Rangers Vs. Flyers Recap: Talbot Earns Second Straight Shutout In 3-0 Over Philadelphia

The New York Rangers continued their dominance over the Philadelphia Flyers this afternoon, and came out on top yet again with a 3-0 victory. Cam Talbot pitched his second consecutive shutout against the Flyers, and is slowly starting to return to his form from last night. In addition, Martin St. Louis also reached an amazing milestone this afternoon by notching his 999th, and 1,000th point in the win.

The Rangers did a tremendous job in their own end tonight, and essentially gave the Flyers very little room to work with. They were able to box out the players in front to prevent second change opportunities, which in turn, made Talbot's job that much easier. Right from the opening puck drop, the Rangers went to work in the offensive zone, and eventually went on their first power play at the 5:22 mark.

Luckily for the Rangers, the Flyers still employ Zac Rinaldo, and his roughing penalty wound up handing the Rangers an early 1-0 lead on the power play. The entire play started with a tremendous keep in along the boards by St. Louis, which allowed Derek Stepan to come in, and create some space at the blue line. While all of this was occurring, Dan Boyle had the cannon loaded on the far side, and unleashed a bomb after receiving a crisp cross-ice feed from Stepan. The shot wound up making its way through some traffic in front, and eventually sailed over the blocker side of Steve Mason.

Later on the period, both teams wound up exchanging power plays, but nothing was able to come of it, and the Rangers went into the first intermission with a 1-0 lead. Just 4:14 in the second period, however, the Rangers were able to extend their lead to 2-0, off of a goal coming from Marty St. Louis. Derek Stepan created this goal once again, as he was able to loft a soft wrist shot in on Steve Mason, which surprisingly gave him trouble. Mason wound up kicking the rebound into the high slot were St. Louis was positioned, which basically gifted St. Louis the easy tap in.

The Rangers gave the Flyers more than a fair share of power play opportunities throughout the game, but through their exceptional penalty killing, they were able to shutdown the Flyers entirely. Finally, in the third period, the Rangers faced a potential game changing penalty kill, as Chris Kreider was whistled down for a high sticking double minor. Little do they know, that penalty kill would eventually work out in their favor, as Rick Nash extended the Rangers lead to 3-0.

The Flyers were caught puck watching on their ensuing zone entry, and had four of the five players down below the Rangers goal line after chipping the puck in. Dan Boyle was able to relieve the pressure by chipping the puck back up the boards, which left Ryan McDonagh, Rick Nash, and Derek Stepan all alone at the blue line. Mark Streit was the lone Flyers defenseman back on the play, which resulted in a 3-on-1 rush back the other way for the Rangers. The puck eventually worked its way over to Stepan, and he quickly whipped it over to Nash who ripped a one-timer right over Mason's pad for the 3-0 lead.

Throughout the rest of the third period, neither team was able to generate anymore goals, and the final buzzer sounded in favor of the Rangers. The Rangers will get to enjoy this one for a couple of hours, as they head right back to Madison Square Garden for a second meeting with the Flyers tomorrow afternoon.