RANGERS FALL IN PRESEASON HOME OPENER 6-4

Blueshirts Fail to Overcome Two Goal Deficit 6-4

Mounting 40 shots on goal and holding the Flyers to just 2 shots on goal in the third period of Wednesday's preseason opener at MSG just wasn't enough to pull out another come from behind win.

Giving up a goal in the first two minutes of the game started off a rough night for Rangers veteran netminder Henrik Lundqvist who played in just over 26 minutes but allowed 5 goals on 22 shots. The Rangers were down 2-0 by the time Matt Beleskey who was acquired at the deadline in last year's Rick Nash trade cut the Philadelphia lead 2-1 but the Flyers set the tone for the night extending the lead to two goals once agian. Ryan Spooner was able to bring New York back within one goal scoring with just under a minute to go before the buzzer signaling intermission.

Lundqvist surrendered the last two goals scored against him in the second, split by a tally from Pavel Buchnevich that once again brought the Rangers within one. Free agent signee Dustin Tokarski replaced Lundqvist in net and did not allow a goal, stopping the 10 shots he faced.

Filip Chytil brought the Rangers within a goal early in the third but the Rangers although firing on all cylinders could not get one past the Flyers' Carter Hart who stopped 25 of the 26 shots he faced, most of them coming in the third period.

Ryan Spooner missed the third period last night, having never returned from the Rangers locker room following the second intermission. It was reported that he suffered a lower body injury. Spooner has a hip strain and that pulling him from the game was "precautionary."

FINAL GAME STATS (Preseason Game 2)

NY Rangers 4  Philadelphia Flyers 6

SOG: NYR 40 PHI 33
PIM: NYR 10 PHI 20
PP: NYR 2/9 (22.2%) PHI 2/4 (50%)
HITS: NYR 20  PHI 34
FO: NYR  31 (46.3%) PHI 36 (53.7%)
BLK: NYR 19 PHI 4

GOALTENDERS: NYR H. Lundqvist 17 SV 26:37 TOI , D. Tokarski 10 SV
                                     PHI B. Elliot 13 SV 23:04 TOI , C. Hart 25 SV

Scoring Summary
1st Period
PHI 10 2:10 Oskar Lindblom 1 (Assists: Corban Knight 1, Scott Laughton 1)
PHI 20 7:11 Corban Knight 1 (Assists: Oskar Lindblom 1, Scott Laughton 2)
NYR 21 13:05 Matt Beleskey 1 (Assists: Brendan Smith 1)
PHI 31 18:30 Oskar Lindblom 2 (Assists: Scott Laughton 3, Corban Knight 2)
NYR 32 19:21 Ryan Spooner 1 (power-play) (Unassisted)

2nd Period
PHI 42 0:29 Dale Weise 1 (power-play) (Assists: T.J. Brennan 1, Claude Giroux 1)
NYR 43 2:31 Pavel Buchnevich 1 (power-play) (Assists: Mika Zibanejad 1, Ryan Spooner 1
PHI 53 5:33 German Rubtsov 1 (power-play) (Assists: Jordan Weal 1, Carsen Twarynski 1)

3rd Period
NYR 54 3:05 Filip Chytil 1 (Assists: Pavel Buchnevich 1, John Gilmour 1)
PHI 64 15:02 Mikhail Vorobyov 1 (Unassisted)

Penalty Summary
1st Period
PHI 3:05 Mikhail Vorobyov (Hooking - 2 min) drawn by Ryan Spooner
NYR 13:17 Gabriel Fontaine (Interference - 2 min) drawn by Dale Weise
PHI 19:08 Robert Hagg (Cross-Checking - 2 min) drawn by Matt Beleskey
NYR 20:00 Vladislav Namestnikov (Tripping - 2 min) drawn by Radko Gudas

2nd Period
PHI 1:33 Jordan Weal (Hooking - 2 min) drawn by Filip Chytil
PHI 1:33 Nicolas Aube-Kubel (Slashing - 2 min) drawn by Filip Chytil
NYR 4:31 Libor Hajek (Holding - 2 min) drawn by Connor Bunnaman
PHI 15:02 Jordan Weal (Slashing - 2 min) drawn by Jimmy Vesey