Postgame 5: Flyers fall to Blueshirts in 6-1 loss

The Philadelphia Flyers lost to the New York Rangers, 6-1, at Madison Square Garden on Thursday evening. The Rangers generated three goals by defensemen, and each member of the New York blueline recorded at least one point.

The Flyers grabbed a quick 1-0 lead on a 3-on-1 transition rush goal by Owen Tippett (14th goal of the season) at the back post at 1:25 of the first period. The assists went to Travis Konecny and Morgan Frost.

Ryan Lindgren cross-checked Noah Cates in front of the New York net at 4:47. On the ensuing power play, a turnover by Tippett led to a shorthanded scoring chance for Vincent Trocheck.

At 6:17, the power play abruptly ended with an interference penalty on Bobby Brink. During the brief 4-on-4 before the Rangers went on the power play, Ersson made an excellent save on Filip Chytil.

The Rangers knotted the game at 1-1 at the 9:00 mark. Braden Schneider maneuvered past Anthony Richard on the rush. Schneider (3rd goal of the season) attempted a cross-ice pass to Reilly Smith but the puck went into the net off Egor Zamula's stick. The assists went to Arthur Kaliyev and Smith.

The Rangers made it 2-1 at 10:24. A point shot by Ryan Lindgren as Adam Edstrom (5th goal of the season) deflected it to change the trajectory up and over Ersson. Edstrom had a body and stick positioning edge on Brink. The assists went to Lindgren and Adam Fox.

First period shots on goal were 15-11 (more shots than the Flyers allowed in the entire game on Saturday against the Devils). New York also blocked eight shot attempts by the Flyers and won 13 of the 21 faceoffs in the period.

The second period started out well for Philly with an excellent first shift by the Cates line. However, the Rangers soon extended their lead.

New York built a 3-1 edge at 4:44 of the second period. The Trocheck line hemmed the Frost line deep in the defensive zone. Artemi Panarin controlled the puck and got the Flyers to puck watch. The Rangers eventually generated a goal by defenseman K'Andre Miller (3rd) from the deep slot with traffic in front. The assists went to Will Borgen and Panarin.

The Flyers' fourth line -- Abols centering Richard and Hathaway -- was the team's most effective trio in the middle frame. Unlike most of the other lines, the Abols line spent their shifts doing much more forechecking and attacking than hanging on defensively. Abols had three scoring chances in the period, including one at the doorstep.

Panarin took an offensive zone hooking penalty at 12:35. The Flyers lost the initial faceoff, had a failed re-entry, a turnover and passed up an open shot opportunity. New York had a scoring chance on a counterattack after Panarin exited the penalty box.

Second period shots on goal were 17-9 Flyers (28-24 Flyers). The Flyers generated some scoring opportunities but had issues with New York's transition game. Notably, through two periods, odd-man rushes favored the Rangers by a 5-1 margin. New York also blocked 16 shots to 10 by the Flyers through 40 minutes and had a 23-16 edge on faceoffs over the Flyers through two periods.

The Rangers extended their lead to 4-1 at 5:15 of the third period. The goal unfolded a little bit like New York's second goal. From the slot, Chytil (11th) deflected a point shot from Urho Vaakanainen up and over Ersson. The second assist went to Miller.

A long defensive zone shift ended with Hathaway drawing an interference penalty on Panarin in the neutral zone. The Flyers pulled Ersson for a 6-on-4 and made some personnel adjustments. New York's Adam Fox (SHG, 3rd) scored an unassisted empty net goal as a Tippett pass intended for Konecny was intercepted by Fox near the New York blueline.

New York got a late power play on a Cates slashing penalty at 18:04. Smith (PPG, 10th) bagged a power play goal just 11 seconds later, assisted by Alexis Lafreniere and Chytil.

Third period shots on goal favored New York, 14-8 (37-36 Rangers for the game). Ersson stopped 31 of 36 shots in a losing cause. Shesterkin authored 35 saves on 36 shots.

The Flyers went 0-for-3 on the power play. They were 1-for-2 on the penalty kill.

FLYERS STARTING LINEUP

71 Tyson Foerster - 27 Noah Cates - 10 Bobby Brink
74 Owen Tippett - 48 Morgan Frost - 11 Travis Konecny
86 Joel Farabee - 14 Sean Couturier - 39 Matvei Michkov
80 Anthony Richard - 18 Rodrigo Abols - 19 Garnet Hathaway

6 Travis Sanheim - 8 Cam York
5 Egor Zamula - 55 Rasmus Ristolainen

24 Nick Seeler - 9 Jamie Drysdale

33 Samuel Ersson
[82 Ivan Fedotov]

PP1: Drysdale,Tippett, Frost, Konecny, Michkov
PP2: Ristolainen, Foerster, Cates, Brink, Sanheim

Scratches: 77 Erik Johnson (healthy), 44 Nicolas Deslauriers (IR), 25 Ryan Poehling (upper body), 21 Scott Laughton (personal).

TURNING POINT

Leading 1-0 early, the Flyers had the game's first power play. It went poorly, and marked the game's first momentum swing in New York's favor. There'd be several others during the game, including one started from a second poorly executed power play by Philadelphia.

POSTGAME 5 ("5 Things" Revisited)

1. Anthony RIchard returns: Richard's line had an excellent second period, especially for its center, Abols. Richard had a scare later in the period when he was accidentally kicked in the face by Miller's skate. Thankfully, the boot made only glancing contact and the blade missed Richard. The Flyer was still in pain, but it could have been a whole lot worse. In the third period, Richard replaced Brink on the power play and had some shifts in which Konecny skated on the Abols line and Hathaway was with Frost and Tippett.

2. Beezer back on track: Joel Farabee made a pair of good plays on first period shifts: one subtle, one obvious. At one juncture, rather than forcing a low-percentage play near the end of a shift, he tucked the puck in deep to allow for a line change. Late in the period, he powered the puck to the net for a scoring chance. For the game as a whole, Farabee skated 13:35 of ice time across 18 shifts (two shots on goal, one credited hit, one blocked shot).

3. Tippett-Frost-Konecny line: The line made an immediate impact over the game's first 85 seconds. After that, the trio had some sporadic offensive opportunities but spent more time in the defensive zone than desirable.

4. Between the pipes -- Ersson vs. Shesterkin: Ersson played better than his stats would suggest, especially over the first and second periods. However, the scorching hot Shesterkin was the superior goalie in this game just the Rangers collectively outplayed the Flyers.

5. Behind enemy lines -- Lafreniere: The first overall pick of the 2020 NHL Draft picked up a late assist on the Smith power play goal that closed out the scoring. Lafreniere had five shots on goal in the game.