NHL

Last-period heroics lock up Rangers win in Philadelphia

PHILADELPHIA — Henrik Lundqvist faced a flurry of shots in the third period, and stopped every one.

When it was over, Lundqvist had made 16 of his 36 saves in the final frame and helped the Rangers hang on for a 2-1 win over the Flyers.

“We played really good tonight,” Lundqvist said. “We had a lot of speed, energy. We took a couple of early penalties and that made it a little tougher for us, but we responded well, especially in the second period. They where all over the place, but we kept our cool and we managed to get a win.”

Artem Anisimov scored the go-ahead goal at 4:46 of the second period when his backhand shot bounced off of Ryan Parent’s shin and skipped past Philadelphia goalie Brian Boucher.

“He threw it to the net to the top of the crease, and it went off our guy into the net,” Boucher said. “A lot of goals in this league aren’t pretty and that was one of them.”

In front of the few fans who braved a massive winter storm, the Flyers lost for the 13th time in 16 games, despite outshooting the Rangers 37-24.

“We found a way to win,” Rangers head coach John Tortorella said. “I thought Henrik was outstanding, especially in that third period. He played really well when he had to.”

Chris Drury gave the Rangers a lead at 5:16 in the first period. He intercepted Claude Giroux’s clearing attempt in the slot and blasted a slap shop past Boucher.

Chris Pronger’s power-play goal tied it at 1 with 12:44 left in the first.

The Rangers assigned Ilkka Heikkinen and Bobby Sanguinetti to the AHL Wolf Pack immediately after the youngsters combined to form the third pair on defense.

The NHL’s holiday roster freeze is in effect from midnight last night through midnight, Dec. 27, with anyone on the roster ineligible for demotion to the AHL. Thus, the Rangers, at the 23-player maximum, could not have made a personnel move for the duration of the freeze without these moves to clear roster space.

The team can recall Heikkinen and Sanguinetti today for tomorrow’s match in Carolina, or recall one of the two plus Matt Gilroy.