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The Flyers sorely missed Travis Konecny in Saturday afternoon’s 2-1 loss to the Rangers at the Wells Fargo Center.
John Tortorella’s club was very competitive against one of the best teams in the NHL. But without his leading scorer in all situations, his offense lacked finishing.
Konecny was out for the first time this season due to an upper body injury. He left Friday’s practice uncomfortable. More about his status here.
The Flyers (30-21-7) fell to 5-2-1 since the bye week and the All-Star break.
Tyson Foerster scored the team’s only goal on Saturday. The Flyers went on a power play with 4:03 left in the game, but failed to convert.
With the Flyers net empty, Sean Couturier nearly tied the game in the final six seconds. The backhand shot from close to him took out iron.
The Flyers’ lead over the Devils in the Metropolitan Division race was cut to five points. New Jersey beat the Canadiens, 4-3, on Saturday afternoon. The Devils have played one less game than the Flyers and come to Philadelphia in April for one last head-to-head matchup.
New York, 14 points ahead of the Flyers, has won 10 games in a row.
The Flyers are 0-2-0 against the Rangers (39-16-3) in their regular season series. The clubs have two games left, both at Madison Square Garden.
With Konecny, this was a measuring stick game for the Flyers. Without Konecny, it was a very, very difficult task.
“We played hard,” Tortorella said. “I know we played a good game.”
Since 2021-22, the Flyers have lost eight of their last nine meetings with New York (1-6-2) and have been outscored 29-13.
As expected, blue Rangers jerseys permeated the Wells Fargo Center on Saturday. Last season, New York fans flooded Philadelphia for a game in March. Afterwards, Tortorella said “blame us,” that the organization needed to make home games “a difficult entry” again.
Indicated attendance on Saturday was 19,756.
As the team has progressed, has Tortorella felt Flyers fans coming back together?
“I want to get us to the place, and we’re not there, where it’s hard to come in and play,” the head coach said Friday after practice. “I think one of the things we haven’t totally mastered this year in our development is home ice. I think sometimes it’s harder to play on home ice than it is on the road.
“But I want the building to be like this. I’m sorry, you can feel it in the games. But I want it to be a given, that people say, ‘Oh, it’s hard to get into that place.’ And the fans are a big part of that. I think we are on the right path to get there; “We still have a long way to go.”
• The Flyers came out with a big push in the third period, needing just 2:36 minutes to tie the game.
Scott Laughton extended his point streak to six games (two goals, five assists) with a wraparound pass to Foerster.
But less than four minutes later, the Rangers regained the lead. Matt Rempe got a piece of Barclay Goodrow’s redirect for his first career NHL goal.
“The guys fought hard for each other,” Laughton said. “You get a lot of positives out of this.”
• Samuel Ersson recorded 22 saves on 24 shots.
The 24-year-old was blocked by the 6-foot-7 Rempe on New York’s game-winning goal.
The Flyers chased Rangers netminder Igor Shesterkin, who stopped 39 of 40 shots.
The 2021-22 Vezina Trophy winner heard his first name chanted after making a crucial save on a shorthanded breakaway from Travis Sanheim. The Flyers were trailing 2-1 in the third period and were threatening with their dangerous penalty kill.
“Igor played very well for them and made a lot of important saves,” Ersson said. “It’s a close game. As a goalie, you know it’s going to come down to a goal, a rebound here and there, so you get a little frustrated when you don’t get that extra (save).”
In the second period, with New York on a four-minute power play due to a high Garnet Hathaway penalty, Laughton came close to giving the Flyers a 1-0 lead when he touched the post.
On that power play, Ersson denied Alexis Lafreniere a stellar split save. But when the action moved to 4-on-4, Lafreniere beat Ersson with a shot from the circle.
• Nicolas Deslauriers and Rempe dropped the gloves in the big rookie’s first turn of the game.
“I saw him lurking in warm-ups and I’m a guy who doesn’t take no for an answer very often,” Deslauriers said. “I just politely went and said, ‘Are we going to do this?’ That’s how it is.”
Talk about a heavyweight fight. The fight would make the Broad Street Bullies smile.
“He’s a really important guy for us,” Tortorella said of Deslauriers. “That’s a good old-fashioned hockey fight.”
Once the blows finally died down, Deslauriers played to the crowd, which was fired up just three minutes into the action.
“Afterwards I said to a couple of guys, ‘That’s the loudest sound I’ve ever heard,'” Deslauriers said. “Because during the fights you don’t hear much. But afterward it was fun.”
Ersson enjoyed watching Deslauriers work.
“He’s an absolute animal, a warrior for us,” Ersson said. “I wouldn’t want to fight him. You could feel the atmosphere in the building and for us as a team, it gives us a lot of energy.”
• After missing the last four games with a right foot injury, Foerster returned to the lineup.
The rookie winger made his presence felt with the tying goal and four shots.
Due to Konecny’s absence, the Flyers had to go with 11 forwards and seven defensemen.
• The Flyers return to action on Sunday when they visit the Penguins (3:30 p.m. ET/TNT).
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