Flyers trounced by Rangers, 9-0, as Mika Zibanejad ties NHL record with 6 points in 1 period

The defense had more breakdowns Wednesday night than rush hour on the Schuylkill.

Goalie Brian Elliott, who could have sued for nonsupport, allowed five goals and was pulled for the second straight game as the Flyers were embarrassed on national TV.

The New York Rangers, feeding off repeated odd-man rushes, erupted for seven second-period goals and thrashed the Flyers, 9-0, at Madison Square Garden.

The Flyers set a dubious franchise record by allowing seven goals in a period.

Mika Zibanejad had three goals and three assists in the second period as the Blueshirts ended the Flyers’ string of five straight wins at the Garden. Zibanejad tied an NHL record with six points in a period, matching the Islanders’ Bryan Trottier in a 9-4 win over the visiting Rangers on Dec. 23, 1978.

“Embarrassing to be playing on the ice with the way we played,” captain Claude Giroux said after the most decisive shutout road loss in franchise history. “We didn’t help our goalies at all. Not much more to say. We know we have to wake up. The good thing is we have a game [Thursday].”

On St. Patrick’s Day, the Flyers should have felt green with envy over how the Rangers were the hungrier, more assertive team.

“We couldn’t defend and couldn’t make a play,” coach Alain Vigneault said. “... Nothing about this game was any good. We’re going to throw it out and get ready for the next one.”

The Rangers outworked the Flyers, won more board battles, and took advantage of several defensive miscues as they built a 9-0 lead in the first two periods, scoring the five on Elliott on 13 shots, and four on reliever Carter Hart on 10 shots.

Defenseman Phil Myers and Travis Sanheim were each minus-6.

“I’ve got to be a lot better. I was on the ice for a lot of goals against,” Sanheim said. “Obviously, I’m not doing my job. I have to take ownership of that and go from there.”

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While the Flyers were on a power play, defenseman Ivan Provorov lost the puck inside the offensive blue line, leading to Zibanejad’s shorthanded breakaway goal on the first shot Hart faced. That made it 6-0 with 11:33 left in the second, at which point the Flyers looked disinterested.

Fact is, they looked disinterested for most of the first two periods.

Earlier, Alexandar Georgiev, who was pulled from his previous two starts, robbed Nolan Patrick from point-blank range while the Flyers were on a power play. A short time later, defenseman Jacob Trouba scored from the right circle -- his first goal in 45 games -- to make it 5-0.

That was followed by three straight goals from Zibanejad.

New York’s entire coaching staff missed the game because of the COVID-19 protocol. Their replacements included Kris Knoblauch (acting head coach) and Gord Murphy, two former Flyers assistants who usually coach for Hartford’s AHL team.

“I’m sure it’ll be different not having their coaches,” Flyers center Kevin Hayes said before the game, “but ultimately, it’s how you perform on the ice.”

The Flyers performed like the 1974-75 Capitals. The Caps went 8-67-5 that season.

While the Rangers were without their coaches, they did get Adam Fox and Pavel Buchnevich (two goals, two assists) back from the COVID-19 protocol list. Both missed Monday’s 5-4 Flyers overtime win.

The first period was evenly played, but the Rangers built a 2-0 lead as they capitalized on Flyers mistakes and their goalie, Georgiev, made a handful of key saves.

Brendan Lemieux got behind Connor Bunnaman and took a goal-mouth feed from Fox and tapped the puck past Elliott with 12:55 left in the first. Fox threaded a perfect pass to Lemieux, a fourth-liner who scored for the first time in 19 games.

Artemi Panarin, who has six points in the three games he has played since leaving the team for personal reasons, finished off a two-on-one with a one-timer from the left circle, giving the Blueshirts a 2-0 lead with 5:13 to go in the first. Joel Farabee lost a board battle in the defensive end to put the sequence in motion.

The Flyers continued to get outworked early in the second period and it led to two goals by Buchnevich in a two-minute span, giving the Rangers a 4-0 lead. They scored the four goals on 12 shots.

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In other words, you can understand why the Flyers began the night 25th out of 31 NHL teams in goals allowed per game (3.27).

“The effort has got to be better,” Giroux said. “It’s not one or two guys. It’s everybody has to be better. ... It’s unacceptable. There needs to be an answer [Thursday].”

The Flyers will try to rebound Thursday against the Islanders, who will be hungry after losing two games to Philly earlier this season.

Godspeed, Mr. Hart.