Kreider breaks tie in third, Rangers hand Flyers seventh straight loss

PHILADELPHIA -- Chris Kreider scored in the third period, and the New York Rangers handed the Philadelphia Flyers their seventh straight loss, 3-2 at Wells Fargo Center on Saturday.

Kreider made it 3-2 when he got to the front of the Flyers net and tipped Adam Fox's shot from the right face-off circle at 13:30. It was his seventh goal in 10 games.
"When you're out with him, try and get into the area and his stick usually finds the puck," Fox said. "I thought that line, seems like every game they're working the [offensive]-zone cycle well and getting good chances. To get rewarded with that goal there was nice, but I thought we had a lot of zone time that shift, and Kreider's stick usually seems to find the puck."
Mika Zibanejad and Filip Chytil scored, and Fox and Artemi Panarin each had two assists for the Rangers (25-10-4). Igor Shesterkin made 26 saves for his ninth win in 10 games.

Cam York scored his first NHL goal, and Carter Hart made 24 saves for the Flyers (13-17-7), who are 0-5-2 in the past seven games.
The Rangers finished 3-2-0 on their road trip, which included four games against the Pacific Division in eight days. They flew home from San Jose on Friday.
"The long flight yesterday, the guys had 5 1/2 hours [on the plane], you get in at 7 o'clock in the evening, come all the way back here and then playing the next day," New York coach Gerard Gallant said. "They played hard, they played a good, consistent hockey game, they played for 60 minutes, and I was really proud of everyone tonight. We competed and we played well, and everybody chipped in."
The Flyers took a 2-1 lead at 10:11 of the third period on York's goal. Fox tried to clear the puck but it bounced off the boards to York, who one-timed it past Shesterkin. The rookie defenseman was playing his eighth NHL game.
"I knew that guys were going to be going to the net and I wanted to get a shot down there," York said. "Whether there was a rebound or not, we had bodies down there, so I just wanted to get it on net and luckily for me it went in."

Chytil tied 2-2 at 10:48 with his first goal in 13 games.
"It was a great feeling," Chytil said. "For me, personally, it's great after a lot of games, and also for the team that we tied the game and then we won."
The loss was the Flyers third straight by one goal.
"It's challenging when you're dealing with the stress and the emotion of going through a losing streak like this," Philadelphia coach Mike Yeo said. "You have to make sure you continue to stay focused on the process and play all the way through. There were a lot of good things in the hockey game, but obviously at critical moments we make that one little play or don't make it or don't do that one thing that gives you the opportunity to close out the hockey game."
Zibanejad gave the Rangers a 1-0 lead on a power-play goal at 5:54 of the first period, one-timing a pass from Fox.
Oskar Lindblom tied it 1-1 at 11:45 when he drove to the net and knocked in the rebound of a Travis Konecny shot. The goal ended Shesterkin's shutout streak at 138:41, dating to the third period of a 4-3 shootout win against the Tampa Bay Lightning on Dec. 31.
NOTES: Gallant coached the Rangers after missing two games in NHL COVID-19 protocol. … Zibanejad has scored 18 points (eight goals, 10 assists) during a seven-game point streak against the Flyers. He has scored 14 goals against them, tying his most against one team (Boston Bruins, Washington Capitals). … Rangers forwards Julien Gauthier and Ryan Reaves returned after each missed two games in protocol. Gauthier had two shots and two hits in 9:37, and Reaves had four hits in 12:31. … Atkinson led the Flyers with four shots on goal but his five-game point streak ended (three goals, five assists).