Rangers Gain Point in Overtime Loss

Sean Avery's turnover turned into the game winning goal, as the Philadelphia Flyers won  2-1 in overtime at Madison Square Garden.

The Rangers had a 1-0 lead going into the third period on Jaromir Jagrs' turn around goal in the first period, but late in the third, with the teams skating 4-on-4, Daniel Briere scored a highlight reel goal from a give and go with Vaclav Prospal and evened things up at 1.

 

It seemed like once again, the Rangers were going to have to rely on Henrik Lundqvists' superb play in a shoot-out but Averys' neutral zone pass was intercepted by Flyers' defenseman Jason Smith, who then fed the breaking Brad Richards the puck. Some how, the flying Richards broke between the Rangers defence and slipped the bouncing puck past Henrik Lundqvist to end the game giving the Flyers the extra point.

"I'd say it's more disappointing how it happened," Avery said on his bad pass. "I make a terrible play in the end and they go down and score. It just wasn't a very good play, that's for sure."

 

Ryan Callahan and Petr Prucha, who was back in the lineup tonight, where the best players in tonight's game. Both players were throwing checks and working hard around the boards trying to fuse a spark from their team.

The Rangers power play was a non-factor in tonight's game, as the blueshirts had four power play chances to try and build on their 1-0 lead though two periods of play.

Henrik Lundqvist faced 24 shots and had little work in the first two periods. Lundqvist real test came in the third period when the Flyers created there best scoring chances but Lundqvist was there as always, only giving up one goal, giving his team a chance to win. But the Rangers stalled and couldn't get that second goal which would of gave them two points.

"We lost a big point," Rangers coach Tom Renney said. "That's the most important thing to recognize, and how we lost it as much as anything."

The Rangers gained a point from the overtime loss and remain in sixth place in the Eastern Conference with 89 points, only two points behind the fifth place Ottawa Senators. The Rangers did have a good game and their defence was solid most of the night. But once again the Rangers beat themselves by not taking advantage on the power play and turning over the puck. One mistake is all it takes to lose a game and it showed tonight. 

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