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Wrap: Late Rally Too Little Too Late, Flyers Fall to NYR, 4-3 |
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WRAPUP: LATE RALLY TOO LITTLE TOO LATE, FLYERS FALL TO NYR, 4-3
Whether talking about the Flyers' game at Madison Square Garden against the Rangers on Sunday night or the club's performance during the stretch drive, it was a case of too little and too late after being ahead of the curve earlier and then putting themselves in need of a miracle.
The Flyers lost to the Rangers, 4-3. In the process, they were mathematically eliminated from the 2017 Stanley Cup Playoffs. A season that saw the team go on a 10-game winning streak and also still with a chance (if they win both of their remaining home games next weekend) to earn 56 points on home ice for the first time since 2000-01 will not see the club get to the postseason. An abysmal road record (14-22-4), an offensive free-fall for the bulk of the second half, team defense that was prone to the "big breakdown" even when overall shots against were moderate and inconsistent goaltending until a late surge after the Stadium Series were all factors.
With Michal Neuvirth recuperating at home from his fainting/collapsing episode on Saturday and Steve Mason still under the weather but OK to back up, Anthony Stolarz got the start in goal for the Flyers. It was the third consecutive night he'd played -- not unheard of at the AHL level -- after starting on Friday for the Lehigh Valley Phantoms and, in relief, sharing a shutout with Neuvirth against the New Jersey Devils on Saturday.
Stolarz played solidly overall, despite an ugly stat line (20 saves on 24 shots, .833 save percentage). The Flyers were guilty of some significant defensive lapses -- puck management and coverages -- that ended up in the net. Three of the four goals were virtually unstoppable and none were soft. One was a deflection and another was a spectacular goal under the crossbar off the rush. Stolarz did have a gaffe that forced his team to take a penalty and was quickly converted into the first New York goal; which went in off the 6-foot-6 goaltender's right shoulder.
Valtteri Filppula scored 5-on-5 and 6-on-5 goals for the Flyers in a losing cause. Brayden Schenn scored a 6-on-5 goal late in the third period to cut a 4-1 gap to two goals before Filppula scored his second of the game and fifth as a Flyer.
Mats Zuccarello, the most dynamic player on the ice for either team, collected three well-deserved assists. He helped set up Mika Zibanejad (power play), Brendan Smith's unexpected highlight-reel goal off the run and Oscar Lindberg. New York erased a 1-0 deficit in the second period to take a 2-1 lead to intermission and then expanded on it in the third with the Lindberg goal slicing through a scramble and a mid-period Chris Kreider goal.
The Flyers and Rangers played to a scoreless deadlock in the first period. New York had the better of the early player. The Flyers -- playing for the fourth time in six nights, and third in four with Saturday's emotional events in the backdrop -- eventually picked up their play as the opening period moved along.
Early in the second period, Jordan Weal forced a New York turnover with a takeaway. Filppula found time and space to move over the middle from the left circle and elevate a backhander over Henrik Lundqvist (20 saves on 23 shots) to give the Flyers a 1-0 lead just 33 seconds into the second period. The lead lasted just a few minutes and the Zibanejad power play goal was a clear-cut momentum shifter as the Rangers later took the lead.
Philly had a chance to pull even but failed to convert a third-period power play an interference penalty on Smith drawn by Schenn. The subsequent Lindberg (after a Michael Del Zotto turnover) and Kreider (deflection) goals were daggers to Philadelphia's chances but, with Stolarz pulled for an extra attacker, goals by Schenn (a blast from the top of the left circle past a screened Lundqvist at 17:54) and a point-blank put-in by Filppula at 18:45 made things interesting.
With 46.7 seconds left, Smith was called for his second interference penalty of the third period. With the Flyers skating 6-on-4, it took a 10-bell glove save by Lundqvist on a Giroux one-time from the left circle to preserve the win. In the waning seconds, Filppula held and held in the right circle, looking for a lane to set up one final crack at tying the game. Gostisbehere's desperation buzzer-beater attempt did not result in a goal.
The Flyers have a road game in New Jersey on Tuesday for their final away game of the season, and home games on Saturday (Columbus Blue Jackets) and next Sunday (Carolina Hurricanes) to finish out the season.
Radko Gudas, considered day-to-day with an upper-body injury after receiving a high hit from the Devils' Dalton Prout on Saturday, did not make the trip to New York. Prout faces a supplementary discipline hearing with the NHL's Department of Player Safety on Monday.
Philadelphia Flyers Blogger •NHL.com • 
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