Flyers send listless Rangers to third straight defeat, 3-0

After the Rangers dropped their third consecutive game Saturday, a discouraged Derick Brassard flipped an empty water bottle into a wastepaper basket.

"Only good shot I had all day," said Brassard, reflecting on a sluggish 3-0 loss to the Flyers at Madison Square Garden. "We're missing that edge we usually have . . . and missing the passion. Every team goes through a bad stretch. We are getting challenged right now as a group and have to dig down and work harder."

In their fifth game in eight days and fourth loss in six games, the Rangers (16-6-2) didn't have their legs, much heart or hockey intelligence.

"We have nobody to blame but ourselves for this one," captain Ryan McDonagh said. "Thinking it's going to continue to go our way if we had a solid first [period] . . . You can't just assume it's going to happen easily for you. We need guys going through people, we need guys close for support in case there's a breakdown. [We need] a lot more communication and a lot more fire in our game."

Coach Alain Vigneault sent a message afterward as well. "We all need to man up here. I need to get this group to play better," he said. "I'm very confident that this group knows the way to play."

In a scoreless first period, the Rangers, playing without center Derek Stepan (broken ribs), had some life and outshot the visitors 10-4. Then the Flyers, who had lost 10 straight at the Garden, took over.

They fired 18 shots on Antti Raanta in the second period and scored once. Matt Read sprung Wayne Simmonds, who had two goals and an assist, for a breakaway down the right side. Simmonds raced past Kevin Klein and beat Raanta above his glove at 12:24 for his seventh goal and a 1-0 lead.

The Rangers, passing far too much, had seven shots on Steve Mason (24 saves) in the period and maybe one good scoring chance.

Raanta (31 saves), who had relieved Henrik Lundqvist in the third period during the 5-1 loss to Montreal, was dealt his first loss in five starts but was the Rangers' best player. Lundqvist is expected back in the net against the Hurricanes on Monday.

It was a dominating period for the Flyers, who were down to five defensemen. Nick Schultz did not return after being steamrolled by Rangers defenseman Dylan McIlrath at 10:58 of the first period.

In the third period, the Flyers went up by two. With the Rangers standing around, Sean Couturier scored his first goal in 13 games, slamming in Simmonds' rebound at 3:06.

Marc Staal's shot hit the post soon after, but the Rangers could not avoid their second shutout. Raanta was pulled for an extra attacker with 3:36 left and Simmonds hit the empty net with 49.3 seconds left in regulation.

"We started losing battles in the second. We weren't making smart plays, something we've been doing lately," Staal said. "It doesn't matter who you play against; when you do that, you're going to give up a few goals.

"It's not fatigue, just mistakes. We weren't competing as hard as they were. We're not used to being on a losing streak like this. It's up to us to figure it out by Monday."