Filip Chytil

It’s really become a familiar pattern for a team that is consistently fragile, just waiting for the next thing to go wrong rather than doing the things that can help it keep going right. Just like on Thursday night, the Rangers skill and talent levels became too much in a game that was certainly competitive, but not deserving of the final result.

The New York Rangers stormed right back to tie the game 37 seconds after the Flyers took the lead. Less than three minutes after that, they had the goal that decided the game, taking a 3-2 win on Saturday night at Wells Fargo Center to extend the Flyers losing streak to seven games. 

Now with nine games to go, the countdown is on until the end of the season. The Flyers sit 11 points out of the final playoff spot. Their tragic number is down to seven. It’s not a matter of if, it’s when. Friday’s game was just another example of all of the problems this team had over the course of this grueling schedule and this prolonged stretch of games without stringing together wins.

The Rangers scored two goals in the first period, then added two more in the third to claim a 4-1 result from the Flyers on Friday night at Madison Square Garden.

From James van Riemsdyk’s well-timed goals to Brian Elliott’s sharp performance, the Flyers got back in the win column, holding off the Rangers in the late stages of the third to secure the result.

The Flyers took the ice against the Rangers at Wells Fargo Center and should have had revenge on their minds. Instead, the Rangers scored three in the first and three early in the second to pile on. Carter Hart was chased from the game. Mika Zibanejad had another hat trick and six-point game. And the Flyers were shelled by the Rangers again, this time by a score of 8-3.

After allowing the first two goals of the game to put themselves in another hole, the Flyers gave up another goal in the first two minutes of the second period. The game was essentially over right then and there, because the 18 minutes that followed were not just the worst the Flyers have played this season, they were historically bad.

Wednesday’s game was rock bottom, one of the most embarrassing efforts in Flyers history. After falling behind 2-0 in the first, the Flyers allowed seven goals to the Rangers in the second. You read that right: seven. A touchdown. That’s how things got to the final score in a 9-0 shellacking.

In the end, the Flyers probably got the deserved result for the chances they had in the third period and the strong start they had in the first. It’s two points they desperately needed and will take any way they can get at this point. The process on the ice may still have a lot of flaws and they were on full display again, but it’s a game the team can put back in the win column, another game where they took care of business against a team behind them in the standings.