Steve Mason was outstanding. The Flyers netminder did everything but score. Cam Talbot made 31 saves, the Flyers went 0-4 on the powerplay, and New York prevailed for the ninth straight time in the regular season at the Garden 2-0 on Wednesday night.
Kevin Kline opened the scoring at 5:10 of the first period. He took a pass from Carl Hagelin in the slot and beat Mason for his fourth goal of the season. It would be the only goal New York would need.
The Flyers had chances in the first period with Matt Hunwick in the box for delay of game but they could not capitalize. Talbot stood tall turning aside all nine Flyer shots in the period..
The second period would start no better than the first as the Rangers sent a barrage of shots Mason's way. It would once again be the Flyers penalty kill that would yield again as Rick Nash netted his 13th of the season with Nick Schultz in the box.
A tic tac toe play, the Rangers had the Flyers moving all over until Martin St. Louis found Nash at the side of the net for a slam dunk goal at 7:43 of the period. Mason had no chance on the play. Time and time again Mason was asked to bail his team out.
Midway through the third period Mason did just that, almost single-handedly killing a 5 on 3 man advantage for New York. He made at least four ten bell saves during the duration of both peanlties to give the Flyers a chance.
It was a chance that never came. The Flyers applied pressure late but could not find an answer to Talbot. The Ranger goalie stopped everything the Flyers threw at him making 31 saves for the shutout. The win moves New York to 8-7-4 on the year while the Flyers fell below .500 at 7-8-2.
Jakub Voracek, Claude Giroux and Brayden Schenn all saw their point scoring streaks halted tonight. For Voracek tonight marked just the second game this season which he did not score. The only other game was also a shutout when the Flyers lost to the Blackhawks 4-0 in Chicago.
The Flyers will look to get to back on track tomorrow as they return home to tangle with the Wild. Tomorrow's game is also the Flyers Hall of Fame induction ceremony for Eric Lindros and John LeClair. Game time is 7:00.
Bill Minchin is a contributing writer for Flyerdelphia. Follow Bill on Twitter @wtfd103074.
