Barkey impresses in NHL debut, but Flyers blow lead and suffer shootout loss originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia
NEW YORK — Denver Barkey didn’t look out of place Saturday afternoon at Madison Square Garden.
Not at all.
Playing his first career NHL game, Barkey made a major impact, but it was spoiled by a blown lead as the Flyers stumbled to the Rangers, 5-4, in a shootout.
The Flyers were on the power play for 2:51 minutes in overtime and failed to convert.
“You’ve got to come up with a goal for the team there,” Trevor Zegras said. “Just not good enough.”
Artemi Panarin and Vincent Trocheck scored in the skills competition for New York. Zegras and Travis Konecny came up empty for the Flyers.
Rick Tocchet’s club scored two power play goals, an even strength goal and a shorthanded goal, all in the second period.
But the Flyers couldn’t nail down a 4-2 third-period lead. Mika Zibanejad tied the game for the Rangers with just 2:34 minutes left. It was a power play goal after Rasmus Ristolainen was penalized for hitting the puck over the glass.
“We’ve just got to learn how to handle pressure,” Tocchet said. “We knew at the beginning of the year it was something we were going to have to do. But we’ll take the point when we thought we should have had two.”
Zegras, Travis Sanheim, Owen Tippett and Rodrigo Abols provided the Flyers’ markers. Abols’ tally came on the penalty kill as the Flyers were nursing a one-goal lead. Sanheim made a great play to find him.
In the third period, Sanheim was left bloodied after taking a puck to the face. The 29-year-old defenseman had to exit before eventually returning.
The Flyers (17-10-7) finished their road trip 1-1-2. They couldn’t rebound from a bad 5-3 loss Thursday night to the Sabres. But they avoided dropping consecutive games in regulation, something they’ve done just once this season (Nov. 1-2).
“We’re only just past a third of the way in, so there’s still lots of hockey to be played,” general manager Danny Briere said an hour before puck drop. “We saw last game, a little bit of a bump in the road in Buffalo, didn’t have our best game, it’s going to happen, there are going to be ups and downs. We’re trying to stay even-keeled as much as possible.”
The Rangers (18-15-4) improved to just 5-10-3 at home.
“Metro Division matchup, you obviously want to get as many points as you can and not give any up,” Tippett said. “It’s one point. We’d like to have two, but there are things to work on.”
• Barkey made his NHL debut after being called up Friday from AHL affiliate Lehigh Valley.
“He won a lot of battles,” Tocchet said. “He’s a good player. I like him a lot.”
The 20-year-old’s parents and brother were in attendance after they arrived around 3 a.m. ET.
“I think there was a bunch of Toronto snow and their flight got delayed,” Barkey said, “but thankfully they’re here.”
In just a 23-second span of the second period, the winger picked up two assists as the Flyers flipped a 1-0 deficit into a 2-1 lead. Barkey had a primary helper on Sanheim’s game-tying power play goal before recording another one on Tippett’s go-ahead goal.
“A super skilled player,” Tippett said. “Brings a lot of energy.”
A little over three minutes later, Barkey drew a penalty and Zegras then padded the Flyers’ lead to 3-1 on the ensuing power play.
“I thought he was great,” Zegras said. “Obviously the offense was good, but he’s a really smart player, made a lot of plays, so I was very impressed.”
Not even three and a half minutes into the game, Barkey nearly scored his first goal. He had back-to-back looks right in front, but was denied by New York netminder Igor Shesterkin.
Barkey played on a line with Tippett and Sean Couturier. The 2023 third-rounder is just 5-foot-9 and around 170 to 175 pounds, but his hockey IQ and motor are excellent. He has opened eyes in Year 1 with the Phantoms.
“He came in, he played extremely well,” Briere said. “I think the biggest thing from the reports was his consistency. He was good night after night and has earned a look.”
• Samuel Ersson was in net for the Flyers as Dan Vladar missed the game with an upper-body injury.
The Flyers don’t believe the injury is serious. Briere even jokingly called it a “boo-boo.”
“He should be back, we hope, by Monday,” the Flyers’ GM said. “We don’t know for sure, but that’s what we’re hoping for.”
Ersson had 23 saves on 27 shots against the Rangers and wasn’t sharp in the third period.
Trocheck trickled one past him to make it 4-3. It was a shot that the 26-year-old goaltender knew he should have denied.
Panarin beat Ersson twice in regulation. He had the game-opening goal with 36 seconds left in the first period and then drew New York to within 3-2 during the second period before Abols scored at shorthanded.
Shesterkin stopped 28 of the Flyers’ 32 shots.
• The Flyers were also without key center Christian Dvorak. The 29-year-old is considered day to day with a lower-body injury.
“Just needs a few days,” Briere said. “He won’t be able to dress today, but we don’t expect him to miss, hopefully, no more than today.”
Garnet Hathaway was a healthy scratch for the first time this season.
It couldn’t have been an easy decision for Tocchet, even with the veteran winger’s drought offensively. Hathaway hasn’t recorded a point in 33 games.
“I think he’s had some tough moments, he’s trying to find his game,” Tocchet said. “But it’s not just him. He’s good when he plays with speed guys, so we’ve also got to help him, too.”
• The Flyers return home for a matchup Monday with the Canucks (7:30 p.m. ET/NBCSP).
Tocchet came to the Flyers from Vancouver, where he spent parts of the last three seasons.
