Flyers lose another early lead, fall to Rangers 6-3

In nine games, the Flyers have opened the scoring, including Saturday against the New York Rangers. But after losing, 6-3, they’ve still only won two of them.

Unlike most teams, the Flyers have won more when they’re behind in a game (eight wins) than when they get on the board first. They’ve been fueled by late pushes in many games, coming out with at least one point.

The Flyers (10-14-7) beat the New Jersey Devils on Thursday thanks to one of those late pushes, and they carried that momentum against the Rangers, who entered the game on a five-game win streak. They ran neck-and-neck with the Rangers (16-10-5), and for the first five minutes, they kept them from putting any shots on goal.

James van Riemsdyk beat Jaroslav Halak with the third shot on goal off a pass from Owen Tippett to start the scoring. But the Rangers stormed back and tied the shot count and the score after a goal by Artemi Panarin.

Multiple power plays gave the Flyers an edge in the second, but the Rangers won the period. K’Andre Miller scored on a breakaway despite tripping and falling. For a few minutes, the Flyers backed off and just watched, coach John Tortorella said, and that lapse of energy was costly. Barclay Goodrow followed with a goal, which offset Scott Laughton’s shorthanded goal.

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The Flyers kept pace until the final minutes of the game but never overcame the deficit created by Miller’s goal. When Jimmy Vesey increased the Rangers’ lead to two again, Morgan Frost quickly cut it back to one.

In the final minutes, the Flyers drew a penalty and then pulled Carter Hart for a 6-on-4. But even with the two-man advantage, they failed to get any good looks in the entire two minutes and let up a pair of empty-net goals.

All the Flyers’ momentum has been coming from the first line, now made up of van Riemsdyk, Frost, and Tippett. Although they had a quieter night against the New Jersey Devils, they were a bright spot in the three previous games.

Since Tortorella went with 11 forwards and seven defensemen, the lines were scattered. However, whenever at least two of the three were on the ice together, they helped spark the team.

Tippett and van Riemsdyk got the Flyers on the board in style. Van Riemsdyk picked up a Rangers rebound on a shot that went wide and rimmed all the way back to the blue line. He lost it in the neutral zone, but Tippett reached it just over the blue line and hit van Riemsdyk with a spin pass. He then scored with a spin-around goal.

Tortorella briefly considered switching things up when the offense sputtered.

“I’m wondering, ‘Do I move the lines?’” Tortorella said. “But I think James being with those guys there — him and Tip, Frosty ... It’s been a good line. And I fought myself not to change things.”

Staying the course reaped rewards. Tippett created several more opportunities for van Riemsdyk as well as for others like Travis Sanheim. Frost also had several good chances and helped create some others before scoring the Flyers’ third goal. The rest of the forwards played well in spurts, but Frost’s line created the most consistency.

Hart was less than an inch away from letting in a goal, but an official review showed the puck maintained contact with the goal line. That was the positive news. The negative news was that the Rangers earned a power play.

Or, at least, it normally would be bad news for the Flyers’ bottom-10 penalty kill. Instead, it couldn’t have gone any better. Less than 20 seconds in, Laughton and Travis Konecny skated toward Halak with Rangers trailing behind them. Laughton slipped it through the five-hole for his second shorthanded goal of the year. The Flyers effectively killed the power play and created two more scoring chances while shorthanded.

However, the Rangers’ penalty kill had similar success, despite being sent out more often. They let up just one shot on goal in the first Flyers power play. They created multiple shorthanded chances on the second power play, with Sanheim having a good scoring chance. They allowed the Flyers to create more momentum on the third, but the Rangers then scored 30 seconds after killing it.

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After Tortorella called out Joel Farabee on Thursday, the young winger worked hard to get back to his game. He said he’s tried to simplify things and put himself in situations to score a “greasy” goal.

While the puck didn’t bounce Farabee’s way Saturday, Tortorella recognized his effort with increased playing time. With Kevin Hayes a healthy scratch, Farabee was elevated from the third line to the second line with Noah Cates and Konecny.

“Farabee, it was one of his better games, which is a good sign,” Tortorella said.

Farabee was aggressive, jumping for pucks and laying on hits. He helped create offense while taking several shots himself. He placed four on goal, but Halak came up with some big saves on them. He also jumped out on the rush.

Farabee contributed to both the power play and the penalty kill. He finished with over 20 minutes of ice time. But he’s still looking for his first goal in 10 games.

The Flyers host the Columbus Blue Jackets on Tuesday (7 p.m., NBC Sports Philadelphia).