Rangers dominate Flyers again, sweep season series

THE PESSIMIST looks at the Flyers' eighth consecutive loss to the New York Rangers and says that Henrik Lundqvist and company own the Flyers.

The optimist looks at the Rangers' season series sweep and says that the Flyers are due for a win - and that they dominated a better part of the second and third period on Tuesday night.

The realist, instead, looks at the Flyers' 5-3 shellacking against the Rangers at the Wells Fargo Center for what it is: a more or less meaningless tuneup against a team they have no chance of facing in the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs.

The Rangers continued their dominance over the Flyers, jumping out to a 4-0 lead in the first period before Lundqvist was finally scored upon by his own defenseman to help get Philadelphia back in the game.

New York has outscored the Flyers by a staggering 24-11 margin this season, as they swept (6-0-0) the Flyers for the first time since 1971-72. The Flyers' last win over the Rangers was Feb. 20, 2010. It's the first time since 2006-07, when they didn't win a game against the Penguins (0-6-2), that they have been swept by a division rival.

In his first game back after suffering a chip fracture in his right foot against Tampa Bay on March 26, Ilya Bryzgalov was left out to dry with four goals against on New York's first 11 shots.

Even so, the Flyers' locker room appeared to be filled with optimists - after playing a game in which they never really had as much as a puncher's chance.

Claude Giroux said the sweep is "just one little detail you guys [the media] bring up."

"If you look on the bright side, I don't think it's ever happened that a team has never [beaten a team] that they play in the playoffs," Jake Voracek said. "If they want to beat us in the playoffs, they're going to have to beat us 10 times this year. That's a lot of games. We're going to do everything for that to not happen."

Since the Rangers clinched only their sixth Atlantic Division title in 85 years, the Flyers won't see them until at least the second round. New York locked up the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference.

And the loss may actually have an added benefit for the Flyers. Coupled with a New Jersey win against the Islanders on Tuesday night, the Flyers still have a mathematical chance - albeit a small one - to finish in the East's sixth (and most favorable) spot to likely face the Florida Panthers.

The Flyers' probability to face Pittsburgh in the first round still rests comfortably at about 95 percent, according to PlayoffStatus.com. The Flyers would need to post any combination of at least three points - a win and an overtime loss - over the final two games to gain home-ice advantage against the Penguins.

For the Flyers, the biggest concern on Tuesday night was not only their sluggish start, but also their inability to stop the Rangers' power play.

They allowed three power-play goals against New York for the second time this season, a staggering number considering the Rangers have only 43 man-advantage tallies. The Flyers make the league's 27th-ranked power play look like world beaters. New York finished the season 8-for-25 (32 percent) against the Flyers, and it is 35-for-240 (14.5 percent) against all other NHL teams.

"They have good players," Kimmo Timonen said. "They had five-on-threes, and stuff like that, but we can't keep that up."

New York's first two power-play goals, in a span of 36 seconds, pushed the lead from 2-0 to 4-0 in the final 2 minutes of the first period. The Flyers outshot the Rangers, 27-13, over the next two periods. But in March, that's worth as much as a participation medal in an intramural league.

At the other end, Lundqvist looked as daunting as New York's power play. He's now 6-0-0 with a 1.83 goals against-average and .942 save percentage against the Flyers this season. He played the third period barely able to grip his stick because of a forearm injury - he even told backup Marty Biron to get ready at one point - but still kept the Flyers at bay.

Now, the Flyers head into the playoffs winless with a possible eventual date against New York.

"The season is basically over," Bryzgalov said. "Everybody's got their places. The playoffs are 0-0, everybody has a zero in the columns."

For Timonen, though, the frustrating part wasn't the loss. He wanted the Flyers to put their best foot forward at this point in the season.

"I don't care if we lost 10 games in a row against them," Timonen said. "What I care about is how we play. That's not the way you're going to win in the playoffs, I don't care if it's the Rangers or whoever. It doesn't matter. I'm worried about the effort we gave."

Scott Hartnell's 37th goal gives him the most by any Flyer since Jeff Carter scored 46 in 2008-09 . . . Claude Giroux' 92 points are the most by a Flyer since Eric Lindros' 93 in 1998-99 . . . Andreas Liljareplaced Nick Grossmann, who is out 7 to 10 days with a lower-body injury, in the lineup. It was Lilja's first game since March 22.