‘I think we’ve taken a huge step’ — Flyers lose wild one in OT as race tightens originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia
NEW YORK — The Flyers couldn’t nail down a 2-0 lead and suffered a whacky, stomach-turning, 6-5 overtime loss Tuesday night to the Rangers at Madison Square Garden.
John Tortorella’s club didn’t quit, rallying three times in the third period to force OT.
New York erased the 2-0 deficit and grabbed its first lead 2:57 minutes into the final stanza. Travis Konecny, Owen Tippett and Tyson Foerster all drew the Flyers even throughout the third period.
But New York never let the Flyers go back ahead. Adam Fox scored the winner 36 seconds into the bonus session.
“I just loved how we battled back,” Flyers associate coach Brad Shaw said. “It was quite a roller coaster, up and down, highs and lows, but the fact that we kept scratching and clawing to get back into that game and get a point — it’s an awesome point, it’s an awesome effort by everybody.”
Prior to the third-period chaos, Scott Laughton drove the Flyers’ bus in the second period. He opened the game’s scoring and then assisted Ryan Poehling‘s power play goal 8:41 minutes later to pad the Flyers’ lead to 2-0. The 29-year-old alternate captain has 17 points (eight goals, nine assists) in the last 21 games.
But the Rangers, hungry to punch their playoff ticket, erupted for six goals over the final 35-plus minutes of the action.
“We need to pick up some points here,” Laughton said. “We get one, but I thought we were in control of it and should’ve gotten two.”
The Flyers (36-27-10) went 2-3-2 in this daunting seven-game stretch against bona-fide contenders. They’ll take it.
“We’re not in the realm of some of the top teams we’re playing and that’s certainly not criticizing our team,” Tortorella said before morning skate. “We’re not there yet, we’re not close. But to have them compete in these type of situations and see how they react, these are questions that we’re going to have to answer as we keep on going into next year, the following year, as we keep on building here.
“For us to put ourselves in this situation and be playing these games this time of year, it’s really important for the management and the coaches and the whole organization to see what this is all about. And I think our guys have handled themselves really well.”
The Flyers are 0-2-1 against the first-place Rangers (48-20-4) and have one more meeting with them April 11 back at Madison Square Garden.
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