Rangers top Flyers in shootout

PHILADELPHIA - After Keith Yandle tied it with 12.9 seconds remaining in the third period, Mats Zuccarello and Derek Stepan scored in the shootout to give the New York Rangers a 3-2 victory against the Philadelphia Flyers at Wells Fargo Center on Saturday.
Chris Kreider scored for New York (29-18-5), and Henrik Lundqvist made 26 saves through overtime before denying Sam Gagner and Claude Giroux in the shootout.

It was the Rangers' fourth win in their past 17 road games (4-11-2).
"We talked about after the All-Star break, we have to be better on the road, finding ways to win games," Yandle said. "Especially in tough buildings like this. Early start, you've got to get feeling good about yourself and find ways to win, and we did that."
Yandle's game-tying goal provided plenty of good feelings. Alone at the right point, he one-timed a long diagonal pass from Jesper Fast past Flyers goalie Steve Mason for his fourth goal.
"[Fast] made a great play to me," Yandle said. "Put it right in my wheelhouse. Guys were right in front of the net, and luckily he didn't see it and I was able to get a goal."

The Rangers have won consecutive games for the first time since Jan. 19 and 22; they defeated the Minnesota Wild 4-2 on Thursday. They had alternated wins and losses in their previous five games.
It was the first time the Rangers scored a regular-season game-tying goal with 13 seconds or fewer left in regulation since Markus Naslund scored against the Atlanta Thrashers at 19:49 of the third period Feb. 3, 2009, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. It was the first time they scored a tying goal with 13 seconds or less remaining in regulation and won since Oct. 25, 2008, when Nikolai Zherdev scored at 19:51 against the Pittsburgh Penguins.
"I think there's games where you feel like the energy isn't there or the momentum isn't there, we're not able to create chances," Lundqvist said. "But in the third we played our best hockey. I felt like we had the determination to get things done. It was just tough; they got that goal that put us on our heels a little bit but we came back. For some reason I had a good feeling. Even though time was running out we had the pressure going and we had the momentum and determination we needed to win the game."
It was the second straight game between the Rangers and Flyers that Zuccarello won with a shootout goal. He scored the deciding goal in New York's 3-2 win Jan. 16 at Wells Fargo Center.
Zuccarello skated through the left side of the zone, and as he cut right, he dragged the puck around Mason and tucked it into the left side of the net.
After Lundqvist stopped Giroux, Stepan snapped a shot past Mason's glove to clinch the victory.
Shayne Gostisbehere had a goal and an assist, and Ryan White also scored for Philadelphia (23-18-9), which lost for the first time in four games. Mason made 26 saves.

The Rangers played most of the game without captain Ryan McDonagh because of an undisclosed injury.
McDonagh left with 9:24 remaining in the first period
after an altercation with Flyers forward Wayne Simmonds. Video appeared to show Simmonds punching McDonagh in the head. The defenseman needed help leaving the ice.
New York coach Alain Vigneault said McDonagh was held out of the game for precautionary reasons. He said there would be a further update Sunday. The Rangers next play Monday at home against the New Jersey Devils.
Simmonds was assessed a match penalty and a game misconduct. McDonagh was given minor penalties for high-sticking and slashing.
White's goal at 5:46 of the third, a snap shot from the inside edge of the left circle, beat Lundqvist past his blocker to give the Flyers a 2-1 lead. But rather than continue to push, the Flyers never capitalized. Their only shot of the third period was White's goal, and they went the final 19:14 of the game without any shots on goal. And White's goal was their only shot in the final 35:15.

"That's probably the one thing we'd like to change up in our hockey game," Philadelphia coach Dave Hakstol said. "That's not our effort; our effort was outstanding throughout the game. ... Then the third period, for sure, we didn't do that like we did in the first two."
After a scoreless first period, Gostisbehere gave the Flyers a 1-0 lead at 7:16 of the second period when his slap shot from the top of the zone went through traffic and past Lundqvist for a power-play goal. It extended Gostisbehere's point streak to a seven games, a Flyers record for rookie defensemen; he has two goals and eight assists during that span. He also leads NHL rookie defensemen with nine goals and 26 points in 32 games.
Kreider's goal at 3:16 of the third tied it, but that held for 2:30 until White put the Flyers ahead. It appeared they were going to skate away with two points until Yandle's late goal and their shootout failure. The Flyers are 2-5 in the shootout this season, and their 67 losses in the 11 seasons of the tiebreaker are the second-most in the League; their 32 wins are the second-fewest.
The Flyers won't have long to dwell on their disappointment. They play at the Washington Capitals on Sunday.
"The nice thing about hockey is you can get right back out tomorrow and you can put it behind you pretty quickly," Mason said. "We'll have a train ride to Washington and be ready for another tough test."