After a strong home opener against the Chicago Blackhawks Friday night in which the Rangers won 4–2, the Blueshirts took their winning record on the road against the Philadelphia Flyers at the Wachovia Center on Saturday and held on to a gritty 4–3 win, boosting their season record to 4–0.
With backup netminder Steve Valiquette between the pipes, the Rangers played their game and scored four goals in the first period from Blair Betts, Fred Sjostrom, Michal Rozsival, and Nikolai Zherdev, who scored for the second straight night.
In addition to goals, the first period also had its share of pugilism. A fight between Colton Orr and Riley Cote erupted, but did little to fire up either squad.
However, that would change after a feisty bout between Brandon Dubinsky and Mike Richards, who inspired the Flyers to play a more aggressive game.
The Flyers got going in the second period with a shorthanded goal from Scott Hartnell, who fired a shot right off of a face off in the Rangers zone. Additional goals came from Simon Gagne and Mike Richards, who scored off a quick pass from Danny Briere in the third.
Tom Renney, and the entire Rangers bench, escaped with a sigh of relief after a five on three advantage for the Flyers in the third period resulted in no goals. They managed to hold on for the win despite the strong comeback from the Flyers that fell one goal short.
Unlike seasons past, the Rangers are no longer anchored by long-time captain Jaromir Jagr, whose contributions were instrumental in defeating the New Jersey Devils in last year’s first round playoff series.
Jagr left New York as a free agent and signed with Avangard Omsk of the KHL in Russia during the off-season. However, despite his absence, the Blueshirts are receiving dividends from newly signed free-agents Markus Naslund, 35, and Wade Redden, 31, both of whom scored goals in the club’s European match-ups against the Tampa Bay Lightning.
The Rangers will next host the New Jersey Devils at MSG, Monday at 7 p.m. The Devils are unbeaten at 2–0 with wins over the Islanders and Penguins. Devils netminder Martin Brodeur is off to a red-hot start with a .951 save percentage and 0.97 goals against average.
