Rangers shut out by Flyers, ending three-game win streak

PHILADELPHIA — On the day after Thanksgiving, the Rangers played like turkeys.

Inside a lifeless Wells Fargo Center in a game televised to a national audience on NBC, the Rangers generated little offense, scrambled around on defense, gave the puck away often and ultimately lost to the Philadelphia Flyers, 4-0, on Friday afternoon.

“We really didn’t have our legs from the get-go, and over 82 games, you’re going to have stinkers. And I put this in the stinker category,’’ said Rangers coach David Quinn, who seemed more resigned to the result than angry about it. “We were a little bit slow in everything we did — we were slow skating, we were slow thinking, we were slow shooting.’’

“We just weren’t skating, [and] I thought we were getting beat to a lot of pucks,’’ defenseman Marc Staal said. “They were doing a really good job in the neutral zone on the forecheck and we didn’t have a lot of time and space and we weren’t really making the right plays with the puck. We kept giving it back to them, shooting ourselves in the foot that way.

“Just from start to finish, really, we never really had it. We couldn’t find anything to get going in a positive way.’’

The Rangers’ winning streak ended at three games and they were shut out for the first time this season. Nineteen-year-old rookie Filip Chytil had his goal-scoring streak stopped at five games.

The Rangers (12-9-2, 26 points) began the day tied for first place in the Metropolitan Division, but even with the loss, they were assured of remaining among the top three teams in the division at least until Saturday, when they return to action with another afternoon game, a 2 p.m. faceoff at Madison Square Garden against defending Stanley Cup champion Washington.

Henrik Lundqvist was far and away the Rangers’ best player. The 36-year-old goaltender made 42 saves to keep his team in it until late in the game. And the Rangers did have chances.

Down 1-0 on a bad-bounce goal by Travis Konecny in the first period, the Rangers had two golden chances to tie it late in the third period. Rookie Lias Andersson was foiled on a breakaway by Flyers goalie Calvin Pickard with 5:56 remaining. Fifteen seconds later, South Jersey native Tony DeAngelo, a Flyers fan while growing up, rang a shot loudly off the goalpost. Twenty seconds after that, Sean Couturier finished a three-on-two break for the Flyers to make it 2-0 at 14:39 of the third.

The Rangers took no solace from the fact that they were so close to tying the score. “I mean, we still wouldn’t be happy with the way we played,’’ Staal said. “I mean, Hank, if he doesn’t make some of those saves, it could have been 4-0 halfway through the second period. So yeah, we were within a goal at the end, and we were pressing and trying to get one, but we weren’t able to do it, and you see the end result.’’

Couturier’s goal broke the Rangers’ back. With Lundqvist pulled for the extra skater, Philadelphia added an empty-net goal by Jordan Weal with 2:02 left to make it 3-0. With Lundqvist back in the net, Couturier scored with 1:37 left as the Flyers improved to 10-10-2.

“We had the TV timeout and we come out and hit a post, and right before that, Lias had the breakaway, and so it looked like we had a chance,’’ Quinn said. “But I’m sure they’re sitting on the other bench thinking it should be 5-0. It swings both ways. From our perspective, it would have been nice to steal a point out of here, but at the end of the day, we got what we deserved.’’

By Colin Stephenson

colin.stephenson@newsday.comColinSNewsday

Colin Stephenson covers the Rangers for Newsday. He has spent more than two decades covering the NHL and just about every sports team in the New York metropolitan area.