By Jim Cerny, newyorkrangers.com
Recently, the Rangers have owned the third periods of games they have played in and, as a result, have strung together an impressive series of victories.
But on Saturday afternoon at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, the Rangers entered the third period trailing 1-0 and allowed three more goals in the final period to end up losing to the Flyers 4-1.
“We had a good week, and we were hoping to sweep all four games, but we lose a tough one here to a good team,” said Rangers head coach John Tortorella. “Our lack of patience turns into turnovers, and they’re a good enough team to take advantage. But we’ll be OK.”
The loss was the Rangers’ first this week after winning three straight -- including inspiring third-period comebacks against the Penguins and Coyotes. The Flyers have now won five in a row, and their 49 points are tops in the National Hockey League.
Philadelphia scored the only goal of the first two periods when former Ranger Nikolay Zherdev burst out of the penalty box, accepted a long pass from teammate Mike Richards, and scored on a breakaway against Henrik Lundqvist at 9:06 of the second period.
Tortorella termed that score “a pretty important goal” because neither team had generated much in the way of quality scoring ...
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STAT OF THE GAME
Derek Stepan's goal was his second in as many games. He has recorded 14 points (six goals, eight assists) in the last 19 games and moved into a tie for fourth in NHL rookie scoring.
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| (selected by newyorkrangers.com) |
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| 1. H. Lundqvist |
2. D. Stepan |
3. Dale Weise |
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