The Rangers faced a fair number of curveballs during the hectic 2020-21 NHL season, but Wednesday brought a four-seam fastball.
It was a 160 mph heater that knocked the team out of the yard and into the Hudson River.
About 2 ½ hours before the puck fell in their rematch against the Flyers, the Rangers announced that their entire coaching staff was required to implement the COVID-19 protocol and were unavailable to participate in the game.
But the Blueshirts hit a thousand despite the unexpected uproar behind the bench, beating the Flyers 9-0 for their first win over Philadelphia in the regulations this season. It was their third shutout of the season and second in the last three games, while their nine goals counted as a new season.
The Rangers were in a class of their own. And the first was Mika Zibanejad, who took his fifth hat-trick of his career and delivered three assists. Pavel Buchnevich cleared with two goals and two assists. It was the best game of the season for Zibanejad, who last season had a five-goal game against Washington on March 5, 2020.
Alexandar Georgiev threw his first shutout since his first start of the season on January 16 against the Islanders, turning aside all 26 shots he encountered.
Rangers head coach David Quinn and assistant coaches Jacques Martin, David Oliver and Greg Brown were all unavailable for the game, so the AHL Hartford staff filled in. Wolf Pack head coach Kris Knoblauch and associate coach Gord Murphy found themselves behind an NHL bench again. for the first time since they were both fired by the Flyers in 2018-19.
Murphy was the Rangers’ assistant during the 2019/20 bubble playoffs when former assistant Lindy Ruff was hired by the Devils. Rangers associate general manager Chris Drury also assisted in coaching responsibilities against the Flyers.
“It came as a shock,” said Zibanejad during his pre-game interview with NBC.
Using the COVID-19 protocol does not necessarily mean that one of the coaches has tested positive for the virus. However, Rangers attacker Phil Di Giuseppe has been on the coronavirus protocol list since Sunday, which could mean that he did indeed test positive.
Placement in the COVID-19 protocol could mean that a player or coach was considered at high risk to have had close contact with someone who did test positive. It could also be for other precautionary reasons.
Unlike the Rangers, the Flyers were slow and goaltender Brian Elliott was drawn after the Rangers made it 5-0 in the second period at just 7:30. Carter Hart, Philadelphia’s usual starting netminder, couldn’t stop the bleeding either, as he scored four goals – including all three of Zibanejad’s – on 10 shots in the second period alone.
Behind goals from Brendan Lemieux and Artemi Panarin in the opening period, the Rangers were poised to take the game home. Buchnevich buried two goals in the space of two minutes before Jacob Trouba scored his first count of the season once in the back of the net and ended Elliott’s night.
After Hart took over, Zibanejad opened the score on his first hat-trick since October 3, 2019 with a short breakout at 8:27 in the second for the 6-0 score. With the Rangers in power shortly after, Zibanejad made a strong move towards the net and flipped the top shelf of the puck. Hats from the few fans in the crowd rained down after Zibanejad converted on a two-on-one with Chris Kreider.
Filip Chytil closed the score in the last seconds of the second period.