PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Alexis Lafrenière scored, Matt Rempe netted his first career goal and got the Rangers going with a first-period fight and New York tied a franchise record with its 10th straight victory, beating the Philadelphia Flyers 2-1 on Saturday.
Igor Shesterkin made 39 saves for the Rangers, who previously won 10 in a row during the 1972-73 and 1939-40 seasons. They can set a club mark for consecutive victories on Sunday at Columbus. The Metropolitan Division-leading Rangers have not lost since Jan. 26.
Tyson Foerster scored for Philadelphia, which was defeated for just the third time in its last eight games. The Flyers entered in third place in the Metropolitan, 13 points behind New York.
Rempe, a 6-foot-7 rookie sixth-round pick playing in his fourth career game, netted the game-winner when Barclay Goodrow’s shot deflected off his right skate and past goalie Samuel Ersson with 13:29 to play. Ersson made 22 saves.
Lafrenière gave the Rangers a 1-0 lead with 8:04 left in the second when his wrist shot got through Ersson during a 4-on-4 situation. It was his 17th of the season and third in two games.
The goal capped a wild sequence that began when Philadelphia’s Garnet Hathaway was whistled for a double-minor high-sticking penalty. Philadelphia, which entered leading the NHL with 13 short-handed goals and the league’s second-best penalty-kill unit, nearly got on the board, but Scott Laughton’s wrist shot that beat Shesterkin went off the crossbar.
Lafrenière almost scored on the power play two minutes after Laughton’s miss, but Ersson made the save of the game, denying the backhand try with a stellar left pad save. Philadelphia then nearly had another great short-handed chance, but Artemi Panarin held Cam Atkinson, resulting in a Rangers penalty and a 4-on-4 situation.
Philadelphia tied it 2:36 into the third when Foerster finished in front after a nifty pass from behind the net from Scott Laughton.
Just three minutes in, Philadelphia’s Nicolas Deslauriers and Rempe dropped the gloves in a heavyweight duel. Both players landed heavy punches, with Deslaurier getting cut on the forehead by one of Rempe’s hard right hands. The fight ended with Deslaurier tackling Rempe to the ice.
The players jawed in the pregame warmups and it carried over to the ice. It has been quite a week for Rempe, who fought Islanders tough guy Matt Martin in his debut on Sunday and was ejected for a hit to the head of New Jersey’s Nathan Bastian in New York’s 5-1 victory over the Devils on Thursday.
Rempe entered with 22 penalty minutes in just 9:47 of ice time in three career games. The 33-year-old veteran Deslauriers is no stranger to the penalty box, having served 729 penalty minutes in 635 games entering Saturday.
The scrap seemed to ignite both teams for the afternoon start.
“That’ll wake you up quick,” Rangers coach Peter Laviolette said on the national television broadcast.
Philadelphia leading scorer Travis Konecny did not play due to an upper-body injury. He has 27 goals and 54 points.
UP NEXT
Rangers: Visit Columbus on Sunday.
Flyers: Visit Pittsburgh on Sunday.
