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Oskar Lindblom, Carter Hart help Flyers whip Rangers, 6-4

Oskar Lindblom had two goals, Scott Laughton collected three assists, and Carter Hart stopped 25 of 27 shots as the Flyers topped the host New York Rangers, 6-4, in a preseason game Wednesday.

The Rangers' Pavel Buchnevich redirects a shot past Flyers goalie Carter Hart, who played well in his two-period stint Wednesday.
The Rangers' Pavel Buchnevich redirects a shot past Flyers goalie Carter Hart, who played well in his two-period stint Wednesday.Read moreMARY ALTAFFER

NEW YORK — Flyers rookie Carter Hart couldn't contain his excitement about being on the ice against one of the NHL's goalie greats, Henrik Lundqvist.

Never mind that Lundqvist is aging, or that he looked shaky as he allowed five goals on 22 shots Wednesday before being replaced with about 13 minutes left in the second period.

"To come and play in Madison Square Garden and see Hank over there — that was pretty cool," Hart said with a huge smile, referring to Lundqvist by his nickname. "To be out here in this kind of environment, it's awesome."

Hart relieved Brian Elliott after the first period and stopped 25 of 27 shots, helping the Flyers defeat the New York Rangers, 6-4, and raise their preseason record to 3-1.

Oskar Lindblom (two goals), Scott Laughton (three assists), and Corban Knight (goal, two assists) each had three points for the Flyers.

Hart, 20, was told he outplayed the 36-year-old Lundqvist.

"Hank is one of the best goalies in the NHL," Hart said. "I can't take that away from him. He'll be probably a future Hall of Famer, so just to skate by him — I know I skated by him in the second period — was pretty cool. It's giving me goosebumps."

Lindblom, who played on a line with Laughton and Knight, scored a pair of even-strength goals to give the Flyers a 3-1 lead.

"It's good for the confidence," he said.

The Flyers dominated the first two periods, then were outshot by an 18-3 margin in the last 20 minutes.

"Too many pucks got to our net easily from the outside," coach Dave Hakstol said. "Mixed into all that, though, there were some really good individual performances and things we can take away that are really positive."

Like in Tuesday's 5-1 win over the Islanders, it was players who played primarily with the AHL's Phantoms last season who stood out for the Flyers. They got goals from Lindblom (two), Knight, German Rubtsov, Mikhail Vorobyev, and Dale Weise.

Weise is the only player in that group who played most of his games with the Flyers a year ago.

"You come out with two or three guys that have taken a step forward and pushed hard to make an argument that they belong and deserve to stay," Hakstol said.

The Flyers have 52 players left in camp and GM Ron Hextall expects to make several cuts Thursday.

Elliott’s night

Goalie Brian Elliott, making his first appearance of the preseason, stopped 11 of 13 shots in one period of action. Elliott had abdominal surgery in February and minor hip surgery — Hextall called it a "cleanup" — in the summer.

"I felt pretty good," Elliott said. "It's a delicate type of balance to push it and I guess go easy on it some days. I think this was a good first test to get 20 minutes of game action in."

It remains to be seen whether Elliott is ready for the Oct. 4 opener in Vegas.

"It's always a question mark when you kind of have to have a balancing act like we do," he said.

The Flyers still have five goalies in camp: Elliott, Michal Neuvirth, Hart, Anthony Stolarz, and Alex Lyon, who was injured in warm-ups Tuesday in Brooklyn. Hextall said he will have an update on Lyon's condition Thursday.

Hakstol would not say if any goalies would be trimmed from the roster Thursday.

Stay tuned.