Flyers fall to Rangers after early bouts

NEW YORK - It's beginning to look as though the Flyers will be sellers at the Feb. 29 trade deadline.

They suffered their fifth loss in six games Sunday night, falling to the New York Rangers, 3-1, and dropping six points behind in the wild-card race.

Derek Stepan scored a pair of third-period goals as the Rangers extended their point streak to six games (5-0-1).

Brayden Schenn snapped the shutout with a power-play goal with 9.7 seconds left. Shayne Gostisbehere got an assist, extending his points streak to 12 games and increasing his NHL record for rookie defensemen.

The Flyers managed just 22 shots, making things relatively easy for Rangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist.

"We obviously want more offense, but for us to have more offense, we need to play better defense," captain Claude Giroux said. "We have to have the puck more often and be able to play in their zone."

All week, the Rangers had been talking about gaining revenge on Flyers winger Wayne Simmonds for a punch that concussed their captain, Ryan McDonagh, on Feb. 6.

Thirty-nine seconds into Sunday's rematch at bloodthirsty Madison Square Garden, Simmonds held his own in a fight with 6-foot-5, 220-pound defenseman Dylan McIlrath, who is three inches taller and 37 pounds heavier.

Just 20 seconds later, Tanner Glass decisioned the Flyers' Ryan White, and the teams then settled into a mostly clean game.

Stepan took a slick backhand pass from Mats Zuccarello and scored on a wide-open net with 9 minutes, 26 seconds left in the third, giving New York a commanding 2-0 lead.

It was commanding because the Flyers had few good scoring chances against Lundqvist. They have two goals, total, in their last two games, starting with Saturday's 2-1 overtime loss to New Jersey.

"These are huge games for us," Gostisbehere said. "We're obviously behind in the standings. It's not like we're not ready for these games; it's just we break down sometime."

Just 3:20 after his first goal of the night, a wide-open Stepan scored a power-play tally from the left circle to make it 3-0.

Trailing by 1-0, the Flyers had little attack time in the second period. Their best shift was late in the period by fourth-liners Pierre-Edouard Bellemare, Chris VandeVelde, and White. They pressured Lundqvist and drew a penalty, but the Flyers' power play did little with it.

That made the Flyers 0 for 4 on the night.

The Flyers didn't get a shot in the third period until 12:20 remained. At this point, their offense is just a rumor.

In the pregame warm-ups, McIlrath and Simmonds were jawing with each other, so it wasn't surprising when they squared off early in the game and went to the penalty box for five minutes.

It was a good trade for the Rangers. McIlrath is a third-pairing defenseman; Simmonds is a top-line winger who leads the Flyers with 20 goals.

"I figured it would happen," said Simmonds, sporting a cut over his left eye. "Got it over quickly, so it was good. . . . I wanted to come in and just play hockey. They wanted to do something about it and that's the way hockey is. I have no problem with it."

In the pregame warm-ups, Simmonds said, McIlrath told him he was "going to run around and hit my guys. So he hit Jakey [Voracek], so I stepped in and stopped it early."

With 14:52 left in the opening period, the Rangers took a 1-0 lead when Derick Brassard sped past defenseman Mark Streit and scored on a wraparound as goalie Steve Mason couldn't get to the right post quickly enough.

The Flyers had their best scoring chance when Zuccarello was given a double-minor for high-sticking Gostisbehere with 7:07 remaining in the first.

With Gostisbehere bleeding and sent off the ice by the refs, the Flyers had the puck in the Rangers' zone for the first 2:19 of the four-minute power play, but they couldn't solve Lundqvist.

Gostisbehere got on the ice for the final minute of the power play, but Lundqvist turned aside his point blast - one of four saves he made during the man advantage.

Lundqvist played in his 667th game, passing Flourtown's Mike Richter for the most appearances in Rangers history. He took a four-game winning streak into the game, during which he had a 1.23 goals-against average and a .954 save percentage.

scarchidi@phillynews.com

@BroadStBull