Flyers fall to Rangers in Winter Classic

DANNY BRIERE circled once and paused for a second just outside the Flyers' blue line before heading in unopposed on New York Rangers goaltender Henrik Lundqvist.

Briere was the recipient of a sparkling gift from coach Peter Laviolette: tapped with an unimaginable opportunity to knot an otherwise hopeless game with 19.6 seconds left under the bright lights of Citizens Bank Park on hockey's biggest stage.

Laviolette was forced to pick one forward from the ice after the Rangers' Ryan McDonagh covered the puck inside the crease to rob Briere of a goal.

"That's a lot of pressure," Flyers teammate Jakub Voracek said. "You've got 50,000 people depending on you to score a goal. Millions watching on TV."

The flurries had just stopped falling from the sky, halting the so-perfect-it-almost-looked-fake snowglobe effect. The swirling winds had stopped.

Briere skated in and noticed that Lundqvist was parked unusually far from his net.

"You go in and you try to get a read on where he is at," Briere said. "He came really far out. All I was thinking was that the game was going to overtime, that I was going to score.

"I could see it going in."

So could the rest of the Flyers. And Philadelphia. And Rangers coach John Tortorella.

"I'm not sure if NBC got together with the refs or what to turn this into an overtime game," Tortorella said. "I'm not sure what happened there. I'm not sure if they had meetings about that or what. I just thought tonight, [the officiating] in that third period was disgusting."

Even Lundqvist was sweating.

"I couldn't believe he called the penalty shot,'' the Rangers' goalie said. "But it was exciting. Obviously there's a lot of pressure on me there. But it was exciting. The whole game was exciting. Pretty intense."

For that one moment, lasting no more than 60 seconds from whistle to whistle, the entire Philadelphia sporting landscape stood still. The drama was inescapable and unscripted.

Briere skated in on Lundqvist, shooing away the loose snow laying in front of him on the chewed-up ice on the way in. He saw a brief glimpse of daylight between Lundqvist's pads and fired.

"I saw something there in between his five-hole," Briere said. "It all happened so fast."

As quickly as Lundqvist taunted with the trick between his legs, the gap closed as quickly as the weeklong Winter Classic celebration week went by. Briere was out of real estate and the chance to play hero. The Flyers were out of time.

In that one brief instant, Philadelphia's 3-hour run as the center of the hockey universe was over. Lundqvist closed the door, handing the Flyers a stunning, 3-2 loss in the 2012 Winter Classic yesterday in front of 46,967 thunderous fans.

"It's frustrating," Briere said. "It's disappointing. But I can't change anything about it now. I got a good shot off, he made a good save."

The Flyers beat Lundqvist in a shootout on the last day of the 2010 regular season to win the final playoff spot, but the Rangers got the last laugh yesterday.

It was the Flyers' fifth straight loss to the Rangers, the third this season. By scoring three unanswered goals to wipe out a 2-0 Flyers lead, New York handed the Flyers their first regulation loss of the season (18-1-1) after leading through two periods.

The Flyers became the only team in NHL history to lose twice in the 5-year history of the Winter Classic, after losing to Boston in overtime on Jan. 1, 2010, at Fenway Park. Pittsburgh, the only other team to have played twice, is 1-1.

"It was a tough loss on a big stage," said the Flyers' Max Talbot, who played with the Penguins in their two Winter Classics. "In saying that, we all know we can beat them. The Winter Classics are always special. When you put it in Philly like this, the fans show up. They're obviously really excited and loud. It was special. It's something that the players are privileged to be a part of, only two teams in the league get a chance to play in this event."

After dominating a good chunk of the first two periods, the Flyers fell apart when it mattered most. It was their chance to finally put a fist in the Rangers' mouth after two boastful wins earlier this season.

Brayden Schenn, scoring his first NHL goal, and Claude Giroux gave the Flyers a two-goal edge within 2 minutes of each other in the second period. Just 30 seconds after Giroux's goal, though, the Rangers' comeback began.

"It doesn't take much, especially against top teams, things can go the other way pretty quickly," Briere said. "It's something that you've got to learn from, it's a good thing that it happened now, halfway through the year. I'd rather have it happen now than when you need [to win] to make it to the playoffs."

Mike Rupp, a player who had never posted more than 19 points in any of his eight NHL seasons, scored the first two goals for New York, the first one in the second period and the tying goal 2:41 into the third. He even stole Jaromir Jagr's trademark salute to the fans after scoring his first goal.

That was about when the snowflakes started to fall, with the lights in the Philadelphia skyline finally starting to twinkle in the background of the ballpark as dusk settled in after the 3 o'clock start.

Giroux said the snow "reminded you of when you're a little kid."

The snowflakes stopped falling at the start of the third period, but that was when the game snowballed out of control for the Flyers. Brad Richards added what turned out to be the game-winner just 5:21 into the third period, as the Flyers were outshot 16-10 over the final frame.

That left the Winter Classic's valuable two points resting on Briere's shoulders on the penalty shot.

"This game hurts," Giroux said. "At the same time, we can't put ourselves in that situation, too. We can't be counting on that in the last seconds of the game."

The Rangers left Philadelphia perched firmly atop the Eastern Conference standings, a role that the Flyers held for 13 straight days in December after starting the month with seven wins in a row. Now, the Rangers officially start 2012 with the deed to a heated rivalry, one that the Flyers used to own.

"They can win those regular-season games," Giroux said. "We've just got to learn from what we do in the regular season. At the end of the day, it's going to be who is the most ready for the playoffs. I think this game is just going to make us better."

Even in the shadow of a loss, it was hard for players and fans alike to leave Citizens Bank Park, having witnessed a spectacle that this city had never before seen.

"The fans showed everyone what a great hockey town Philadelphia is," said Flyers chairman Ed Snider, who was visited in his suite by Phillies centerfielder Shane Victorino during the game. "I'm not disappointed in our effort, I'm disappointed in the final score. I know that we'll be back and stronger than ever."

"This experience, it will happen maybe once in a lifetime," Voracek said. "We lost. That's life."

With his goal, Claude Giroux pulled back into a tie with Vancouver's Henrik Sedin for the league scoring lead with 46 points. Giroux has 17 points in his last 10 games . . . The Rangers outhit the Flyers (50-41) for the second game in as many weeks . . . Danny Briere's penalty shot was the third of his career; he is 1-for-3. The Flyers are 19-for-46 on penalty shots all-time and Henrik Lundqvist is 7-for-10.