Pickard makes 31 saves, Flyers shut out Rangers

PHILADELPHIA --Calvin Pickard made 31 saves for his first shutout of the season, and the Philadelphia Flyers ended a four-game losing streak by defeating the New York Rangers 4-0 at Wells Fargo Center in the 2018 Discover NHL Thanksgiving Showdown on Friday.

Travis Konecny (one goal, two assists), Sean Couturier (two goals, one assist) and Claude Giroux (three assists) each had three points. Jordan Weal scored for the Flyers (10-10-2), who were 0-3-1 in their previous four games, allowing the first goal in each game.
Philadelphia is 6-1-1 when it scores first and 4-9-1 when it doesn't.
WATCH: [All Rangers vs. Flyers highlights]
"There weren't many guys that were below the bar," Flyers coach Dave Hakstol said. "There were none, to be honest with you. We played a real good 60-minute game. We got good minutes out of everybody and everybody went out and did their job, from our goaltender on out."
Henrik Lundqvist made 42 saves for the Rangers (12-9-2), who had their three-game winning streak end. It's their second loss in regulation and third overall since Oct. 30 (9-2-1).

The Flyers' top line of Konecny, Couturier and Giroux, have 18 points (seven goals, 11 assists) in the past three games.
"The first few shifts I think our group was sharp," Couturier said. "We were transitioning really fast. We didn't let them forecheck anything. We created our own pressure and we created a lot of chances off of that."

The Rangers were shutout for the first time this season.
We really didn't have our legs from the get go," New York coach David Quinn said. "Every few games you're going to have stinkers. I put this in the stinker category. We were a little bit slow on everything we did -- slow skating, slow thinking, slow shooting."
Konecny gave the Flyers a 1-0 lead at 13:21 of the first period. He appeared to be attempting a pass from the right circle to Couturier at the left post, but the puck hit off Lundqvist and the rebound caromed off defenseman Brady Skjei, off the left post and into the net.

The Flyers had 18 shots on goal in the second period but didn't extended the lead until Couturier scored on a 3-on-2 with Konecny and Giroux to make it 2-0 at 14:39 of the third period. The goal came 12 seconds after Rangers defenseman Tony DeAngelo had a shot go off the right post and 35 seconds after Pickard stopped Lias Andersson on a breakaway from the hash marks in.
Philadelphia had a season-high 46 shots on goal.
"I think just not changing anything, still playing on offense, not protecting a lead," Konecny said of what worked for the Flyers. "We were trying to make it 2-0 the whole time. We were not trying to sit back and keep it 1-0."
Weal scored an empty-net goal at 17:58 of the third period to extend the lead to 3-0. Couturier made it 4-0 with his second of the game at 18:23.
"It looked like we had a chance, but I'm sure they're sitting on the bench thinking it should be 5-0," Quinn said. "It swings both ways. From our perspective, it would have been nice to maybe steal a point out of here, but at the end of the day we got what we deserved."

They said it

"The only thing I don't really like is that we kept taking chances when it was a one-goal game. You're going to have nights where you don't have the legs, you don't have the energy, but you can still use your smartness. But when you keep taking chances and give up odd-man rushes, you're going to pay for it in the end, and that's what we did. It's going to happen. You run into teams that play really well. It's going to be hard for us to score some goals some nights. We were right there, so try to learn from that I think and get ready for [Saturday]." -- Rangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist
"We played a good hockey game, got the two points. We needed those two points. Our guys went out and played their [rear-ends] off today." -- Flyers coach Dave Hakstol

Need to know

Konecny, who fought Ryan Strome at 9:52 of the second period, had his first NHL Gordie Howe Hat Trick (goal, assist, fight). "It's my first and it could be my last," he said. "That's pretty cool to have that." … Pickard has 39 saves and a shutout streak of 99:22 since replacing Alex Lyon after the first period in a 5-2 loss to the Buffalo Sabres on Wednesday. … Rangers forward Mats Zuccarello played after missing three straight games and six of the past seven with a groin injury. He was minus-3 playing 15:29.

What's next

Rangers: Host the Washington Capitals on Saturday (2 p.m. ET; NHLN, MSG, NBCSWA, NHL.TV)
Flyers: At the Toronto Maple Leafs on Saturday (7 p.m. ET; NHLN, CBC, SN1, NBCSP, NHL.TV)