangers pull you back in.
The Blueshirts trailed by two goals on two separate occasions in their Saturday afternoon matinee against the Philadelphia Flyers at Madison Square Garden, but rallied late to pull off an improbable 5-4 shootout victory, giving them two crucial points in the standings.
With the win, the Rangers pulled to within one point of both the New Jersey Devils and New York Islanders for the two wild card spots in the Eastern Conference standings.
It wasn’t all good news, however. Team captain J.T. Miller suffered an apparent injury on the bad end of a reverse hit by Flyers defenseman Nick Seeler during the third period, went to the locker room and didn’t return.
Had coach Mike Sullivan said Miller was still being evaluated at the time of the post-game press conference, but the way he seemed to be favoring his arm or shoulder certainly didn’t seem promising.
“It’s pretty sad,” said forward Artemi Panarin, who scored the first two Rangers goals. “I don’t know what (the situation is), but I hope he’ll be all right.”
With Miller’s status moving forward uncertain — of note, the Rangers are set to face the Florida Panthers in the Winter Classic in Miami on Jan. 2 — the focus remains on the short-term, where the Original Six franchise remains somewhat unpredictable from night to night.
That trend applies to individual efforts as well, and Igor Shesterkin’s play on Saturday served as a prime example. The $11.5 million-per-year goaltender helped stake his team to an early 1-0 lead after Panarin’s first goal, but seemed to collapse a bit after a sequence in the second period in which the Rangers were curiously left shorthanded following a scrum that saw Noah Laba escape serious injury after a hard hit into the end boards following contact from Flyers forward Emil Andrae.
Travis Sanheim, Owen Tippett and Trevor Zegras potted three Flyers goals in a span of just three minutes and 16 seconds before Panarin was able to somewhat right the ship with his second of the day, but following a fourth Philly tally, a shorthanded goal from Rodrigo Abols that made it a 4-2 game through two periods, Shesterkin was down on himself, suggesting the team “played with no goalie” in the middle stanza.
However, he stabilized his game from there on out, stopping the final nine Flyers shots in the third period and overtime, as well as a perfect 2-for-2 showing in the shootout against first Zegras and then Travis Konency.
“Really important two points for us,” Shesterkin said. “I didn’t play well in the second period, but I just tried to reset my mindset and move on.”
Because he did, so can the rest of the team; the Rangers go on a challenging six-game road trip starting Sunday night in Nashville, and culminating with yet another appearance on the national stage in an outdoor game setting they seem to historically thrive in.