It was just what the Doctor, or is it the schedule maker, ordered. The Flyers were without Jagr and Pronger and that was okay for Henrik Lundqvist who posted a 2-0 shutout of the Flyers stopping all 29 shots. It was a very physical game between two teams who dislike one another. While the Flyers outhit the Rangers it was the Ranger rock, Brandan Prust who did most of the physical damage.
Prust waited all of 4 seconds into the game before going after Zac Rinaldo and then again at the five minute mark he went at it with Wayne Simmonds. There is no love lost with these two teams and the Winter Classic promises to be a slam bang, two fisted brawl, er hockey game between these two long time protagonists.
Carl Hagelin scored his first NHL goal and Brad Richards was the other goal scorer for the Rangers. The Flyers without the big guy, Jagr, were not up to the task of scoring. They might not have scored with Jagr in the lineup, but at least it would have been fun and entertaining to see the Giradi-Jagr battle.
So now the Rangers have battled back from their two game mini slump with two impressive victories. A few more of these and we would not have to worry about shortened news conferences or one word answers. Gentlemen drop your gloves!
It took rookie forward Carl Hagelin only two games into his NHL career before he earned the right to wear the Broadway Hat. Saturday afternoon Hagelin proudly wore the hat following the Rangers 2-0 win over the Flyers, a game in which he scored his first National Hockey League goal---a crucial tally off his own rebound 5:06 into the third period which provided the Blueshirts a two-goal cushion. "It's a great hat," Hagelin said with a smile after the game. "I saw it in Gothenburg when we were there, just for fun, though, that time. It's a great feeling now. Hank deserves it, but he probably gets it so often (Ruslan) Fedotenko decided to give it to me."
Prust adds punch to Rangers-Flyers --
But it was Prust’s two fights in the first period that gave the game extra juice. After squaring off against Rinaldo -- whose preseason hit on Michael Sauer left the Rangers defenseman with a sprained right shoulder -- Prust knuckled up with Simmonds.
The two were sent to the box while verbally sparring at 9:20 of the first period and made arrangements to reconvene after the penalty expired.
“We just had a little chat,” Prust said. “We made eye contact when we got out and it wasn’t too hard.”...
Zac Rinaldo vs Brandon Prust --
Results Brandon Prust 56.2% Draw 28.8% Zac Rinaldo 15.1% From 73 votes with an average rating of 6.0
Wayne Simmonds vs Brandon Prust --
Results Brandon Prust 86.1% Draw 8.3% Wayne Simmonds 5.6% From 36 votes with an average rating of 7.2
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