|
 The Flyers, though, may not like playing against Lundqvist,
especially not after he made 37 saves in the Rangers' 4-1 win Sunday
night at Madison Square Garden.
"I kind of like these games," Lundqvist said. "They are a little
more intense. You have to love that, when you can feel the intensity
in the building and on the ice. They are always great games and fun
to play."
Left wingers Dan Carcillo and Rick Nash, center Derick Brassard and
right winger Chris Kreider scored for the Rangers, who improved to
24-20-3 with their third straight win.
Philadelphia has dropped consecutive games and fell to 23-19-4.
Defenseman Mark Streit scored the lone goal for the Flyers.
Goaltender Ray Emery made 31 saves.
"We were slow on everything," Flyers coach Craig Berube said.
Any sense of drama was extinguished in the opening 20 minutes.
Carcillo burned his former team for the game's first goal 2:14 into
the first period. Carcillo, better known for his fistic abilities,
found a loose puck in the low slot and lifted a backhander that
eluded Emery.
"It's just nice to get one," Carcillo said of his second goal of the
season, and his first with the Rangers. He had scored his only other
goal on Oct. 13 as a member of the Los Angeles Kings. "It's just
nice, I haven't scored in a long time. It's nice."
And it opened the floodgates.
It took Nash all of 28 seconds to double the lead. Nash skated
through the slot untouched before whipping a wrist shot past Emery.
Brassard followed with his eighth of the season 7:18 after Nash's
goal. Brassard one-timed a feed from right winger Mats Zuccarello
that Emery did not have a chance to stop.
"They were quicker than us in the first period, had the puck more
than us in the first period," Berube said. "We ended up getting down
right away in the game.
"We have got to be more ready. We have got to be quick. We have got
to be as quick because we knew they were going to come out hard.
They have been playing (well) and they have been playing quick, and
we weren't ready. We were slow on everything — they had the puck
(and) we didn't get it back."
Kreider's 12th goal of the season with 6:28 left in the second put
the game away. With the Rangers on the power play due to Flyers
defenseman Nicklas Grossman's boarding penalty, Kreider carried the
puck from the boards into the slot and flipped a shot that pinballed
into the net.
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"This year (the coaching staff is) preparing us really well,"
Brassard said of a power-play unit that has scored six
man-advantage goals in the last five games. "We know what to
expect every night. We're making plays, we have some guys who
can quarterback the power play in (Brad Richards) and (Ryan
McDonagh) and all those guys. It helps a lot. We're just making
the right plays all the time. We find seams. We always have a
net front guy so that helps create some plays. We're doing a
great job right now."
The four-goal cushion was more than enough for Lundqvist, who
yielded just Streit's sixth of the season with 13:11 left in the
game.
"I got tested early and you gain confidence when you make a
couple of good saves," Lundqvist said. "I try just to take it
period by period, be as solid as I can and help the team get
points."
Benefitting a game between the two long-time rivals, there were
fisticuffs. Carcillo fought Flyers defenseman Luke Schenn in the
second period, and was part of a fracas between the two teams at
the end of the game. Carcillo and Rangers center Brian Boyle
each received 10-minute misconducts, as did Schenn and Flyers
right winger Wayne Simmonds. Rangers defenseman and Flyers
center Brayden Schenn also fought.
"No surprise," Carcillo said of the end game melee.
NOTES: Sunday night's game was the second of the season between
the two Metropolitan Division rivals and the first at Madison
Square Garden. The teams will play twice more, March 1 in
Philadelphia and March 26 in New York. ... The Flyers entered
the match having killed 22 straight power plays against in their
last seven games. Philadelphia's 84.8 percent success rate on
the penalty kill is fourth in the NHL. ... New York has scored
five power-play goals in 14 opportunities with the man advantage
in its previous four games. The Rangers are fifth in the NHL
with a 21.3 percent success rate on the power play. ... Rangers
C Derick Brassard came into the game having scored 14 of his 24
points on the power play. "I expect more from him 5-on-5 as far
as generating offensive opportunities," New York coach Alain
Vigneault said. "For some reason (on) the power play — I don't
know if it's the extra room, the extra time he might have — he's moving the puck, finding the open man. If he can do that on
the power play I'm hoping sooner or later that's going rub off
5-on-5, also." ... New York scratched D Justin Falk. ...
Philadelphia scratched D Hal Gill, D Erik Gustafsson and RW
Steve Downie.
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