Flyers clinch playoff berth with win against Rangers

PHILADELPHIA --The Philadelphia Flyers cliched a berth in the Stanley Cup Playoffs with a 5-0 win against the New York Rangers at Wells Fargo Center on Saturday.
The Flyers (42-26-14) needed one point in their final game to reach the postseason. They finished third in the Metropolitan Division and will play the Pittsburgh Penguins in the Eastern Conference First Round.

Philadelphia reached the playoffs despite a 10-game losing streak (0-5-5) from Nov. 11-Dec. 2. They're the fourth team in NHL history to reach the postseason after a losing streak of at least 10 games.
"Some games during that 10-game losing streak we didn't play as bad as it sounds," Flyers defenseman Ivan Provorov said. "We stuck with it, we played for each other. Definitely feels great to be in the playoffs."
WATCH: [All Rangers vs. Flyers highlights]
Claude Giroux had his first regular-season NHL hat trick, Michael Raffl had a goal and an assist, and Provorov scored for Philadelphia. Brian Elliott made 17 saves for his first shutout of the season. It was his second game since Feb. 10; he had core muscle surgery Feb. 13.
Giroux's three-goal game gave him 102 points (34 goals, 68 assists). He's the sixth Flyers player with that many, and first since Eric Lindros had 115 in 1995-96.

Giroux has 19 points (eight goals, 11 assists) during a 10-game point streak.
"[Giroux] coming in, you could tell before the game he had that quiet confidence going," Elliott said. "Scoring three like he did boosted our whole team for sure."
Fans chanted "MVP, MVP," for Giroux.
"It was hard to miss," he said. "They were great tonight, they gave us a boost. I think overall, we played a solid game. We played the way we wanted to. It's great to be in the playoffs."
Henrik Lundqvist made 35 saves for New York (34-39-9).

"We knew this was going to be the last game, knew it was going got be a tough game against a good team, a desperate team," Lundqvist said.
The Flyers scored three times in the second period, including goals by Raffl and Giroux a Flyers-record six seconds apart.
Giroux gave the Flyers a 2-0 lead with a power-play goal at 12:24 of the second period.
Raffl made it 3-0 when he scored off the rebound of Radko Gudas' point shot at 17:53. On the face-off, Raffl intercepted a Ryan Sproul pass and centered it for Giroux, who scored at 17:59 to make it 4-0.

Giroux scored his third of the game at 10:11 of the third period for a 5-0 lead. He had a three-goal game April 13, 2012, in Game 2 of a first-round playoff series against the Penguins.
"He was dialed in," Flyers coach Dave Hakstol said. "You could tell and see that all the way through. We've seen that over the entire stretch run here. … [Giroux] is our captain and leader for us. He went out and did the job. He led the way for and along with everyone else to do their job."

Provorov put the Flyers ahead 1-0 at 6:34 of the first period when Sean Couturier's shot deflected off his arm during a delayed penalty against the Rangers. Video review upheld the call on the ice that the puck entered the net in a legal fashion.

Goal of the game

Giroux's goal at 12:24 of the second period.

Save of the game

Elliott's save on Steven Fogarty at 14:24 of the first period.

Highlight of the game

Giroux's goal at 10:11 of the third period.

They said it

"It's important to have the mindset that it's not going to happen two years in row. Long summer, work hard, get healthy and come prepared. It's a season for us to forget and learn from and move on." -- Rangers forward Mats Zuccarello, on missing the Stanley Cup Playoffs
"This is just the start of the work. It's not a celebration, it's not baseball where you've got champagne in the room. We know there's a lot of tough games coming up. … You have to take it in a little bit and be proud of where we came from this season, but you have to put that in your back pocket and come back to work." -- Flyers goaltender Brian Elliott

Need to know

Rangers coach Alain Vigneault was fired later Saturday. He was with New York for five seasons. ... The three other teams to lose at least 10 games in a row and make the playoffs in the same season are the Rangers (1961-62), the Toronto Maple Leafs (1966-67) and the Calgary Flames (1985-86). ... Fogarty had one shot on goal in 12:16 of ice time in his NHL debut. He was called up from Hartford of the American Hockey League on Friday. After the game, Fogarty and forwards Lias Andersson and Filip Chytil were sent to Hartford. … It was Elliott's first shutout since March 11, 2017, as a member of the Calgary Flames.

What's next

Rangers:Season over
Flyers: At the Pittsburgh Penguins in Game 1 of Eastern Conference First Round, TBA