Flyers’ slow start and stagnant power play contribute to 3-1 loss against the Rangers

Turkey can make you sleepy and the Flyers may have gotten their fill on Thanksgiving.

Before the first ice scraping, the Flyers (10-8-1), who hadn’t won a game when trailing all season, fell 3-1 to the New York Rangers Friday at Wells Fargo Center.

Forty-five seconds into the matinee, Rangers center Mika Zibanejad scored his first five-on-five goal of the season off a pass from Blake Wheeler on a two-on-one.

“We talked about in between periods that we’ve never seen so many odd-man rushes come at us, two-on-ones, three-on-twos,” said winger Cam Atkinson. “And I think it was just because our D, they’re anticipating the play and trying to surf and hoping that our forwards are covering for them. The forwards were not, clearly.”

Just 68 seconds later, Travis Sanheim made a mental mistake that hadn’t been seen all season from the otherwise steady blueliner. Off a defensive-zone faceoff, he was trying to hit Garnet Hathaway on the right wing, but instead his cross-crease pass went right to the stick of the Rangers’ Chris Kreider in front.

“There’s a forward there every time [for us],” Sanheim said. “But, I mean, if you guys watch the game, I make that play pretty well every game, so I don’t want to sit here and say that I shouldn’t make that play because that’s a play I make regularly. He just makes a good read. ... Obviously, I’d like to have that one back.”

The quick start by the Rangers seemed to put the Flyers on their heels, as was the case on Long Island on Wednesday night. And it didn’t help when another defensive breakdown allowed Zibanejad to cut through the slot and finish with a sweet one-handed redirect stick side off a centering pass from Wheeler to make it 3-0. On the play, Owen Tippett released Zibanejad and allowed him to sneak down; Tippett rode the pine for the next 10-plus minutes.

“We fought,” said coach John Tortorella. “Just way too many odd-man rushes. It’s really been a staple of our team this year, our discipline with that and nowhere to be found on the backchecking [today].”

But like that 3-2 loss to the Islanders, the Flyers did turn things up and get one back in the second period, thanks to a nifty tip-in off a Nick Seeler point shot by Sean Couturier.

The final frame saw a couple of chances for the Flyers, including 14 shots on goal to the Rangers’ three. Atkinson got a backhand attempt off an Igor Shesterkin giveaway and then some sustained pressure had Travis Konecny get two chances, one miss and one shot on goal, and Couturier another shot on goal — all in a 13-second span.

“Of course, there’s got to be pushback, right?” Atkinson said. “You go down 2-0 early on, in the first two minutes, which is unacceptable in front of a great crowd. It’s unacceptable on our part. Just be ready to go right from the start, play a full 60.”

But it wasn’t enough in a game that brought out the divide between a Stanley Cup contender and a team on the rebuild.

The Flyers did push at times and finished with 36 shots on goal — which was a good sign. But the odd-man rushes throughout the game and inability to control the Rangers’ speed and skill showed that a team currently on the playoff bubble in the standings is still far removed from the upper echelons of the Metropolitan Divison.

“We fought the puck,” Tortorella said. “We weren’t crisp in passing, making plays. Give them credit, they check well. Our transition has been really good this year. We struggled making two or three passes in a row tonight, we fought it that way. We tried. We probably outchanced them, but their chances were glorious chances and that’s basically where our tracking was nowhere to be found.”

After scoring with the man advantage in back-to-back wins against the Vegas Golden Knights and Columbus Blue Jackets, the power play has returned to its old form.

The Flyers had six opportunities to get back into the game but couldn’t muster much. They did have 13 shots on goal, plus seven more shot attempts, but were back to playing a perimeter game — when they could get set up in the offensive zone.

When asked about what ails the power play, Atkinson rattled off: “Execution. Wanting the puck. Wanting to make a difference. Shooting the puck when there’s a shot that’s there. That’s it.”

The Flyers’ power play ranked as the fifth worst at just 11.3% entering the game. It didn’t help that the Rangers’ penalty kill was the 10th-best (85.2%).

“They’re a pretty good penalty kill,” Sanheim said. “We had a few looks, I think we just gotta be more straightforward, generating shots, get to the net to start outworking penalty kills like we were before.”

As expected, the City of Brotherly Love was anything but on Friday. The rivalry was fired up — a total of 50 penalty minutes were doled out — with one of the newest Flyers in the middle of it all.

With the Flyers down a pair, Nic Deslauriers tried to create a spark by getting Jacob Trouba to drop the gloves in the opening frame. As Deslaurier said a few weeks ago, he goes on his terms.

» READ MORE: Football, mashed potatoes and ham. Flyers break down their go-to Thanksgiving sides and plans

Trouba didn’t bite and instead trucked Hathaway in the neutral zone. Not one to shy away, the winger in his 20th game in a Flyers uniform, got up and wanted to go with the Rangers captain, but it was Barclay Goodrow who stepped in for the donnybrook instead.

Later in the first, it was Hathaway with the monster hit. He laid into Ryan Lindgren in front of the Rangers’ bench and was met with an ornery rookie, Will Cuylle. Another five-for-fighting for Hathaway, who entered the game with just one under his belt this season.

Hathaway also got reacquainted with the Rangers goalie Igor Shesterkin, after he was knocked into him by one of Shesterkin’s buddies, who proceeded to shove Hathaway down in front of one of the referees.

The Flyers finished with 20 hits.

“It’s a rivalry game and Black Friday,” said Noah Cates. “They have great fans, so I thought it was a great atmosphere and we kind of have to build from it. I thought our fans were a little more into it because they had some more fans here. ... It’s a big game.”

Cates missed a chunk of time after taking a clearing attempt from Atkinson off his face with about five minutes to go in the second. He was not on the bench to start the third period and when he did return, about five minutes in, he was sporting a fat lip and about 30 stitches. “They did a great job,” he said about getting stitched up before adding, ”It’s hockey and it happens.” ... Carter Hart got the start and made 16 saves. ... The Flyers are now 0-8-1 when the opposition scores first. The only other team to not have a comeback win is the Sharks (0-12-0). ... Couturier had a game-high six shots on goal. Joel Farabee was second with five. ... Konecny had 10 shot attempts, including four shots blocked and four missed shots. Sean Walker had seven, including four shots blocked.

The Flyers head back to Long Island on Saturday for a revenge game against the New York Islanders (7:30 p.m. on NBCSP+).