Wake Up Call

Ken Hitchcock set the alarms, and his team answered.

After a disappointing 13-round shootout loss to the Rangers on Saturday night, a trip to Madison Square Garden was in store for the Flyers. With some lines cohesive and some not so much, the head coach changed things up before the game. He placed Jeff Carter at the center position, with Niko Dimitrakos getting his first action of the season. R.J. Umberger also played the wing on the line as well. Carter showed some more potential this evening being on this line, but sometimes hard luck is on one's side. All three members of this line finished with a -1 for the game, but sometimes the +/- scale must be disregarded.

Peter Forsberg started things off early on for the Flyers, scoring at the 3:15 mark of the first period. He won a faceoff, slipped past the defense, and received a feed from Mike Knuble near the blue paint. Forsberg lifted one above Lundqvist, placing the Flyers in front 1-0.

Forsberg's goal was the headline of the period, as it quieted the normally raucous Garden crowd until Thomas Pock lit the lamp for the Rangers at the 16:33 mark to tie the game at 1-1. The Rangers began buzzing around goaltender Antero Niittymaki a bit more after the goal, and certainly had the momentum heading into the 2nd period.

That momentum did not last for long though, as Philadelphia stormed back to score 3 times in just 5:26. Knuble netted the first one on a nifty pass from Simon Gagne. There was a delayed penalty, but Gagne snuck away from the Rangers and delivered a perfect feed down low to Knuble to put the Flyers in front 2-1. Just 59 seconds later, Geoff Sanderson picked off a pass in his own end and stormed up ice. Sanderson was signed in the offseason to bring one main element: speed. He showed off some of that speed by blazing down the left wing and firing one past Lundqvist to give the Flyers a 2-goal advantage. After a Marek Malik hooking penalty, it was the top power play line that found success once again. Sanderson set up Knuble, who dished down low to Gagne, waiting on the doorstep of Lundqvist. Gagne chipped it home on a deflection, putting the Flyers up 4-1.

New York tried to regain some momentum heading into the 3rd period by heading to the power play and sending out their own big guns. It certainly worked. Veteran Brendan Shanahan tallied his 601st career goal to cut the lead to 4-2.

That was as close as the Rangers would get. Despite a late game 6 on 4 power play with 1:09 to play, the Flyers shut the door on the Rangers and silenced the Garden crowd. When all was said and done, Niittymaki stopped 25 of 27 shots to notch the victory. The Flyers head back it again tomorrow night against the Montreal Canadiens.

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