Sunday, April 3, 2011
Posted: 3:30 p.m.Updated: 5:12 p.m.
By Tim Panaccio
CSNPhilly.com
BOX SCORE
Just another ho-hum Sunday as the Flyers lost for the eighth time in their last nine games at the Wells Fargo Center.
They lost to the New York Rangers, a team desperate to make the playoffs.
They lost for the seventh time in 10 shootouts, which fortunately for them, they wont see in the playoffs.
This time, they lost 3-2.
NHL
These games are so important, Scott Hartnell said. We could have thrown a big dagger into the Rangers playoff hopes.
They might be, possibly, a first-round opponent and this gives them confidence, which we dont want to do. We know we can play with any team in the league but were not quite there. You can see it shift to shift.
Youre not going to win playing 50-55 minutesWe need to be playing hard for 60 minutes. When you take shifts off, half the period off, youre going to get into trouble. Were not getting two points every night
Its a little concerning. Its collectively. Not just a line or couple guys. Were not finishing checks, it seems like were not doing the forecheck or getting the pressure we want like in the beginning of the year. We were relentless groups of five cycling out there non-stop.
It seems like we have one good shift and two off and its definitely not winning hockey. As you can tell they last a little while. Its going to be a short postseason if we dont correct it now.
If Hartnells quotes sound familiar, its because theyve been repeated so many times during these final weeks of the regular season in describing the perplexing malaise that has engulfed the Flyers.
It was, no doubt, a strange way to move back atop the Eastern Conference.
After being bumped Saturday from the top spot following 57 consecutive daysJan. 8 to April 2the Flyers moved atop the conference by simply earning a point.
The Flyers have the same number of points as Washington (103), but own the tiebreaker in non-shootout wins.
We need to be ready for games, Claude Giroux said. I think this third period we flipped the switch. The first two periods, I didnt think we really had anything going.
We were kind of dead. Going into the third period, we had more jump, we battled for the puck, and got traffic in front of their goalie. The guys got more involved.
So, thats three losses in succession for Peter Laviolettes club with three games to go in the regular season.
It hardly inspires confidence and yet, there does seem to be some life underneath these losses.
The first period we were hard charging, playing a team, their back was against the wall and they played a competitive game, Laviolette said.
It was the second period, at the beginning, I thought we could have been better. We were flat. I thought we gained the steam back toward the end of the second period.
There are just three games left before the playoffs start. No one knows which Flyers team is going to show up next week. The one thats motivated? Or the one that only gives so much?
The last couple of gamesweve been getting closer to playing the style we want, we just have to make sure these last three games, we bring it 60 minutes, Sean ODonnell said.
I think were getting close to the way we want to play. I dont think guys consciously took shifts off. They were excited about this game. I think that was an issue back in March but the last five-10 games I feel weve tightened up.
Despite some lapses, it was a well-played game.
The Rangers led 2-1 in the third period before Ranger killer Nikolay Zherdev tied it with his 16th goal off the rush and a terrific cross-ice feed from Giroux.
Zherdev had not scored since Jan. 23 at Chicago. On the other hand, hes hardly played in the second half of the season. He has four goals against his former teammates this season.
Thats two consecutive solid efforts for Zherdev, including Friday in New Jersey.
It feels good. Its important to me, he said.
Rookie Sergei Bobrovsky, making his fourth start in six games, had several strong saves early in the opening period. Yet, he was awful in the shootout. Remember the game in Dallas? How good Bob was in the shootout?
Its impossible to explain what happened, Bob said of the shootout. I dont know. Its just what happened.
Bobrovsky and Henrik Lundqvist each had 32 saves.
Because of Danny Brieres absence (groin soreness), Laviolette had to shuffle his centermen. As such, Jeff Carter moved between Hartnell and Ville Leino while Giroux centered James van Riemsdyk and Zherdev.
That changed as the game went along when Blair Betts went down with a lower body injury and Leino was benched in the third.
I shortened my bench, Laviolette said.
Van Riemsdyk matched his jersey number with his 21st goal at 12:25. He did yeomans work to dig ODonnells shot out from Steve Eminger to make it 1-0.
It appeared thats how the period would end, but then Matt Carle picked up a hook calling in the final 1:40, followed by Braydon Coburns high-stick on Marc Staal.
The Rangers had 34 seconds left in the period with a two-man advantage. Bob had a chest save on Marian Gaborik, but with under a second left, Bryan McCabe found nothing but net in the high slot through a screen.
The second period had a number of momentum surges and lapses while the Rangers took advantage of their few opportunities and the Flyers did not.
Lundqvist robbed JVR with a glove save at the end of the Flyers power play with Vinny Prospal coming out of the box, he sped into the Flyers end and set-up a tie-breaking goal from another ex-Flyer, Ruslan Fedotenko at 13:30.
Prospal got the puck at the side of the net and threw it into the slot for Fedotenkos stab at it and a 2-1 lead.
Were capable of sustaining more offense, I think, with just a better, grittier effort on the puck in the offensive zone and getting in there a little bit quicker, Laviolette said.
And then, the third period, we came out, we charged in there and started forechecking and I really liked the way we played the third. It was good to get back on track. We got a little bit sleepy there in the second.
The power play continues to drag the Flyers down. They dont score there, yet the Ranger come out of the box and score a killer goal.
The Flyers were 0-for-4 with the man advantage and are now 2-for-their-last-29 over 11 games. Seven of those 11 losses were by one goal.
A goal where the power play could have made a difference.
I thought that there were some good chances, Laviolette said. Sometimes it looked good and other times it could have been a little better and more crisp.
Related: Flyers notes: Leino benched; Briere & Betts injuredPronger has setback; won't return until playoffs
E-mail Tim Panaccio at tpanotch@comcast.net