The New York Rangers rookies came away from Allentown with two losses in their two games and never held a lead in either of the games. After losing 3-2 in the opening match, they fell again 4-1, including two late empty net goals for the Flyers.

Coach Jay Leach gave Cole Beaudoin and Alberts Smits the night off and went with a line-up that looked short on offensive talent through much of the game. The Flyers deserved the win, having the better of the chances and spending more time in the Rangers zone.

WHO STOOD OUT

Goaltender Danai Shaiikov saw his first action after Callum Tung started game 1 and initially looked nervous in the crease before settling down. He ended up making several quality saves, though his second allowed goal came off of a flat angled shot that he wasn’t square to. For the most part he looked economical and well positioned on shots. There were a couple of moments around the crease he got a little out of position, but no harm was done.

Up amongst the forwards, Adam Sykora was unsurprisingly in the mix a lot. As we saw for the Rangers last year, he’s an energetic guy who pursues the puck and mixes it up with the opposition. Darian Anderson also had some good moments, particularly putting pressure on the puck carrier, and might be a guy worth keeping an eye on as a bottom six player.

MIXED BAG WITH GREENTREE

Clearly Liam Greentree knows what to do when he has the puck, and he ended up scoring the only goal for the Rangers. It came shortly after he’d turned it over, though Tomas Chrenko and Sykora managed to regain in moments later, with Sykora setting up a wide open Greentree for a quick release shot that beat the netminder high to the glove side.

On the downside, Greentree looked a little casual at times without the puck and will need to increase his tempo if he wants to stick in the NHL going forward. He appears to have the talent, so it’ll come town to the other parts of his game.

Speaking of Chrenko, he looked to become more comfortable as the game went on. While we didn’t see much offensive creativeness, he showed some good instincts in pursuing the puck and knowing where it was going to be.

GREEN BLUELINE

Drew Fortescue clearly looked like the best defenseman out of a fairly inexperienced bunch. He was often the one who was there to recover the puck and begin setting up the play out of the zone. His partner William Trudeau had a couple of rough shifts, including on the first goal when he got caught in the neutral zone to allow a two on one the other way with the forwards unable to backcheck quick enough.

Another guy who stood out was Evan Passmore. The big 6-4 216lb Canadian was often in the mix when things got a little feisty. He’ll be almost certainly heading back to the OHL for his senior year, but could be a Hartford regular next season.

OTHER NOTES

Jacob Battaglia and Brody Lamb were generally kept quiet. Battaglia had a chance to convert off the rush but couldn’t get the puck cleanly, while Lamb got only half chances throughout the game. Dylan Roobroeck showed some willingness to get physical, but didn’t show much offensively either.

Another guy that was generally quiet was Nathan Aspinall. Like Lamb he got a couple of half chances, but never really threatened the net and had few standout plays.

BACK TO NEW YORK AND THEN TRAINING CAMP

The prospects will now return to Greenburgh and finish out their final two days of Rookie Camp ahead of the start of the full Training Camp on Wednesday. Many of the players will likely get a chance to hang around for at least a few days, with only a handful likely to get into a preseason game.