(Kate Frese/Sports Talk Philly)
PHILADELPHIA — As the Flyers learned on Sunday night, they can get as many shots to the net as they want, it won't mean anything if they run into a hot goaltender. And as they piled shots on Henrik Lundqvist, chances to score continued to come at a premium.
Despite Jakub Voracek's last-ditch pair of goals in the third period — one of which was on the power play — there was no coming back for the Flyers. A four-goal third period brought about their fall on Wednesday, in a 5-2 loss to the New York Rangers.
Kevin Hayes and Michael Grabner led the way for the Rangers, each scoring a pair of goals. Hayes opened the scoring on an odd-man rush early in the second period, and potted another on a rush at 14:15 of the third.
Grabner cashed in on a complete defensive breakdown, netting a one-timer in front of the net 11:13 of the third. As the Flyers (20-15-5) pulled Steve Mason with 2:20 to play, the Rangers won the faceoff in the offensive zone, and Grabner buried the empty-netter from the neutral zone.
Before Grabner had a chance to light the lamp for the first time, Chris Krieder scored to give the Rangers (27-13-1) a 2-0 lead. Derek Stepan earned the assist on what would go down as his only point of the night, continuing his stretch of big play against the Orange and Black.
Voracek tried to mitigate the damage as best he could. He scored his first goal on a power play at 12:32 of the third period to cut into the Rangers' 3-0 lead, and after Hayes' second goal, he scored another to make it a 4-2 game. Unfortunately, his attempts were roughly equal to putting a tire fire out with just a single bottle of water.
Lundqvist bounced back with 30 saves on 32 shots for the Rangers, after a rough night on Tuesday against Buffalo. Mason countered with 24 saves on 28 shots, but some of the goals he allowed were shaky at best. Playing him in 22 of the Flyers' last 24 games certainly hasn't done him much favors, and it seems as though fatigue's beginning to set in.
Perhaps one of the most baffling stats for the Flyers in this game was their possession figures — not only did they take over the shots advantage in the second period and finish with a four-shot advantage, but they dominated the Rangers in the faceoff circle all night. They won 38 draws, compared to the Rangers' 21.
The loss drops the Flyers to 0-4-1 in their last five games, and leaves them without a win in seven of their last eight games — a stretch that has produced just four points for them. It also extends their losing streak against the Rangers to five games.
The Flyers next take the ice on Saturday afternoon, hosting Tampa Bay at home.
NOTES: Roman Lyubimov was sent to AHL Lehigh Valley and Mark Alt was called up after being cleared medically. … Alt, Nick Schultz and Nick Cousins were listed as scratches. … Hayes' second goal was challenged for offsides, but the call on the ice stood. … Boyd Gordon took Lyubimov's place in the lineup, playing his 12th game of the season.
