Van Riemsdyk scores twice on power play in Flyers win against Rangers

NEW YORK -- James van Riemsdyk scored two power-play goals, including one that went in off his face, and the Philadelphia Flyers defeated the New York Rangers 3-2 at Madison Square Garden on Thursday.

Brian Elliott made 33 saves, and Ivan Provorov had two assists for the Flyers (21-18-7), who are sixth in the eight-team MassMutual East Division, three points behind the fifth-place Rangers and 11 points behind the fourth-place Boston Bruins.
The top four teams will qualify for the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
"We want to keep pushing here," Elliott said. "There is no give-up from our group."
The Rangers (23-18-6) lost their second straight game since a four-game winning streak and fell eight points behind the Bruins, who defeated the Buffalo Sabres 5-1 on Thursday.
Brendan Smith and Artemi Panarin scored, and Igor Shesterkin made 33 saves for the Rangers, who play the Flyers in the second game of the back-to-back set here Friday.
"I don't think tonight was our best effort," New York forward Ryan Strome said. "Obviously, it's disappointing. I think we've done a lot of good things. We haven't quit when we've been down this year. We've had a lot of opportunities. There's been a lot of stuff around this team and there's been a lot of chances for our group to quit, and we haven't.
"There's nine games left, and that's going to be the message going forward. I think we have to finish strong here and see what happens. Our team has the ability to win games and go on a run like we've seen. Unfortunately, tonight wasn't our best. At this point in the season these games are huge, and obviously with the scoreboard watching, that hurts a little bit more too."
Van Riemsdyk tied it 1-1 at 15:56 of the second period. Rangers defenseman K'Andre Miller deflected Travis Konecny's shot, and the puck went up and off the side of van Riemsdyk's face and into the net.
He immediately left for the locker room, didn't return until after the third period had started, and was wearing a shield covering his jaw when he came back.
"It more shocked me than anything," van Riemsdyk said. "Obviously, when you get hit like that, especially when you are not really expecting that when it's a deflected puck, it catches you off guard a little bit. Just happy that it's all good and I was able to come back and try to help the team."

Van Riemsdyk scored his second power-play goal at 10:29 of the third period on a net-front deflection of Provorov's wrist shot from the point to give the Flyers a 2-1 lead.
Miller was in the penalty box serving a four-minute double minor for high-sticking Sean Couturier.
"Ultimately, that's part of the job description for me," van Riemsdyk said. "As far as being in front of the net, lots of chaos there and stuff like that. Ultimately, you want to try and get out there and help the team and do what you can."
Jakub Voracek increased the lead to 3-1 at 14:07. Panarin made it 3-2 at 18:00 on a one-timer from the left point.

New York is 4-9-6 in games decided by one goal.
"I think the game was up for grabs and it went the other way," Strome said. "There's a lot of moments in a game you can look back on, shoulda, woulda, coulda, but at the end of the day they got it done and we didn't."
Smith gave New York a 1-0 lead at 9:55 of the first period.
Philadelphia then had six power-play opportunities, including three in the second period and two on Miller's double-minor in the third.
Shesterkin stopped Joel Farabee on a penalty shot at 19:05 of the second period to keep the game tied 1-1. Libor Hajek hooked Farabee from behind while he was on a breakaway.
"The penalties really changed the flow of the game," Rangers coach David Quinn said. "I thought they gained an awful lot of momentum from the penalties we took in the second period, and obviously they get the four-minute power play in the third and just took advantage of it.
"We've been a resilient group all year and we certainly weren't tonight."
NOTES: Rangers defenseman Zac Jones had three shots on goal and played 9:45 in his NHL debut, replacing Jacob Trouba (upper body) in the lineup. … Rangers forward Mika Zibanejad had an assist to give him 16 points (seven goals, nine assists) in seven games against the Flyers this season. It's the highest single-season total by a Rangers skater against one opponent since Jaromir Jagr scored 18 points (six goals, 12 assists) against the New York Islanders in 2005-06. … Van Riemsdyk has scored three goals in his past three games.