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Flyers fire blanks in 2-0 loss to Rangers

NEW YORK - This is how bad things are going for the Flyers on the injury front: They lost another player - Andreas Nodl - when he collided with a teammate in Saturday afternoon's 2-0 loss to the New York Rangers at loud, sold-out Madison Square Garden.

Flyers' Wayne Simmonds fights with Rangers' Brandon Prust during the first period. (AP Photo/Bill Kostroun)
Flyers' Wayne Simmonds fights with Rangers' Brandon Prust during the first period. (AP Photo/Bill Kostroun)Read more

NEW YORK - This is how bad things are going for the Flyers on the injury front: They lost another player - Andreas Nodl - when he collided with a teammate in Saturday afternoon's 2-0 loss to the New York Rangers at loud, sold-out Madison Square Garden.

The Flyers, who were already missing three key players, were shut out for the first time this season.

Henrik Lundqvist notched his 37th career shutout and fourth against the Flyers, who were missing injured wingers Jaromir Jagr and James van Riemsdyk, along with star defenseman Chris Pronger (virus). Defenseman Andreas Lilja (ankle) was also sidelined

Nodl collided with a hard-charging Danny Briere in the opening period, tried to play a couple of shifts in the next period, and then sat out the rest of the game with what the Flyers called an upper-body injury.

"I'm not going to lie," said Lundqvist, who made his most difficult save when he stopped Scott Hartnell on an early breakaway. "I was pretty happy to see Jagr and Pronger out."

Carl Hagelin, playing in his second NHL game, scored his first career goal, and Brad Richards netted a power-play tally as the Rangers ended the Flyers' two-game winning streak.

Hagelin made it 2-0 when goalie Sergei Bobrovsky handed him a rebound and he scored on his second attempt with a little less than 15 minutes left in the game.

"I got a lucky bounce," Hagelin said.

Lundqvist made 29 saves, but most were on shots from the perimeter. The Flyers had no traffic in front and rarely had a rebound attempt.

"It was disappointing," Briere said. "We didn't spend any time in the offensive zone. We were one-and-done all night long."

The effort was there - the Flyers had a season-high 34 hits - but they couldn't overcome a depleted bench, or the Rangers' 21 blocked shots.

"We were slow getting shots off and a little slow to find the lanes," coach Peter Laviolette said. "But when we did get shots through, he had no problem seeing them in the net."

With the game scoreless early in the second period, Ryan Callahan's goal was disallowed because he directed the puck into the net with his glove.

Twenty-four seconds later, with the Rangers still on the power play, Richards one-timed a drive from the top of the right circle past Bobrovsky, who was screened by the pesky Callahan. Richards put his well-placed shot just inside the left post.

The teams were scoreless after the first period - only because Bobrovsky continued to look like a No. 1 goalie.

Except for his gaffe on the second goal, Bobrovsky played a stellar game, making 30 stops.

This was a dress rehearsal for the Jan. 2 Winter Classic between the teams at Citizens Bank Park.

Based on Saturday, the Winter Classic may have an unusual amount of scrums.

It took all of four seconds for Zac Rinaldo and Brandon Prust to drop the gloves.

"It was a mutual agreement between me and Prusty to get it going right at the hop," Rinaldo said.

About nine minutes later, Wayne Simmonds went at it with Prust.

Both fights were close. Both had the sellout crowd standing.

Playing the Flyers, Prust said, "always feels like a playoff atmosphere."

Except Prust and the Rangers didn't face the real Flyers. They faced a team shorthanded by injuries and illness.

"Last year, we were pretty much injury-free until late March or the beginning of April," Briere said, "so hopefully we can get them out of the way earlier in the season and be a little healthier coming down the stretch."