Flyers, Rangers struggle to win consistently
NEW YORK -- A month ago, the New York Rangers visited the Philadelphia Flyers and played one of their worst games of the season. The dismal showing ended nearly a month of strong play and sent the Rangers into their current mediocre play.
Since the last meeting, neither team has racked up wins on a consistent basis and the division rivals will be seeking to rebound from tough losses Sunday night when the Flyers visit the Rangers.
On Nov. 23, the Flyers began the season series by getting 31 saves from Calvin Pickard and three assists from Claude Giroux in a 4-0 win. Those showings helped Philadelphia reach NHL .500 at 10-10-2, but since then the Flyers are 4-5-2 in their last 11 games.
After Philadelphia was outscored 9-2 in Edmonton and Vancouver last weekend, coach Dave Hakstol was shown the door and replaced by Scott Gordon.
Philadelphia won its first two games under Gordon by one goal over Detroit and Nashville but fell short in a 4-3 loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets on Saturday afternoon.
Carter Hart made his third straight start but struggled for the first time by being unable to control rebounds while allowing four goals on 19 shots.
The Flyers lost for the first time under Gordon on a day when they had 37 shots on goal.
"As I said to the players after the game, with the exception of the plays on the goals, we played a game where we certainly had our fair share of chances, we limited the amount of opportunities," Gordon said. "We should go to New York feeling confident about our game. I think we've had a level of consistency in the three games to know that we're starting to build some momentum as to how we want to play."
James Van Riemsdyk had a goal and assist, and Phil Varone and Sean Courtier also scored for the Flyers, who open a five-game trip trying to halt a four-game road losing streak.
"If we play a lot more games like that, we'll win more than we lose," Varone said.
The Rangers entered the first meeting during a 9-3-1 surge. The loss in Philadelphia started 3-6-4 slide that has seen New York allow 47 goals.
New York's slump continued with a 5-3 loss Saturday night in a visit to the Toronto Maple Leafs. The Rangers headed into the third period in a 1-1 tie but allowed two goals in the first 5:26 of the third. Despite getting within one goal twice, it was not enough.
"I love that we battled back, didn't quit," Rangers coach David Quinn said. "There are certainly a lot of good things out of tonight, but there's certainly things we need to improve on."
Kevin Hayes scored twice in the third period and remained hot with six goals and six assists during a six-game points streak. He also has 15 points (six goals, nine assists) in his last 11 games and 26 points (nine goals, 17 assists) in his last 22.
Saturday was the sixth time the Rangers allowed at least five goals and they head into the second meeting looking to clean up some things defensively.
Henrik Lundqvist will likely be in the net after backup Alexandar Georgiev allowed all five goals.
Lundqvist turned in one of his worst games of the season against the Flyers in the first meeting and enters with 441 career wins, four from tying Terry Sawchuk for sixth on the NHL's career wins list.
Philadelphia has won the last four meetings since a 5-1 loss on Jan. 16 in New York. In those four wins, the Flyers have scored 20 times, but the Rangers also are 13-3 in the last 16 home meetings.
