Rangers send Flyers to seventh loss in row

NEW YORK -- The New York Rangers handed the Philadelphia Flyers their seventh straight loss, 4-1 at Madison Square Garden on Wednesday.

Chris Kreider scored his 16th goal, third-most in the NHL, and Igor Shesterkin made 33 saves for the Rangers (14-4-3), who won their fourth in a row and are 8-1-0 in their past nine. They have won six straight home games and five straight games against Metropolitan Division opponents.
"It feels great," Rangers forward Kaapo Kakko said. "I think we are playing great right now."
The Flyers (8-9-4) are 0-5-2 in their stretch without a win, which includes three straight regulation losses by a combined score of 15-6.
"I'm not satisfied about anything here," Philadelphia coach Alain Vigneault said. "We have to find ways to win games here. This is serious. We're not scoring. Right now, we're not finishing, so we're going to have to find ways to win games 1-0 and 2-1 until we get some of that finish that I know some of these players have. Right now, we're not seeing it, we're not executing it."

Artemi Panarin had a goal and an assist, and Kakko had two assists to give him eight points (three goals, five assists) in the past seven games for New York. Jacob Trouba scored his third goal in the past four.
The Rangers hadn't played since a 5-2 win at the Boston Bruins on Friday, and coach Gerard Gallant was wondering what their game would look like early after four days off. They received some help by getting a power-play opportunity at 2:03 of the first period when Philadelphia forward Morgan Frost was called for high-sticking Julien Gauthier. That led to Trouba's one-timer from steps inside the blue line that gave New York a 1-0 lead at 3:41 of the first period.
It was the first goal of the season for the Rangers' second power-play unit of Trouba, Kakko, Alexis Lafreniere, Filip Chytil and Nils Lundkvist.
The first unit, with Kreider, Panarin, Mika Zibanejad, Ryan Strome and Adam Fox, usually plays the first 60-90 seconds of every power play.
"I don't think anybody was really stressing," Trouba said. "The first unit is pretty good and they take up a good chunk of the time. When we get out there and get an opportunity, just try to get shots to the net, open up some lanes. One went in. That's good for our unit for sure."

Dryden Hunt made it 2-0 at 9:32, scoring off the rush after getting the puck from Panarin, whose cross-ice pass went through the middle of the zone untouched. Hunt scored after making an inside move on Flyers defenseman Ivan Provorov in the right face-off circle.
Kreider extended the lead to 3-0 at 34 seconds of the second period with a shot from between the hash marks while falling down.
Scott Laughton's turnover in the defensive zone led to a quick passing sequence from Trouba to Zibanejad to Kakko to Kreider.
"It happened fast," Kakko said. "I just saw him and he gave me one right before, but I didn't score. I gave it back to him."
Hunt was assessed a five-minute major for charging Philadelphia defenseman Justin Braun and a game misconduct at 1:56.
Philadelphia had the puck in the offensive zone for almost the entire power play, but New York killed the penalty with Shesterkin making seven saves, leading to a loud "Igor, Igor, Igor" chant from the crowd.
"It's honestly hard to describe," Shesterkin said. "It adds a lot of emotion, a lot of strength. It motivates me. The most important thing is to try to not cry right then and there."
The Flyers have scored 12 goals in the past seven games, with one goal on 19 power plays.
"We need to find a way to finish and we didn't do that," Vigneault said. "Just like we need to find a way to win a game and we didn't do that. The power play had opportunities, could have made a big difference in helping us come back. We're just not making the plays we need to make."
The Flyers cut it to 3-1 at 9:37 when Frost poked a loose puck under Shesterkin for his first goal of the season. But the Rangers limited them to seven shots on goal in the third period after giving up 16 in the second.
Panarin scored into an empty net with 44 seconds left for the 4-1 final.
NOTES: Flyers forward Joel Farabee left the game during the stoppage after Hunt's goal with an upper-body injury, the result of crashing hard into the boards and having Rangers defenseman K'Andre Miller inadvertently slide into him. Vigneault said Farabee will be re-evaluated Thursday. … Philadelphia forward Kevin Hayes had two shots and was minus-2 in 19:49 in his return from missing six games because of an abdominal injury. … Zibanejad's assist on Kreider's goal was his 300th point (140 goals, 160 assists) for the Rangers in his 343rd game with them.