The Philadelphia Flyers had this one in their hands late, then watched it slip away at Madison Square Garden.
After building a 2-1 lead in the second period, the Flyers fell 3-2 to the New York Rangers on Thursday, a loss that gave New York its first comeback win of the season. Gabe Perrault, Pavel Dorofeyev and Tye Kartye scored for the Rangers, while Simon Benoit and Noel Acciari answered for Philadelphia.
The opening 20 minutes belonged to New York. The Rangers came out with a heavy forecheck, controlled the puck and kept the Flyers pinned down for long stretches. Philadelphia had trouble getting out of its own zone, and that pressure eventually turned into the first goal of the night.
A shot from the blue line found J.T. Miller in the slot, and his redirection sent the puck to Gabe Perrault for the finish past Joseph Woll and into the net for a 1-0 Rangers lead.
New York kept pushing after that. With under five minutes left in the period, Woll had to come up with a strong pad save on Tye Kartye to keep the deficit at one.
The Flyers were a little better in the back half of the period, but they still weren’t generating much of anything dangerous. Even though they led the shot count 9-8 after one, it felt like the Rangers had the game under control.
Philadelphia finally got a break in the second period, and Simon Benoit made the most of it at both ends of the ice. Early in the frame, he used his stick to keep a puck from crossing the line and preserve the one-goal margin. Then, around the middle of the game, he scored his first goal as a Flyer to tie it 1-1.
Not long after, Noel Acciari put the Flyers in front. Denver Barkey delivered a strong pass that set Acciari up for an easy finish, and Philadelphia suddenly had its first lead of the night.
The teams traded power-play chances before the period ended, but neither side scored again, sending the Flyers to the second intermission up 2-1. The Rangers still held a narrow edge in shots, 18-17.
The third period moved at a crawl compared to the first two. For long stretches, there wasn’t much happening beyond a few chances at either end, which suited Philadelphia just fine with the clock winding down. But the Rangers found their opening late.
On a power play after a soft call on Denver Barkey, Pavel Dorofeyev tied the game at 2 with a little more than six minutes left. Then, moments later, New York struck again. The Flyers got caught in a bad change, Adam Fox sent a perfect stretch pass, and Tye Kartye finished to put the Rangers ahead for good.
Philadelphia pulled Woll late for the extra attacker with 1:17 remaining, but couldn’t get the equalizer. The Rangers closed it out for the 3-2 win.
The game’s scoring plays came in quick sequence after the Flyers had taken control: P2 12:09/7:51: An incredible pass from Denver Barkey (6) set up Noel Acciari (2) on the other side of the crease for the tap-in score, giving the Flyers the lead.
Jamie Drysdale (7) picked up the secondary assist on the score. 2-1 Flyers.
P3 13:52/6:08: Pavel Dorofeyev (5) beats Joseph Woll clean from the right-side dot, tying the game for the Rangers late on the power play. Mika Zibanejad (10) and Adam Fox (18) had the assists on the goal. 2-2 tie.
P3 15:21/4:39: The Flyers got caught in the midst of a bad change. Adam Fox (19) sent a perfect stretch pass to Tye Kartye (5), who gave the Rangers the lead back.
3-2 Rangers
There was only one penalty in the first half of the game, and it didn’t come until after 30 minutes had passed. Nick Seeler was called for slashing Noah Laba in the second period, giving New York the first power play of the night, but the Flyers killed it off cleanly.
Shortly after that, Braden Schneider was whistled for tripping Noah Cates, giving Philadelphia its first man advantage, but the Flyers couldn’t convert. The late call on Denver Barkey proved costly, since the Rangers cashed in to tie the game.
The Flyers now head into a break between games before beginning their Western Canada trip. Their next stop is Calgary, where they’ll face the Flames on Sunday at 7:00 PM ET at the Saddledome.
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