Associated Press
Henrik Lundqvist made 28 saves in his second win over powerful Philadelphia this season, and rookie defenseman Stu Bickel had two more assists for the Rangers, who beat the Flyers 4-2 and moved into first place in the Atlantic Division on Friday night.
Bickel, in his third NHL game, helped set up goals by Derek Stepan and Ruslan Fedotenko in the second period. He has four assists since being recalled from the AHL.
Marian Gaborik added his league-leading 21st goal early in the third period and Ryan Callahan also scored for the Rangers (21-8-4), who jumped over the Flyers (21-9-4) in the Atlantic with their fourth straight win. Fans chanted, "First Place!" as the final minutes ticked down.
The Flyers own the NHL's best road record this season (13-4-2), but you wouldn't know it from their two trips to Madison Square Garden, where they have scored only two goals.
The Rangers broke a scoreless deadlock with the first of their two deflected goals in the second period.
Stepan made it 1-0 at 10:18 when he got the blade of his stick on a right-point drive by Bickel and squeezed the puck just inside the right post, past the surprised Ilya Bryzgalov.
Bickel struck again 5:12 later when another shot from the right point caught the stick of Fedotenko, surged into the net off the back bar and bounded back out.
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STAT OF THE GAME
The Rangers improved to 16-1-1 (a .917 winning percentage) in games when scoring first. Their .917 winning percentage ranks second in the NHL, while their 16 wins are tied for second in the league.
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| (selected by the local media) |
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| 1. Lundqvist |
2. Bickel |
3. Dubinsky |
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[47-26-9]
[51-24-7]