Frustrated Flyers drop fourth straight to NYR

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NEW YORKWith two wins this weekend, the Flyers could have overtaken the Rangers Atlantic Division and Eastern Conference leads.

Instead, they flopped yet again at Madison Square Garden, losing their fourth game of the season to the New York Rangers, 5-2.

On its own, the loss would have been a disappointment. But coming just 24 hours after a thrashing at the hands of the New Jersey Devils just made Sundays gameand the weekend as a wholethat much more hard to take for the Flyers, who watched the Rangers conference lead over them grow to five points.

No one summed up the feeling in the locker room better than coach Peter Laviolette:

Its frustrating, he said. We were in a position to win a hockey game. We dont. Were trying to chase down first in the division, first in the conference and we come up on the short end.

The physicality was there Sunday afternoon. For much of the game, the goaltending was, too. And yet, the Flyers couldnt carry over any momentum from the Devils games third period (they directed 24 shots on goal, compared to just one by New Jersey).

In fact, the Flyers didnt register a shot on the Rangers net until 9:13 had elapsed in the first period.

It sucks, Wayne Simmonds said. I think the last few games, even besides yesterdays game, weve been starting out slow. If you get behind the 8-ball, you know youre going to pay in this league.

As much as the Rangers have struggled to generate offense lately, the Flyers simply couldnt connect on any level early on in the game. Their passes were off-target, their pace a bit sluggish.

And it didnt take long for New York to capitalize. Just over a minute in, the Flyers lost control of the puck in their own end. Rangers defenseman Dan Girardi sent the puck in on Ilya Bryagalov up high and over his right shoulder. It deflected off Artem Ansimovs stick before clanking off the inside of the nets crossbar.

It was only the first shot of the game.

It is frustrating, especially after yesterdays game coming off a bad start, Brayden Schenn said. Today, I dont think we brought our A-game. Weve got way better than that. Four points were up for grabs and we came up with zero.

Even before the Flyers were able to direct a shot in on Rangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist, Simmonds and Stu Bickel dropped the gloves at center ice. Give the edge to Simmonds, who got a few good punches in early on the Blueshirts defenseman.

Neither team added to its score before the close of the first period, but there was another fight near the players benches. Tom Sestito and Brandon Dubinsky squared off, and the Flyers tough guy was able to connect with Dubinsky a few times before the scrap devolved into a hugging match.

Sestito and Bickel each got a second chance to tango in the second period, when the two players fought just to the side of Lundqvist. Bickel took the decision in that onebut the Flyers finally came alive a short time thereafter.

Thats hockey, Matt Read said of all the fighting (see blog). Maybe it shows a little bit of frustration on our part, being down a goal.It kind of got the bench back on our toes and gave us a little bit of momentum. But at the end of the game, we were still down.

As the seconds on a Schenn slashing penalty ticked town, Jakub Voracek gained control of the puck in the high slot in front of Bryzgalov. Noticing Schenn hoping over the box out onto the ice, Voracek hit the Flyers young center with a perfect pass. Schenn skated in on a breakaway, and managed to beat Lundqvist with a slick backhand to tie the game at 1.

It was the first goal allowed by Lundqvist since Jan. 21he had gone 182:37 without giving one up.

Speaking of strong goaltending, Bryzgalov had been playing quietly very solid after giving up that early first goal. But he simply couldnt cap off a strong middle stanza. With just 5.1 seconds remaining in the period, Bryzgalov left a gap between his body and the goal post, allowing Marian Gaborik to connect on a wraparound goal that gave the Rangers a 2-1 lead and an emotional boost as they headed to their locker room.

I think generally speaking he and we and our team can play better than what we did, Laviolette said. We had an opportunity to win a game.

The Flyers goalie simply offered, Mistakes happen. Thats part of the game.

Once the third period commenced, it took the Flyers less than a minute to get the goal back, as Scott Hartnell tapped the puck toward Simmonds, who pushed it past Lundqvist for his career high 17th goal of the season.

But perhapslike the Flyers fans in attendanceBryzgalov let out a sigh of relief after the goal, too. Seconds later, on a shot by Michael del Zotto that he should have had, Bryzgalov coughed up another one to give the Rangers a 3-2 lead.

They play the same system, it's not a surprise to us, Kimmo Timonen said. They block a lot of shots, but everybodys blocking a lot of shots. We can do a couple of things better, but when they break down, their goalie makes saves.

To continue with the theme of the afternoon, Sestito went after his third fight of the game, this time, dropping the gloves with Brandon Prust. Both connected a few times before referees broke them apart.

The Rangers soon after added to their lead when Prust forced a Matt Carle turnover and Dubinskys shot from the circle soared easily past Brygalov, giving the Rangers all the insurance theyd need to depart a 4-2 victory.

Ruslan Fedotenkos empty-netter in the closing minutes padded the score that much more.

Its pretty upsetting, Simmonds said. Passing the Rangers in the standings was our goal at the beginning of the weekend. We fell short. We lost both games. Obviously, were going to have to relax, start practicing again and start from scratch and go into next week with a good mindset.

E-mail Sarah Baicker at sbaicker@comcastsportsnet.com

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