(Kate Frese/Sports Talk Philly)
By Kevin Durso, Sports Talk Philly editor 
The Flyers rough end to November continued on Black Friday. After falling behind, 3-0, the Flyers couldn't recover against the Rangers and their frantic rally fell short in a 3-2 loss.
Here are 10 points analyzing Friday's loss.
- Two encouraging things from this game: the Flyers got off to a great start and they finished strong. Henrik Lundqvist was the difference at the end for sure. To start, the Flyers had all the momentum, getting the majority of shot attempts and killing off a four-minute penalty, the only power play of the game for either team. An elite goalie beat the Flyers. Nothing really new for Mr. Lundqvist.
- It seems like every game, we learn something new about Travis Konecny. The 19-year-old can apparently throw 'em. He came to Brandon Manning's aid after an early hit and delivered a knockout on Brandon Pirri. Of course, in today's NHL, that kind of reaction warrants an instigation minor, which negated a boarding penalty on Pirri. The Flyers didn't have a power play opportunity in the game as a result and lost one of their best forwards in the game for the rest of the first period.
- The two first-period goals were the results of mistakes. The Rangers are a team that feasts off mistakes. They don't push the forecheck and very seldom in the game did the Rangers generate a rush from their own zone where they started with possession. More often than not, the Rangers were on the move with a loose puck off a Flyers stick or an errant pass. So on the Rangers first goal, an own-zone turnover by Scott Laughton. The second goal, a bad pinch by Andrew MacDonald that led to a rush the other way. The Flyers paid heavily for the two mistakes, as Dave Hakstol noted postgame: "We made probably two or three critical errors that ended up in the back of our net, but for the most part the first period was pretty good."
- Until the final push late in the third period, Claude Giroux was virtually invisible for most of the game. Giroux has been a bit of a disappointment at 5-on-5 play. Even when they're pressing, Jake Voracek and Travis Konecny are still effective players at even strength. Giroux hasn't done much to separate himself from anyone else. That's nothing against Giroux's ability or leadership. All players go through a down period. But Giroux's has been somewhat extended and the game ended almost fittingly when Giroux was open for a one-timer and fanned on the shot.
- For the second straight game, the numbers indicate a rough start for Steve Mason. Mason was helpless on all three goals and made some difficult saves as the game wore on. Mason has really taken the reigns as the lead netminder since Michal Neuvirth went out with injury, and while some frustrating turnovers and poor defensive haven't helped his numbers, he's been much better of late.
- Mark Streit has been one of the Flyers better defensemen of late, but the blind pass/clear attempt that went right to Nick Holden to set up the deflection goal for Kevin Hayes is an inexcusable turnover. It was one of the only mistakes the Flyers made in a solid second period, and again, it ended up in their net.
- The push the Flyers had late was great, but how much better would the Flyers be this season if they could just connect on passes on a counter-rush or with open space in the attacking zone. You look at a play like the Ivan Provorov goal from Wednesday night and the perfect pass from Matt Read and wonder why more of those don't happen. Some of it is good defensive plays where an active stick disrupts plays, and those will happen, but so often, it's a blind pass that ends up just out of the reach of an open shooter or a feed into the skates of a teammate that can end a scoring chance before it starts.
- Whether or not Shayne Gostisbehere's shot was deflected by a Flyers teammate, good for him to get back on the scoresheet. It was a long time coming for him and the defenseman certainly seemed to have some relief after beating Lundqvist.
- A little perspective on the Flyers season so far: they have not been playing like a playoff team, quite mediocre in fact, but despite that, they are two points out of a playoff spot pending Saturday night's action. Things could be a lot better, but they aren't as bad as they seem. 22 games into the season, there's a lot of hockey left to be played.
- The Flyers ice time leader in Friday's game was Ivan Provorov. Playing with a 19-year-old rookie on defense can certainly come with growing pains, but Provorov is really molding his game well and becoming noticeably better by the game. On a day when the Flyers had two of their veteran defensemen make brutal mistakes leading to goals, the youngest defenseman had one of the better games among the Flyers.
Bottom Line
This was actually a very solid game for the Flyers. The Rangers came in as one of the hottest scoring teams in the NHL and the Flyers held them to three goals. Of course, all three goals were avoidable. That's the part that hurts.
But the resilience and the fact that the Flyers looked like the better team for so much of the game says a lot about what kind of team they are right now. There are areas of struggle for sure, but the Flyers have played competitive in virtually every game in the month of November. The 5-5-2 record doesn't show it, and that's going to garner most of the attention.
Hindsight is also 20-20, and when you look at a disappointing finish in Tampa on Wednesday, the three mistakes that led to goals on Friday, the late loss to Ottawa last Tuesday, they are points the Flyers could have had and may need down the stretch.
