FLY-BY: Rangers 5, Flyers 3
Tuesday, 04.03.2012 / 6:15 PM
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| 1. DOWN BY TWO… AGAIN The Flyers once again made the task at hand difficult on themselves, falling behind by another two-goal deficit midway through the first period. The Rangers would capitalize on two more chances to make it 4-0 by the first intermission. The Flyers gave yet another valiant effort, but couldn't overcome being down by four, despite outshooting the Rangers 27-13 and out-scoring them 3-1 in the final two periods. 2. SOMETHING ABOUT BLUE The Flyers suffered a loss to the Rangers for the sixth time this season… The Flyers hadn’t been swept in regulation in a series of six games or more since the Rangers won all six games between the teams in 1971-72. 3. POWER PLAY THE DIFFERENCE The Flyers scored one of their three goals on the power-play, but couldn't take advantage of late opportunities on the man-advantage, eventually going 1-for-8 on the night, compared to the Rangers, who scored three of their five goals on the power play, going 3-for-6. 4. FIGHT NIGHT Despite not playing each other in almost two months, the Flyers-Rangers rivalry seems to be in full-force. Both Zac Rinaldo and Jody Shelley dropped the gloves with Brandon Prust and Mike Rupp respectively. Overall the two teams combined for 52 penalty minutes in the contest. 5. LAVY'S TAKE Peter Laviolette certainly knows the dangers of having to comeback game after game and knows that has to change for playoff success. "You’re really messing with fire by going down. We’ve got to be crisper. There’s things that we could have done in the first period to prevent goals and you’re right... And after that ,once we go back in, talk about it, go back in, put our foot on the gas and dominate the next 40 minutes. It’s not good enough. You’re not going to win a lot of hockey games going down by that many goals.” |
The last time the Flyers went without a win in a series of six or more games was the 2006-07 series against Pittsburgh, when they were 0-5-2. With three assists tonight, Claude Giroux now has 92 points on the season. That’s the most by a Flyer since Eric Lindros had 93 points in the 1998-99 season. Scott Hartnell’s 37th goal gives him the most goals by a Flyer since Jeff Carter scored 46 in the 2008-09 season. With 40 shots tonight, the Flyers have now had 36 or more shots in each of their last four losses – 40 tonight, 39 vs Ottawa, 38 vs. Tampa Bay and 36 vs. Florida. The Flyers had 82 attempts toward the net tonight – 40 SOG, 20 that were blocked and 22 that missed. Jakub Voracek led the Flyers with eight shots on goal, which ties his season high. Scott Hartnell led the Flyers with eight hits while also recording five shots on goal. 
Giroux tallied assists on all three Flyers goals to increase his totals for 64 on the year. He has now recorded three points in back-to-back games and ran his season total to 92 points (28G-64A) in 76 games. |
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| "I think I could play better. Like I said before, I was rusty and after missing a couple games and practices I have to recreate the game motions again. I liked our character. We didn't give up after it was four nothing." - Ilya Bryzgalov "It seems like we've had a lot of slow starts against them. They shut it down real good. They have a good system. They have good systems on that team and it's hard to come back against a team like that with a goaltender like that." - Henrik Lundqvist |
On a night when there could have been many turning points throughout, it turned out to be the Rangers penalty-killing unit, killing off a Derek Stepan penalty in the final 10 minutes of third period when the Flyers were buzzing. After recording three of the last four goals of the game, including two straight, to bring them within striking distance, the Flyers were denied on the power-play to keep it a two-goal deficit, eventually paving the way to a Rangers victory. |
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PIC OF THE NIGHT: Henrik Lundqvist dives to cover a loose puck with Hartnell in the crease.  |
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 Rangers 5, Flyers 3 Associated Press PHILADELPHIA (AP) - Ryan Callahan and Artem Anisimov scored as part of a four-goal first period, and the New York Rangers clinched the top seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs for the first time since 1994 with a 5-3 win over the Philadelphia Flyers on Tuesday night. The Rangers are tops in the East for the first time since Mark Messier led them to their last Stanley Cup championship 18 years ago. The Rangers, who lead the overall NHL standings with 109 points, are assured of home-ice advantage until at least the Stanley Cup finals.  FULL RECAP |
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