• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers

Flyers erupt in second to bury Rangers

Feb 15, 2009 - 10:03 PM NEW YORK (Ticker) -- The Philadelphia Flyers and New York Rangers entered Sunday's game at Madison Square Garden separated by only one point in the standings. But the Atlantic Division rivals looked worlds apart on the ice.

Getting a rare goal while they were two men down from captain Mike Richards, the Flyers cruised to a 5-2 victory over the the Rangers, who were roundly booed during a second-period collapse in which they surrendered four goals in a span of just over 7 1/2 minutes.

"Back-to-back games force you to stay sharp because you are coming off a game and not practicing," said Flyers coach John Stevens, whose team defeated the New York Islanders, 5-1, on Saturday.

"We knew this weekend was going to be tough. I thought the start was important for us."

New York was awarded a two-man advantage for 78 seconds when Jeff Carter was whistled for tripping Marc Staal 19 seconds into the second.

But New York's power play continued to look inept, as the Rangers were 0-for-5 with the man advantage, extending their slump to 1-for-31 in the last nine games.

"I don't know their history on power plays or shorthanded goals," Richards said. "Whenever we play (the Rangers), we always try to take advantage of maybe them betting a little too relaxed on the power play."

The Rangers were embarrassed when Richards took a lead pass from blue-liner Braydon Coburn in the neutral zone and split between captain Chris Drury and defenseman Michal Rozsival.

Richards broke in alone and beat goaltender Henrik Lundqvist to the stick side, giving the Flyers a 2-0 lead 78 seconds into the period.

"I always try to score shorthanded," added Richards, who became the first player in NHL history to score three goals while his team was playing two men down. "(Coburn) made a good play and I got a little lucky. I missed my shot and it went in."

It was the Flyers' league-best 14th shorthanded goal of the season and the fifth scored by Richards. The Rangers surrendered their 14th shorthanded goal, also a league high.

"Not very happy, it's as simple as that," New York coach Tom Renney said. "It's one of those things where you try to press (on the power play) to get a part of your game going and you give up a shorthanded goal."

Philadelphia poured it on as defenseman Matt Carle, Glen Metropolit and Mike Knuble scored 1:49 apart to give the Flyers a 5-0 lead just 8:52 into the period.

Suddenly, the Flyers are scoring goals in bunches. In Saturday's victory, Carle, Arron Asham and Simon Gagne tallied in a span of 67 seconds in the third period.

Philadelphia, which completed the weekend sweep of the New York teams, is in fourth place in the East - three points ahead of the Rangers.

"I think that's great for us," Stevens said. "But we got to make sure we stay on our toes. In the third, there was a lot more we could have done. They carried the play in the third."

For the second time in as many days, rookie Claude Giroux got the Flyers off to a good start. He staked Philadelphia to a 1-0 lead with just his third goal of the season 8:12 into the opening period and added a pair of assists for his first career multi-point game.

Lundqvist, who made 42 saves in Friday's 2-1 shootout loss at Florida, was pulled following Metropolit's goal.

"We're too vulnerable," New York left wing Markus Nasland said. "We let a goal dictate the outcome of the game, even though we were still in the game. We let them get the momentum and they just pulled away and they get a 5-0 lead."

Stephen Valiquette faced only six shots in relief of Lundqvist over the final 33 minutes. However, after building their commanding lead, the Flyers were more interested in clamping down defensively against the league's lowest-scoring team. Netminder Martin Biron turned aside 35 shots for Philadelphia.

Lauri Korpikoski got New York on the board with 7:35 left in the second period and Nikolai Zherdev scored midway through the third. The Rangers have just one win in their last eight games (1-5-2).