Flyers let a third period lead slip away in 3-2 loss to the Rangers
The Flyers have now lost five of their past six games after allowing New York to score two goals in the third period.
NEW YORK — The Flyers had the game in their grasp, but the lights went out on Broadway.
Up 2-1 deep into the third period, the Orange and Black ended up on the losing end, falling 3-2 to the New York Rangers. The Flyers have now lost two straight and five of their past six. They are 4-10-4 on the season and 0-4-4 against Metropolitan Division opponents.
Philly allowed a pair of goals to the Minnesota Wild on Tuesday before the first TV timeout. It was also the 11th time in 17 games the Flyers did not score first.
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Thursday was similar, with the Rangers taking a 1-0 lead via a double deflection off a point shot by Marcus Pettersson 4 minutes, 39 seconds in. Rangers captain J.T. Miller deflected the shot first in the high slot before Gabe Perreault, tied up with Christian Dvorak, deflected it again past Joseph Woll.
Before the goal, Dvorak had a chance to chip the puck up the boards to start a breakaway, but Rangers defenseman Braden Schneider stopped it as he pinched deep. As the Rangers applied pressure, Miller got two whacks near the right post before the puck popped out to Oliver Bonk at the bottom of the left circle. The puck slid off the toe of his blade, and Tye Kartye tracked it down on the board to set up Pettersson for the shot.
As they did against Minnesota, the Flyers found their game and turned it up, led by Dvorak, Trevor Zegras, and Travis Konecny. They kept the puck pinned in the Rangers’ zone for the final minute of the first period, collecting five shot attempts, including a wrist shot by Travis Sanheim.
In the second period, the Flyers broke through on Rangers rookie goalie Dylan Garand, who was making his 12th straight appearance, with only two in relief.
Simon Benoit tied the game at 1-1 with his first goal since March 10, 2025, a 103-game drought.
Tyson Foerster pressured and lifted Schneider’s stick in the Rangers’ zone to steal the puck before passing it to Noel Acciari. He almost got it back from Sanheim, but it did not connect, and Schneider’s clear up the boards sneaked past Foerster and Pavel Dorofeyev.
Benoit stepped into the puck as it came up the boards, and the shot beat Garand as Noah Cates created a screen with Rangers defenseman Scott Morrow.
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One minute, 59 seconds later, it was 2-1 on Acciari’s second of the season off a nifty pass by Denver Barkey.
Jamie Drysdale’s shot hit Rangers’ Eeli Tolvanen’s stick and trickled to Barkey, who caught the bouncing puck with his back to the net and Vladislav Gavrikov on him. He turned and fed a centering pass around Gavrikov to Acciari for the tap-in. Barkey said postgame he knew Acciari was in the area and just wanted to throw it to the right area for him to score.
But in the third period, the Rangers pushed and scored two to retake the lead, the first coming with 6:08 left in regulation.
Dorofeyev scored on a power play from the right circle after receiving a quick pass by Mika Zibanejad from the wall past the outstretched stick of Benout. The shot by Dorofeyev went through Sanheim’s legs and over Woll’s glove. Barkey was in the box for slashing Kartye; he tapped the gloves of the forward on a shot.
Less than two minutes later, the Rangers took a 3-2 lead on a goal by Kartye off a stretch pass by Adam Fox. On the goal, it looked like Sean Couturier got caught in no man’s land and three Flyers — Drysdale, Acciari and Sanheim — got caught on the side of the ice, giving Kartye the room to skate in and fire the wrist shot past Woll.
Breakaways
In the second period, Woll made a save on a one-timer from the right circle that squeaked through. Benoit dove and knocked the puck away before Alexis Lafrenière could pounce on the loose puck in the crease. … Defenseman David Jiříček was a healthy scratch for the seventh straight game. … Perreault was taken in the first round of the 2023 NHL draft, one slot after Bonk. … Cole Knuble played center for the first time this season with the Flyers. … Woll made 25 saves on 28 shots. … The Flyers’ power play went 0-for-1.
Up next
The Flyers’ five-game road trip continues in Alberta when they face the Calgary Flames on Sunday in the first game of a back-to-back (7 p.m., NBCSP).
