Another bad start for Rangers against Flyers leads to fifth straight loss

PHILADELPHIA — As desperate as the Rangers were heading into Friday’s matinee against the surging Flyers at Wells Fargo Arena, how was it possible they could be so awful in the first period? How could they be outshot 10-0 in the first 11 minutes and not get their first shot on goal until 8:49 remained in the period?

“I don’t know,’’ center Mika Zibanejad said, pausing for a while to think about it.

“Honestly, it’s hard to explain that,’’ he said. “We talk about it, we’re aware of it. [We want to] come out, try to get a good start and just roll. We don’t. And I wish I had the answer. We have to figure out a way.’’

The Rangers played a strong third period but never recovered from that start in their 3-1 loss, their fifth straight defeat. Goaltender Igor Shesterkin (32 saves) was brilliant and did all he could, but he was under siege for the first half of the game.

Travis Konecny had two goals, one an empty-netter, Bobby Brink had a goal and goalie Ivan Fedotov stopped 22 of 23 shots as the Flyers (11-10-3) won their second straight game and their seventh in the last 11 (7-2-2).

The Flyers pulled into a tie with the Rangers (12-9-1) for the first wild-card playoff spot in the Eastern Conference pending the result of the Tampa Bay-Nashville game.

How bad was the first period for the Rangers? They were outshot 15-4, and the quality of the Flyers’ shots was high. Odd-man rushes were a problem. According to Natural Stat Trick, the scoring chances in the first period were 13-3 in favor of the Flyers and the high-danger chances were 11-2.

“We left the game in the first period,’’ tight-lipped coach Peter Laviolette said. “That can’t happen for a team that’s sitting here, looking for ways to win hockey games . . . The work in the first period wasn’t good.’’

Laviolette said the Rangers were stung by Brink’s goal 3:14 into the game. The play started in the Flyers’ zone when Kaapo Kakko won a faceoff back to the point and Adam Fox took a shot that was blocked. The puck ricocheted into the neutral zone and Tyson Foerster poked it into the Rangers’ zone before beating Fox to it in the corner. He sent it across the slot for Brink, who had a step on Ryan Lindgren and was able to control the puck and shoot it past Shesterkin.

“They outworked us in the first period,’’ said Laviolette, who said something similar after the loss last week in Calgary. “Foxy’s in, tries to make a play at the offensive blue line . . . It gets blocked and they get a break and it goes back the other way. That’s early in the game. We didn’t answer after that.’’

Konecny made it 2-0 only 1:10 later and the Rangers were chasing after that. They got a goal from Vincent Trocheck at 10:20 of the second period and generated some chances in the third but never could get the tying goal. Konecny’s empty-netter in the final minute sealed it.

“I like the way we played in the second and third,’’ Trocheck said. “We played hard, we played aggressive, with urgency. If we play like that the full 60 minutes, I think we win the game. It’s just our starts. We can talk about them as much as we want, but it’s just about actions now.’’

Laviolette changed up all four forward lines and made some changes to the defense combinations as well, beginning in the second period. He put Artemi Panarin on a line with Zibanejad and the red-hot Will Cuylle, put rookie Brett Berard on the left of Trocheck and Alexis Lafreniere, and moved Kakko to left wing, with Jonny Brodzinski in the middle and Reilly Smith on the right. Adam Edstrom dropped to the fourth line with Sam Carrick and Jimmy Vesey.

On defense, he dropped struggling captain Jacob Trouba to the third pair with Zac Jones and elevated Braden Schneider into the top four, on the right of K’Andre Miller.

“We didn’t have an answer for them for what they were doing, their speed, their rush, their forecheck,’’ Laviolette said. “So we changed it just because what we had wasn’t working.’’

Notes & quotes: Forwards Chris Kreider (back spasms, three games missed) and Filip Chytil (upper body, seven games missed) remained out and their status remains day-to-day, Laviolette said . . . The Rangers are back in action Saturday afternoon at home against Montreal.

By Colin Stephenson

colin.stephenson@newsday.comColinSNewsday

Colin Stephenson covers the Rangers for Newsday. He has spent more than two decades covering the NHL and just about every sports team in the New York metropolitan area.