Voracek scores in OT to lift Flyers past Rangers
Forward also has two assists for Philadelphia; Panarin gets goal, two assists for New York
Voracek knocked down Artemi Panarin's attempted chip pass through the neutral zone and took the puck from the blue line in alone on goalie Keith Kinkaid, faking him with the backhand before sliding the puck into the net on his forehand.
"I was dead [tired]," Voraceck said. "Panarin was tired as well too. Just got a good bounce there. I knew I had some time, so I didn't want to give up breakaway. Good thing Kinkaid bit on that thing. It was a good feeling, but I was pretty tired after it."
Voracek also had two assists. Claude Giroux, Ivan Provorov and Joel Farabee each had a goal and an assist for the Flyers (14-9-3), who won for the first time in three games. Carter Hart made 20 saves for his first win since Feb. 28.
Philadelphia was 2-for-5 on the power play and 3-for-3 on the penalty kill.
"Definitely feels good," Farabee said. "Obviously dropped a few [against the Washington Capitals]. Not where we wanted to be, but we stuck with it. Jake and [Giroux] really stepped up tonight for us, and they were a big part of why we won."
Panarin scored a goal and had two assists. Kinkaid made 25 saves in his second consecutive start for the Rangers (11-12-4).
Panarin has four points (one goal, three assists) in two games since returning to the lineup after missing nine games while on a leave of absence that began Feb. 22.
"I did not really change my routine [during his leave of absence]," Panarin said. "Maybe I rested more, and maybe that's the lesson, that sometimes you should rest and you'll play better."
New York played without forward Pavel Buchnevich and defenseman Adam Fox, who on Monday joined forward Phillip Di Giuseppe on the NHL COVID-19 protocol list. Buchnevich is tied with Panarin for the Rangers lead with 22 points (eight goals, 14 assists), and Fox is their leader in ice time (24:32 per game) and is first among their defensemen in scoring (15 points; two goals, 13 assists).
The Flyers and Rangers play here again Wednesday.
"Loved our resolve," New York coach David Quinn said. "I thought we came out in the second period and really started doing the things we needed to do. I thought our pace was much better. I thought we were physical and certainly opportunistic and created a lot of chances for ourselves. We've got to build on that. Under tough circumstances, we got off to a slow start, and I thought we responded."
The Flyers had a 2-0 lead early in the first period on goals from James van Riemsdyk at 3:47 and Provorov at 5:05.
The Rangers scored three goals in a span of 7:04 in the second period to take a 3-2 lead. Panarin earned a point on all three.
He scored to make it 2-1 at 8:12 with a one-timer off a pass from
Tarmo Reunanen
, who was making his NHL debut after being recalled from Hartford of the American Hockey League on Monday.
Panarin set up Colin Blackwell's game-tying goal off a 2-on-1 rush that made it 2-2 at 10:52.
He made the pass to Filip Chytil that started the rush leading to Gauthier scoring to give New York a 3-2 lead at 15:16.
"I was really happy that the team, unlike earlier in the year, did not go down in spirits and came back after giving up a couple goals," Panarin said. "We did not have that quality earlier in the season. That quality is showing up more and more."
But a high-sticking penalty on Gauthier at 18:27 put the Flyers on the power play. Farabee scored nine seconds later on a short-side one-timer from the left face-off circle to tie it 3-3 at 18:36.
Kevin Rooney gave New York a 4-3 lead at 2:56 of the third period, scoring with a one-timer from the right circle.
But Giroux tied it 4-4 with a power-play goal at 5:33. He curled around the back of the net, got to the side of the left post, and tapped in a pass from Voracek.
"Jake literally set that whole play," Farabee said. "He's like, 'We're gonna win it, it's gonna go down to me, 'G' pretend like you're going up the wall and then go backdoor.' I was watching from the point, I actually couldn't even believe it. It's one of the cooler things I've seen."
Kevin Hayes' would-be go-ahead power-play goal at 16:56 of the third was negated by a successful coach's challenge for offside by the Rangers. Sean Couturier entered the zone early.
The Flyers scored on their only shot in overtime.
"It was definitely a game that we had to find a way to win," Philadelphia coach Alain Vigneault said.
NOTES: Flyers forward Michael Raffl played 9:22 in his return after missing four games with a hand injury. … Couturier had an assist and won 16 of 27 face-offs (59.3 percent). … Eight players have scored the Rangers' eight goals in their past two games.
