Adam Fox scored 36 seconds into overtime as the New York Rangers clinched a playoff spot with a wild 6-5 victory over the visiting Philadelphia Flyers on Tuesday.
Fox gave the Rangers (48-20-4, 100 points) their eighth win in 10 games when he got a pass from Vincent Trocheck and lifted a shot from the middle of the slot over Philadelphia goaltender Samuel Ersson’s right arm for his 15th goal of the season.
The Rangers also moved three points ahead of the Carolina Hurricanes atop the Metropolitan Division and gave coach Peter Laviolette his 800th career regular-season win.
Mika Zibanejad and Jonny Brodzinski scored New York’s first two goals. Alexis Lafreniere scored twice while Trocheck added a short-handed goal and Artemi Panarin collected three assists to become the first Ranger to reach 100 points since Jaromir Jagr in 2005-06.
Scott Laughton and Ryan Poehling scored in the second for the Flyers (36-27-10, 82 points). Travis Konecny, Owen Tippett and Tyson Foerster tallied in the third for the Flyers.
Philadelphia held a 2-1 lead through the second period before the teams combined for seven goals in the third.
Foerster backhanded a loose puck during a massive scramble in the crease for a 5-5 deadlock with 3:31 remaining. Foerster scored 2 1/2 minutes after Lafreniere scored his second goal on a shot from the slot to give the Rangers a 5-4 edge.
Brodzinski started the flurry 83 seconds into the third and Lafreniere gave the Rangers their first lead on a fluky bounce at 2:57. Konecny scored on an odd-man rush for a 3-3 tie 6:45 into the third but Trocheck finished off a short-handed 2-on-1 with Zibanejad nearly three minutes later for a 4-3 New York lead.
The Rangers held the lead for 2:11 as Tippett finished off a breakaway with a backhand after corralling a loose puck.
Before all the offense in the third, Laughton and Poehling scored in the opening 11:39 of the second. After the Flyers dominated most of the middle period, Zibanejad netted a power-play goal with 4:32 left off a pass from Panarin.
Ersson allowed six goals on 27 shots while New York’s Igor Shesterkin allowed five goals on 41 shots.
–Field Level Media
