At long last, the streak is over.
Since the 2010-11 season, Madison Square Garden has been a house of horrors for the Flyers (9-10-5). They broke their dismal 10-game losing streak at the building on Saturday in a 3-0 win over the New York Rangers – their first win at the Garden since the 2014 playoffs, and first regular-season win since Feb. 20, 2011.
To put that in perspective, the last time the Flyers beat the Rangers (16-6-2) at Madison Square Garden, Peter Laviolette was still coach. Danny Briere and Jeff Carter each posted 30-goal seasons, fans had the distinct pleasure of watching Nikolay Zherdev's one-dimensional play, Blair Betts was their fourth-line faceoff-winning machine, and nobody had any idea was a nine-year, $51 million contract was for a goaltender. Yes, it's been a while.
Wayne Simmonds opened the scoring at 12:24 of the second period on a nifty breakaway on Antti Raanta's glove side. He also assisted on Sean Couturier's insurance marker at 3:06 of the third stanza, which snapped his 12-game goalless drought.
Simmonds capped off his strong effort with 49.3 seconds on the clock, as he scored on an empty net.
Steve Mason held steady in goal, as he turned away all 24 shots he faced for his first shutout of the season. It was his first shutout since March 12 against St. Louis, and first shutout in a game the Flyers won since Jan. 31.
When the Flyers took the ice against the Rangers, they put out an effort that could be considered unsurprising against a first-place team. While they looked strong in the first half of the period, they mustered just four shots on goal, compared to the Rangers' 10.
But their second-period effort was entirely different. They recorded 18 shots (and Simmonds' first goal), and held the Rangers to seven shots — giving them a 22-17 advantage heading into the third.
Giving Henrik Lundqvist a rare day off, Raanta turned away 31 of 33 shots for his first loss of the season. Many analysts throughout the league have credited Lundqvist as the sole reason why the Rangers are a 16-win team right now, but playing just one strong period was the Rangers' biggest flaw (sound familiar?)
The Flyers also finished the game one defenseman short, as Nick Schultz left in the first period with an upper-body injury after a hit from Dylan McIlrath. Luke Schenn stepped in to fight McIlrath, earning an instigator penalty along the way.
November has been a tough month for the Flyers, and they finish as a month that saw them struggle mightily with a 5-6-3 record. However, they closed out the month on the strongest of notes with a shutout over the first-place team in the Metropolitan Division.
A shutout over a first-place team as hated as the Rangers is always something to enjoy, especially when it gives the Orange and Black a 2-0-0 lead in the season series. But it's that much sweeter when it ends a significant losing streak.
The Flyers next head to Ottawa on Tuesday, for their second matchup of the season against the Ottawa Senators.
Rob Riches is a contributor to Flyerdelphia and Sports Talk Philly. Follow him on Twitter @Riches61
