NEW YORK -- Don't be concerned if Sunday's game at Madison Square Garden caused déjà vu.

The miscues, the penalties, the frustration, the way the Rangers toyed with the was all very familiar in a 4-1 loss to New York.

No time was wasted before the Rangers, who have been on a tear lately having won three in a row, started their assault.

Only 2:14 into the contest, former Dan Carcillo haunted his former team with a wrap-around goal that fooled Ray Emery, who was looking left as the puck came from his right.

It took 28 seconds for the Rangers to double their lead when Rick Nash was all alone in the slot as both Kimmo Timonen and Braydon Coburn ventured to one side of the ice to chase an errant puck. Chris Kreider found the disc and passed it to Nash for his 11th of the season.

That caused Flyers coach Craig Berube to burn his timeout early in the game and try to re-focus his crew.

A few minutes later the Flyers were rewarded with a power play on which they generated six shots, but Rangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist had all the answers.

The Rangers continued the onslaught with a snipe of a one-timer by Derick Brassard at 9:24 of the first period after Coburn swung and missed at clearing the puck.

Somehow the Flyers led in shots 17-13 after one period, but it was the Rangers who had all the momentum and sustained pressure.

It was the same issues the Flyers had with the Tampa Bay Lightning less than 24 hours prior. Their opponent caused them to stop playing their system and play a tempo they were not used to.

Although the Lightning probably had more odd-man rushes than the Flyers, it was close.

The Flyers had been good at playing consecutive days. The loss broke a streak of six straight wins in the second half of back-to-backs. They hadn't lost in that scenario since October.

Frustration bubbled over for the Flyers in the second period when Carcillo was chirping tough guy Jay Rosehill and Wayne Simmonds, who had bowled over Lundqvist on one of two Flyers failed breakaways.

The former Flyer had to answer to Luke Schenn, who dropped the gloves and then dropped Carcillo at 7:05 of the second period. Yet the fight didn't do much to propel the Flyers.

Kreider scored a power-play goal at 13:18, breaking a streak of 26 consecutive penalties killed by the Flyers.

His goal seemed inevitable as the Rangers were given three power plays in the second period alone.

It wasn't until the final stanza that the Flyers really showed signs of life. At 6:49, Mark Streit scored on the power play to make it a 4-1 game. He connected on a one-timer from the top of the slot that went through traffic and beat Lundqvist up high.

The goal seemed to spark the Flyers, who spent a lot of time in the Rangers' end, but the damage was already done. They didn't beat Lundqvist a second time, he made 14 saves in the third period.

It was the seventh consecutive game the Flyers have lost in the Garden, dating back to 2011.

Reach Dave Isaac at Follow him on Twitter @davegisaac.

facebook sharetwitter shareemail shareemail share
Read or Share this story: