Rangers shake things up but still fall to Flyers for fifth straight loss
The Rangers' Mika Zibanejad, left, and Philadelphia Flyers' Sean Couturier battle for the puck during the second period on Friday. Credit: AP/Matt Slocum
PHILADELPHIA — With four straight losses on their record, with no reinforcements coming in the form of a return to the lineup by injured forwards Chris Kreider or Filip Chytil, it was a desperate Rangers team that took the ice in the Wells Fargo Center on Black Friday against the Flyers.
“Nobody's happy,’’ Rangers coach Peter Laviolette said before the game. “I'm not happy. The players aren't happy . . . We’ve got to be better. There's an expectation for us to be successful and to win games. So the fact that we've kicked up some ground here and lost games. It's not good enough. We're not good enough defensively. We haven't been good enough offensively. Special teams can be better. Everything can be better.’’
They were worse — way worse — in the first period Friday, turning in perhaps their worst period of the season, and falling into a hole they never could recover from. Despite a strong performance from goalie Igor Shesterkin (32 saves), the Flyers scored two goals in the first and rode those to 3-1 victory that dealt the Rangers (12-9-1) their fifth straight loss and seventh in the last 11 games.
Travis Konecny had the two goals, including an empty netter to lift the Flyers (11-10-3). They led, 2-0 in the first period, on goals by Brian Brink and Konecny and outshot the Rangers 15-4. And according to Natural Stat Trick, the scoring chances were 13-3 in favor of the Flyers, with the high-danger scoring chances 10-2, Philadelphia.
So, Laviolette made changes in the second period. He shook up all his forward lines, putting Artemi Panarin on a line with Mika Zibanejad and the red-hot Will Cuylle, putting the rookie Brett Berard on the left of Vincent Trocheck and Alexis Lafreniere, and moving Kaapo 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.
Laviolette shook up his defense, too, dropping struggling captain Jacob Trouba to the third pair, with Zac Jones, and putting Braden Schneider into the top four, on the right of K’Andre Miller.
And while it seemed to take a while — the Rangers continued to give up countless odd-man rushes that required Shesterkin to bail them out — slowly the visitors started to get back into the game. Eventually, they got on the scoreboard when Trocheck scored from the high slot off a pass from Cuylle at 10:20. For Trocheck, it was his first point in seven games.
But that was it for the Rangers' offense, and it was their fifth straight loss.
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.
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