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Flyers bang around Rangers; LW Shanahan hurt

Feb 17, 2007 - 11:01 PM NEW YORK (Ticker) -- The Philadelphia Flyers officially began life without Peter Forsberg. The New York Rangers may be without Brendan Shanahan for a while.

Simon Gagne registered a goal and an assist as the Flyers posted a 5-3 victory over the Rangers, who lost Shanahan to a scary injury.

After trading Forsberg to Nashville during Thursday's game vs. Toronto, Philadelphia hardly resembled the worst team in the league against New York, which is fighting for the Eastern Conference's final playoff spot.

"With or without (Forsberg), we were progressing as a team the past 10 to 15 games," Flyers tough guy Todd Fedoruk said. "(The trade is) tough, but we tried to deal with it as professionally as we could. He's not here anymore, so we have to stick with what's in the room right now. It doesn't matter if he's in or out of the lineup because he's not here."

With Forsberg gone, Gagne now is clearly the Flyers' best player. He played the part well Saturday, recording his fifth straight multi-point game in which he has seven goals and four assists.

Antero Niittymaki made 40 saves for the Flyers, who won for the third time in four games.

It was a frustrating afternoon for the Rangers, who were physically beaten up.

Shanahan, who leads the team with 28 goals, suffered the biggest injury after an open-ice collision with Philadelphia's Mike Knuble in the third period. The 19-year veteran was taken from the ice on a stretcher after banging the back of his head hard against the ice. But he was alert and talking at St. Vincent's Hospital.

"He is alert, responsive and aware of what's going on around him," Rangers coach Tom Renney said. "He doesn't recall the contact. It's always hard to see any of your players go down. It's tough, but we're going to have to overcome (his loss) and play in the spirit of what he's all about anyway. Hopefully, he won't be out too long."

"I saw it from the bench," New York captain Jaromir Jagr said. "It happens in hockey, but it's not easy to see. The No. 1 thing for us right now is to make sure he's good and healthy. Hopefully, he can play and help us soon. We wanted to try to win it for him, but we didn't play well the whole game."

Knuble also left the game.

"He's woozy. After that hit, there's a good chance he's (concussed). But I'm not a doctor," Flyers general manager Paul Holmgren said.

The Rangers also suffered three other injuries. Goaltender Henrik Lundqvist was hit in the left arm with a shot in the second period and sat out the final session, Marek Malik left with a shoulder injury and fellow defenseman Aaron Ward appeared to hurt his hand during a third-period fight.

"The (left) shoulder's very sore right now, but I just have to ice (it) for an hour and hopefully it'll be good," said Lundqvist, who is expected to start Sunday against Chicago. "I could've kept playing, but they told me they wanted to make a change."

"I don't think we were prepared to get our noses dirty, and I think Philly certainly sensed that," Renney said.

Jagr also was briefly shaken up after taking a hip check from Flyers defenseman Derian Hatcher while assisting on Petr Prucha's 13th goal with 14:03 remaining that pulled the Rangers within 4-2.

Jagr's assist was his 50th of the season and the 891st of his career, tying him with Hall of Famer Dale Hawerchuk for 18th place all-time.

Dmitry Afanasenkov, who was stopped on a penalty shot earlier in the third period by netminder Stephen Valiquette, tallied for the sixth time this season with 5:56 left to give the Flyers a 5-2 cushion.

The Rangers got a shorthanded goal from Matt Cullen with just over a minute remaining to cap the scoring. It was his 11th tally of the season.

In the the third period, the Rangers peppered Niittymaki with 23 shots.

Knuble and Gagne assisted on Geoff Sanderson's ninth goal of the season at 13:29 of the first period to open the scoring. Just over two minutes later, the Rangers tied it on Marcel Hossa's sixth tally of the campaign and fourth in six games.

But the Flyers regained the lead for good with 69 seconds left in the opening period as R.J. Umberger put a shot past Lundqvist while shorthanded for his 12th goal.

Gagne tallied for the 31st time with 31 seconds remaining in the middle session, cutting to the middle of the low slot and beating Lundqvist with a quick shot over the right pad.

Acquired in the trade for Forsberg, Scottie Upshall scored on the power play 2:33 into the third to give the Flyers a 4-1 cushion. It was his third goal of the season.

"When you're a kid, you dream of going out and helping your team win," Upshall said. "I scored my first goal here against (Mike) Richter when I was 19. Today, to get that first one out of the way as a Flyer was nice."