February 24, 2024
Kyle Ross/USA TODAY Sports
Flyers winger Joel Farabee loses an edge and control of the puck crashing in toward the net during the first period against the Rangers Saturday at the Wells Fargo Center.
Saturday at the Wells Fargo Center meant more. You could see it on the ice, and definitely feel it throughout the building.
It's late February and the [rebuilding] Flyers are still here in the playoff race, but the energy is different now. The tensions are higher, and every bounce and little detail becomes that much more crucial. It's that "real season" head coach John Tortorella has been warning about since December, when the 82-game schedule becomes an all-out, hard-checking sprint to the postseason for the teams that are in it.
But there's something else, too. The Flyers, over this last stretch of games, are going to be running into teams that already know they're on their way to April and preparing for greater.
"They're not gonna say it, but they know it," Tortorella said after practice on Friday. "You're gonna see a whole different level, a whole different thing in front of you as far as how the little things matter, and that's a very important part of our game is how much emphasis and concentration and how much ability do we have to make those little things count."
The rival and Metro Division-leading New York Rangers brought that level to them – along with another heavy Blueshirts fan contingent – and although the Flyers answered with a down-to-the-wire battle, the effort was ultimately stopped short in a 2-1 loss.
The Flyers generated chance after chance, even with Travis Konecny out due to a minor upper-body injury, but an experienced New York defense, an Igor Shesterkin rapidly returning to form in goal, and one too many misses in the offensive end left them still facing a red and blue wall yet to be broken this season.
Tyson Foerster, in his return to the lineup from injury, found a crack in the armor with his 11th goal of the season, and Samuel Ersson put in another stellar effort with a number of key saves – 22 in total – to keep Philly in it, but that first, near-uncontested tally from Alexis Lafrenière at 4-on-4 and the second from Barclay Goodrow that just trickled its way through traffic made enough of a difference for New York.
The Rangers have now won 10 straight to stay well atop the Metro and surpass Boston for first in the Eastern Conference with 81 points, while the Flyers drop to 30-21-7 with their 67 points keeping them at third in the division and with a still decent gap over the Devils for the time being.
But as Saturday proved, the rest of the season is a different beast now. The Flyers have to be ready for it.
"I think since we came out of the [All-Star break] there, I think we've really stepped up a level and we've shown that we can play with all the good teams," Ersson said from the locker room postgame. "It gives us more confidence and we just gotta keep building here.
"We know it's gonna be stepped up even one more notch, so we gotta keep pushing our level here."
The Flyers skated with the Rangers beat-for-beat in the opening period, exchanging chances, rushes, big saves, and when it came to Nic Deslauriers and Rangers call-up Matt Rempe, some massive blows in a drag-out fight that got everyone in the arena going.
"He's tall," Deslauriers quipped of the 6-foot-7 Rempe afterward.
"That's a good old-fashioned hockey fight there," Tortorella said.
REMPE AMD DESLAURIERS DROP THE GLOVES 🍿 pic.twitter.com/8aJvbo57Zs
— B/R Open Ice (@BR_OpenIce) February 24, 2024
Farabee was all over the ice in the first, leading multiple rushes and breaks off of giveaways through the neutral zone to drive the Flyers' offense. Foerster and fellow sharpshooter Owen Tippett contributed to Philly's opportunities down in the offensive zone, but shots either sailed just wide or found their way into the pads of Shesterkin
The Flyers went on to outshoot New York, 18-9, for the period and looked to have momentum tilting slightly downhill for them, but that hardly meant they were safe.
Officials kept their whistles busy on Saturday, tagging the Flyers and the Rangers for four penalties each – not counting Deslaurier's and Rempe's fighting majors.
The Flyers penalty kill survived a questionable goaltender interference call on Farabee in the first – which seemed to have warranted an extra explanation/lecture from the linesman once he was in the box – and were managing a high-sticking double minor on Garnet Hathaway midway through the second when his clearing attempt caught the Rangers' K'Andre Miller in the face on the follow through along the boards.
Neither of those were killers by themselves.
But Lafrenière's goal, that hurt.
A holding call on Artermi Panarin to stop the Flyers' rush during Hathaway's penalty set it to 4-on-4 and gave Philly a golden offensive zone draw to work with.
But they played the situation entirely passive, letting Vincent Trocheck carry the puck straight down the ice and then drop it off for Lafrenière, who with space and time at the top of the left circle, fired it past Ersson for the 1-0 Rangers lead.
Lafreniere has 6 goals in his last 10 games 👀 pic.twitter.com/15yKFnwGdI
— B/R Open Ice (@BR_OpenIce) February 24, 2024
The ice started tilting in favor of New York after that, but Ersson stayed steady in net to keep the Flyers within striking distance going into the second intermission.
They pressed coming back out for the third, and after a couple of near misses, Foerster finally found the breakthrough when Scott Laughton fed him the wrap-around pass to a wide-open net in front for the 1-1 tie.
"We're gonna need him to be good coming up here," Laughton said of Foerster afterward. "Especially if TK is out. Guys need to step up. I thought we played most of the game really, really well, so take a lot of it and go from there."
WELCOME BACK, @TFOERSTER8! #NYRvsPHI | #LetsGoFlyers pic.twitter.com/eiOET5FHNS
— Philadelphia Flyers (@NHLFlyers) February 24, 2024
Down the other way a few minutes later, the Rangers cycled the puck around, and from the point, Goodrow threaded a shot through traffic that Ersson couldn't see with Rempe near sitting on him in the crease.
"Nothing I can do about that," Ersson responded postgame when asked whether he felt there might have been goaltender interference on that sequence.
REMPE GETS HIS FIRST NHL GOAL 🚨 pic.twitter.com/AAFeH6FBs9
— B/R Open Ice (@BR_OpenIce) February 24, 2024
The Rangers took back the lead, and although the Flyers kept firing away down at the other end, Shesterkin did his part to shut the door while the New York skaters in front of him took as many gaps away as they could.
What could've been a major turning point arrived midway through the third when Travis Sanheim took off on a 2-on-0 breakaway while the Flyers were shorthanded, but Shesterkin stepped up out of the crease and cut off the angle, snuffing out the opportunity just as quickly as it came.
Answers, and time, ran out from there.
Shesterkin shuts down Sanheim's 2-on-0 breakaway try#NYR pic.twitter.com/RsIfaEzNpg
— Hockey Daily 365 l NHL Highlights & News (@HockeyDaily365) February 24, 2024
There's going to be no break to dwell or reflect, however. The Flyers will head to Pittsburgh and be back in action right away against the Penguins on Sunday for the second of a weekend back-to-back – and with Sidney Crosby and co. hanging on to playoff hopes by the thinnest of threads.
There's some real damage to be dealt on the other side of the state.
"We lost the game. We get ready to go to Pittsburgh," Tortorella said. "I thought we did some really good things. We just get ready for our next game."
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