Fly-by: Rangers 5, Flyers 2
Saturday, 02.11.2012 / 12:23 PM
/ News
philadelphiaflyers.com
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MINUTES IN THE BOX
Everyone knew that the Flyers-Rangers on a matinee would be heated contest. Everyone knows by now that there would almost certainly be scrums after every whistle, crashing the net and more than just one fight. Especially considering it was the fifth time this season they had faced off, including one on the NHL's biggest regular season stage - the Winter Classic. Those things certainly played out, but the difference maker in the game was the Rangers power-play which produced three of their goals in a 5-2 victory. "I think we have to stay out of the box. We know they have a good power play and we shot ourselves in the foot," said Claude Giroux, who has points in five of his last six games. "I think we didn't play that bad, but if we played five on five with them we'd win this game. That wasn't the case tonight." The penalty minutes in this contest exceeded each of the four previous meetings. Today's game saw a total of 110 penalty minutes, two fights and six 10-minute misconducts called. As a result, the Rangers were given seven opportunities on the man-advantage in which they went 3-for-7. The Flyers had four power-plays and admitted following the game that they needed to be more consistent. "Five on five for two periods, there wasn’t a whole lot going on" said Flyers head coach Peter Laviolette. "But their power play was dangerous tonight, they moved the puck well. We did have a break down or two early where we needed big saves out of our goaltender and we got it. We had a couple of turnovers in the neutral zone that let to odd man rushes and then again in the third period." The Flyers fall to 0-5-0 against the Rangers this season but get one more shot at them (Apr. 3 in Philadelphia). |
The Flyers have lost their last seven games to the Rangers (0-6-1) ... It’s the longest losing streak since they lost 10 in a row from Nov. 28, 1971 to Jan. 14, 1973. That same streak extended into a 13-game winless streak (0-11-2) that lasted through December 26, 1973. The Flyers fell to 4-8-1 this season in games that start before 7 p.m. Wayne Simmonds has recorded at least a point in five of his last six games... He has also posted five goals in his last six games. Claude Giroux has recorded at least a point in five of his last six games, posting four goals and seven points in that span. Giroux was also 13-for-21 (62 percent) on faceoffs. He’s been above 50 percent in 15 of his last 17 games. 
For that, forward Wayne Simmonds gets tonight's Flyers star. Simmonds scored the Flyers first goal of the afternoon, which knotted the score back up at 1-1. Simmonds also flung a beauty of a pass to a cutting Claude Giroux to spring him free for a breakaway goal to once again tie the game. Midway through the third period, Simmonds dropped the gloves, and eventually Brian Boyle to complete the 'hat trick'. Simmonds keeps adding to his career high in goals (18) and inches closer to breaking his points mark (40 - 2009-10). He currently has 34 points though 55 games. |
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| "We have to be better and we all know that. They are a good team and one of the best teams in the league. I mean if you want to win the cup, you have to find a way to beat those kinds of teams. The Red Wings are pretty good too, so tomorrow we have to make sure that we battle better. We lost a lot of battles tonight." -Claude Giroux "Every point that we can possibly get we need to get. I think we are going to be scratching and clawing going down the next half of the year. We need to start pulling out wins." -Wayne Simmonds |
Today's turning point came in the second period when the Rangers took a 3-2 lead midway through the frame. Having just equalized the game at 2-2, the Rangers went back on the power play, and like they had done for their previous two goals, scored to take back the lead on the Flyers. Rangers captain Ryan Callahan was the recipient of a tic-tac-toe play from the point to the crease where he tapped it by Bobrovsky. The tally came less than three minutes after the Flyers evened it at 2-2, and would prove to be the difference in the 5-2 final score. |
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PIC OF THE DAY: Sean Couturier and Brayden Schenn crash the net on Rangers' goalie Henrik Lundqvist.  |
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 Rangers 5, Flyers 2 Associated Press PHILADELPHIA (AP) - Ryan Callahan scored three goals and the New York Rangers beat Philadelphia 5-2 on Saturday for their seventh straight win over the Flyers. Marian Gaborik and Artem Anisimov also had goals for the Eastern Conference-leading Rangers, who broke out of their power-play funk and improved to 5-0 against the Flyers this season - including a win in the Winter Classic.  FULL RECAP |
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