Sports

Flyers Surge Past Slumping Rangers In High-Scoring Win

February 18, 2018 / 3:41 PM EST / CBS New York

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NEW YORK (AP) — Travis Konecny scored the tie breaking goal late in the second period and Flyers goaltender Alex Lyon made 25 saves in relief and the Philadelphia Flyers went on to down the New York Rangers 7-4 on Sunday.

Konecny's 15th goal of the season at 15:40 of the second snapped a 4-4 tie as the surging Flyers won for the sixth time in seven games. Konecny also had two assists.

Claude Giroux and Jori Lehtera scored in the third to finish off the win, Lyon's first in the NHL. Rangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist allowed all seven goals.

The Flyers are 22-8-3 since Dec. 4, when they won at Calgary to end a 10-game winless streak. Philadelphia also extended their winning streak on the road to five games.

The Rangers have lost four straight. They are 3-11-0 since beating Buffalo at home on Jan. 18.

Sunday marked the 50th anniversary of the first game the Rangers played at the current Madison Square Garden; on Feb. 18, 1968, a 3-1 win over the Flyers.

This game started in throwback Rangers-Flyers fashion with a fight at center ice between Rangers forward Pavel Buchnevich and Flyers defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere just 15 seconds into the game.

There were two more bouts in the opening 20 minutes — a tussle between Rangers defenseman Tony DeAngelo and Flyers forward Wayne Simmonds and another between veteran fighters Dale Weise of the Flyers and the Rangers' Cody McLeod.

Each team also scored three times in the first.

Kevin Hayes gave the Rangers the early lead when he redirected a point shot by defenseman Ryan Sproul past Flyers netminder Michal Neuvirth. Hayes' 14th goal of the season came at 1:30.

Philadelphia knotted the score at 4:53 when defenseman Andrew MacDonald scored his fourth of the season.

Rick Nash, the subject of trade rumors over the past several weeks, put the Rangers ahead 2-1 with his 18th goal at 10:54 when he tapped a rebound past Neuvirth. The 33-year-old Nash, whose contract expires after this season, is one point shy of 800 for his career.

Scott Laughton tied the score again at 12:11 with his 10th goal.

The Flyers went ahead at 14:53 when Brandon Manning rifled a shot past Lundqvist after a fine setup by Giroux.

The Rangers tied it yet again on a pretty goal by Mats Zuccarello after a slick feed from Peter Holland. The goal was Zuccarello's 10th and only his second since Dec. 16.

Neuvirth left the game after the first period. He was replaced by Lyon in the Flyers net.

Philadephia went ahead 4-3 at 2:01 of the second on a goal by rookie Nolan Patrick, his sixth.

New York tied it at 4 when Holland scored his first of the season and first as a Ranger at 5:47.

The matchup was the second of four between the teams this season. The Rangers won the previous meeting, 5-1 at the Garden on Jan. 16.

NOTES: The teams meet in Philadelphia on March 22 and in the season finale April 7. ... The Rangers continued to be without forward Chris Kreider who has missed 23 games with a blood clot in his right arm and injured defensemen Kevin Shattenkirk, Marc Staal and Ryan McDonagh. ... The Flyers scratched forward Taylor Leier and defenseman Mark Alt.

UP NEXT:

Rangers: visit Montreal on Thursday.

Flyers: host Montreal on Tuesday.