PHILADELPHIA — With roughly 40 percent of a Wells Fargo crowd of 19,032 inclined to disrespect them anyway, the Flyers used their standard way to boost that figure in a 3-1 loss Friday to the New York Rangers.
They went 0-for-6 on the power play, drawing boos from the 60 percent of that audience not wearing Rangers blue.
John Tortorella?
“I’m not,” the coach decided, “going to talk about the power play now.”
Maybe later.
Actions have spoken louder all year anyway, with the Flyers’ second consecutive loss providing a snippet of a season-long problem. For the season, they are 7-for-68 with the personnel edge and after a pip of a performance Friday, they took a bus to Long Island for a 7:30 game Saturday night in a 4-for-41 slump.
“Once I get away from you guys, we’re getting on the bus and going,” said Tortorella, charming the press as usual. “So can I leave?”
With that – though already having answered several other questions – he bolted toward the door. As for inside the dressing room, the power-play answers were more plentiful, even if providing not much more clarity.
The Flyers did have some chances, but their struggles were magnified by a strong performance from Rangers goalie Igor Shesterkin, who made 36 saves. Though Sean Couturier’s goal drew the Flyers within 3-1 at 17:38 of the second, bringing the bulk of the crowd to life, Shesterkin stopped all 14 shots he faced in the final 20 minutes. The Flyers wasted two third-period power play chances.
“They’re pretty good on the penalty kill,” Travis Sanheim suggested. “We had some good looks. I just think we have to be more straightforward, generating shots and getting to the net.”
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A second-period clearing pass from Cam Atkinson caught Noah Cates on the lip. Thirty stitches later, the centerman was back on the ice.
“They finished with that right as the third period was starting,” Cates said. “I wanted to get some water and kind of regroup, take a breath and start moving again. But I got back out there as soon as I could.
“They did a great job. It is kind of different to do that, but it’s hockey and it happens.”
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As has been a trend for more than a year, Rangers fans occupied much of the building Friday. It’s what happens when one team is in first place, the other will fight for the playoffs and electronic apps make ticket-transfers easy.
“They are a good team, a top team in the league,” Garnet Hathaway said. “It was Black Friday, with fans of both teams. It is something you are excited for. I wasn’t as happy coming out if it. But we were excited getting ready for it.”
Hathaway did bring the Flyers fans to a boil when he threw a first-period beating on Barclay Goodrow.
“It’s a division game that’s worth four points,” he said. “Those are huge when you come down to it, whether a team makes the playoffs or not.”
With that, Hathaway shrugged off his contribution to the physical nature of the event.
“It’s just part of the game,” he said.
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The mood of the Flyers fans was not boosted when the Rangers scored twice within the first 1:53.
“We fought,” Tortorella said. “But to me, there were just too many odd-man rushes. That’s been a staple of our team this year, our discipline with that, and it was nowhere to be found with our backchecking.”
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The Flyers are in 1-2 in the midst of a six-game test against Metropolitan Division opponents.
“We had a nice stretch there,” said Cam Atkinson, of a recent five-game winning streak. “But at the same time, these are division rivals (that) concern four points. These games are so crucial for us, both for the way we are playing now and later down the stretch. Saturday will be another key test against (an Islanders) team that just beat us (3-2 Wednesday). So we have got to be ready to go.”
