Rangers beat Flyers in shootout

With the regular season winding down, the Flyers were looking to gain back the momentum that mysteriously vanished recently.

Taking on the New York Rangers, they were also looking to avenge last month's 7-0 embarrassment at Madison Square Garden, when Ryan Callahan rang up four goals.

But that incentive wasn't enough to get the struggling Flyers back on track. The Rangers, eighth in the Eastern Conference, managed a 3-2 shootout victory Sunday in an Atlantic Division matchup at the Wells Fargo Center.

The subpar play in South Philly continued. Equaling a franchise record, it was the club's eighth defeat in the last nine home games.

"Lately, we've been pretty bad at home in front of our fans," winger Dan Carcillo said. "That definitely needs to change, and we have a couple more games to get this right before we start the playoffs. Hopefully, this turns around pretty quick for us."

For what it's worth, the Flyers, with the one point earned from the shootout loss, reclaimed first place in the Eastern Conference.

The Flyers and Washington, which defeated Buffalo in overtime Saturday night to briefly gain the top spot, are tied with 103 points each. But, based on the league's tiebreaking system, the Flyers have the edge.

Helping the Rangers keep their playoff-position standing, Henrik Lundqvist made 32 saves. In the shootout, he turned away tries by Nik Zherdev and Claude Giroux. "I think we have the best [goalie] in the business," Rangers coach John Tortorella said.

The Flyers (46-22-11) were without playmaker Danny Briere, who was scratched because of lower-body soreness. "It's probably going to keep him out for a few days," general manager Paul Holmgren said.

The Rangers (42-32-5) converted both of their shootout opportunities, with Erik Christensen and Wojtek Wolski beating Sergei Bobrovsky. "It's impossible to explain what happened," the goalie said. "I don't know. It's just what happened."

Of the traffic Lundqvist had to deal with in front of him, Flyers coach Peter Laviolette said, "I don't think it was bad. I thought that we were pretty competitive out there for the most part. It can always be better."

Early in the third period, Zherdev converted a perfect left-to-right feed from Giroux to tie the contest, 2-2. It was his 16th goal of the season and his first since Jan. 23.

"I think we flipped the switch in the third period," Giroux said. "The first two periods, I didn't think we really had anything going. We were kind of dead. In the third, we had more jump, we battled for the puck, and got traffic in front of their goalie."

Already without Briere and Chris Pronger (hand), the Flyers lost Blair Betts to a lower-body injury in the second period.

Ville Leino, after taking two shifts in the second period, also did not see the ice in the last 20 minutes. "We just shortened the bench and tightened things up," Laviolette said of the winger's absence.

With 6 minutes, 30 seconds left in the second period, Ruslan Fedotenko's tally put New York in front, 2-1.

"We knew it was an important game," Callahan said. "To our credit, we responded pretty well after two tough games. That's how we have been all year."

The teams traded goals in the opening stanza. After James van Riemsdyk's follow of Sean O'Donnell's left-side slapshot put the Flyers in front, Bryan McCabe's tally, with just one second to go, evened things.

McCabe's score came on a two-man advantage, with Matt Carle (hoooking) and Brandon Coburn (high-sticking) in the box.

The Flyers went 0 for 4 on the power play. Like Lundqvist, who was making his 23d consecutive start, Bobrovsky stopped 32 shots.

"I think we need to bring more passion to the rink," Carcillo said. "We need better energy, higher energy. We need to start playing better as a team and at home."