Anthony Duclair nets third preseason goal but Rangers fall to Flyers

Nineteen-year-old Anthony Duclair scored his third goal of the preseason, but the Rangers fell to the Flyers, 4-2, at Wells Fargo Center Tuesday night.

Duclair beat Ray Emery on a wrister from the lower left circle 36 seconds into the third, cutting the Flyers' lead to 3-2.

Before the game, coach Alain Vigneault said of Duclair: "He might start with us. He might go back to junior. After five, six games, we might say we're gonna keep him . . . "

With Duclair off for holding just 3:26 in, Mat Bodie made a nice play to Dom Moore, who fed Carl Hagelin for a breakaway shorthanded goal at 4:47. Hagelin went high glove side on Ray Emery for a 1-0 lead.

Sean Couturier tied the score at 1 from the right circle at 13:46, just after Kevin Hayes, at the other end, had stickhandled between Emery and the left post but couldn't stuff the puck in.

Three minutes later, Jason Akeson was whistled for slashing Marek Hrivik -- and with the referee miked, the crowd could hear "Right in the back of the legs, Jason!" -- but the Rangers couldn't convert on the power play. The period ended with the teams tied in shots 9-9.

At the start of the second period, the Rangers killed 1:15 of carryover time of a Moore hooking penalty on Claude Giroux, who was making his preseason debut.

Duclair just missed connecting with Kevin Klein in front on a two-on-one with just more than five minutes gone.

But the Flyers, with a lineup of regulars, started looking as if they had played together before; the Rangers' collection of AHLers, prospects and a couple veterans, were disjointed.

As the Flyers buzzed, Nicklas Grossman's shot from the right point appeared to go off a Ranger in front and past Cam Talbot at 7:46 for a 2-1 Philadelphia lead. Wayne Simmonds, cutting in front, tipped Matt Read's wrister from the left point past Talbot at 13:25.

Jason Missiaen replaced Talbot (19 saves) in the third period, and the Flyers scored an empty-netter with 35 seconds left.