Behind the hockey scenes: Philadelphia Flyers vs. Ottawa Senators and The Road Ahead

 

Behind the hockey scenes: Philadelphia Flyers vs. Ottawa Senators and The Road Ahead

Introductions

Well, it wasn't the goaltending this season...

The last game of the regular season, held in late April, due to the stretched schedule.

Philadelphia (25-45-11, 61 points) verses Ottawa (32-42-7, 71 points) in both teams final contest of the 2021-22 season.

The coming off-season starts immediately after the horn sounds. Buzz regarding the fates of numerous players, head coach, coaching staff, along with various other staff members exists. General Manager Chuck Fletcher created what appeared to be an improved team heading into the start of this season. However, thinness in various areas and questions about goaltending abounded.

The in-season dismissal of head coach Alain Vigneault was followed by one of Fletcher's past go-to guys, assistant coach Mike Yeo, being given the helm. Yeo's task was immensely steep. Any fair assessment, considering the volume of man-games lost due to injuries, lesser than expected performances, trades, including that of Claude Giroux, would have to give Yeo a pass.

Yeo is not expected to be elevated to head coach but seems worthy of another spot in the organization. His honest and accurate assessments of players was and can remain valuable. Yeo is the proverbial, good hockey guy.

As for Fletcher – His status is tied to whatever level of patience Chairman and CEO Dave Scott may have. A presser featuring both men projected a contrast between Scott believing that the team would be back as of next season, implying a playoff contender. Fletcher's highlight of building best through the draft implied that 2022-23 would not be one to count on as a certain playoff return.

If what Scott saw after that presser though the season's end meets Fletcher's expectations, he should be allowed to continue. Danny Briere was firmly positioned as Fletcher's protege and potential successor this season as well, which is intriguing on various levels.

Season-ending team awards were announced prior to the start of the game.

Cam Atkinson - Bobby Clarke Trophy (team MVP. voted by a local media panel)

Travis Sandheim - Barry Ashbee Trophy (best defenseman, voted by a local media panel)

Travis Sandheim - Pelle Lindbergh Memorial Trophy (most improved player over the current season, voted by the Flyers players)

Zack MacEwen - Gene Hart Memorial Award (Player with the most "heart", strongest work ethic and unwavering dedication. voted by the Flyers Fan Club)

Cam Atkinson - Yanick Dupre Memorial Award (formerly the "Class Guy" award, the honor goes to a Flyers player who exhibits consistent professionalism and rapport with the media, voted by the members of the Philadelphia chapter of the Professional Hockey Writers Association)

Carter Hart - Toyota Cup (player with the most three-star selection points; 5 per each first-star selection, 3 for each second-star honor and one point each time he's selected as the third star).

Lauren Hart – then, now, forever – no one better.

Lou Nolan – on the call at his rightful center ice position.

First period

Martin Jones got the final start, as expected. He paired well with Carter Hart this season, reestablishing himself as a solid veteran. Depending on the interest of the team and Jones, if the money is right, he could return next season.

A solid team effort to prevent a goal inside the crease, with multiple Flyers helping to keep the puck out of the net during a Sandheim penalty toward the half-way point of the period.

Flyers get the first score at 18:31 into the frame on the powerplay. James van Riemsdyk with a nifty between his legs shot. He overtook Atkinson to become the team goal-leader with that play.

Assists Owen Tippett and Ivan Provorov.

Shots: Philadelphia 11 - Ottawa 11

Score: Ottawa 0 - Philadelphia 1

Intermission – Yes, the Mites On Ice. Another evergreen crowd-pleaser.

Second period

MacEwen penalty resulted in a Kevin Hayes chance at the Sens net during the early part of Ottawa's powerplay. No goals were scored during this disadvantage.

Egor Zamula roughing penalty with approximately 12 minutes to go in the period gave the Sens another man advantage. Another clean penalty kill.

The flow of this game feels like a season-ender so far. But the players are giving a decent effort that they know is their last game for many months.

Ottawa scored at 11:51 to tie the game. A turnover by Provorov behind Jones' left shoulder led to a takeaway by Brady Tkachuk and a tap in by Josh Norris. Those productive offensive players can not be allowed that type of chance on a high-scoring percentage situation.

Shots: Philadelphia 6 - Ottawa 13

Score: Ottawa 1- Philadelphia 1

Third period

Travis Hamonic scores at 1:56 into the third. Ottawa assists to Alex Formenton and Thomas Chabot.

Watching Keith Yandle, who is the National Hockey League's reigning Iron Man. The guy gives all he has left to give. It is easy to see why he is respected across the League. (His plus/minus number this season is also understood, based on all factors, which includes the wear and tear and this team's overall defensive challenges.)

A power play with just under 10 minutes to go gave the home team a chance to tie the game. And then another aggression penalty, spurned by Travis Konecny channeling Ken Linesman gave the Flyers a five on three advantage.

Tippet blasted a laser over Anton Forsberg's left shoulder to tie the game at 12:33. Assists to Provorov and Morgan Frost.

Flyers hooking penalty (Linus Hogberg) with at 15:13 to go gave the Sens an unwanted, late advantage.

Tkachuck scored on a wrister over Jones' left shoulder at 16:38. A hard goal to give up after the comeback, which was a rare bird during this season for Philadelphia.

Austin Watson's empty-netter at 18:15 iced the game.

Shots: Philadelphia 17 - Ottawa 12

Final shot totals: Philadelphia 34 - Ottawa 36

Score: Ottawa 4 - Philadelphia 2

After the horn sounded

Some players took off the orange jersey for the final time today. Such is the business of hockey.

The Flyers last won the Stanley Cup in the spring of 1975. They beat the Buffalo Sabres to claim back-to-back titles and won the hearts of fans for generations. This franchise last appeared in the Cup Final in 2010, lost its founder and one of the great forces in National Hockey League history in 2016, and has been attempting to meet his standard of excellence since.

The road ahead is not easy and could take a handful of years. What this franchise needs to achieve is steady progress. Fletcher arguably deserves more time to do so.

On a personal note, as consistently stated in the past, the media staff is first-class, always providing me with access and anything that I need when covering games. Treating a freelancer like me with respect, dating back to when I first started covering the team in 2011, is appreciated.

Yandle took the last puck of the game, shook hands with the Sens coaches and players, and was hugged by his teammates, leaving the ice last. That, along with him leading the pregame stretch and announcing the starting lineup in the locker room implies that today was his last game of his career. 

Full transcripts per the Flyers media department at the postgame presser I attended: 

Philadelphia Flyers Interim Head Coach Mike Yeo

 Does the loss capture how the year has gone this year?

It’s amazing. Yeah, it just sort of sums it up doesn’t it? How many times have we had games similar to that. You battle and you scratch and claw, power play gets on the board, scores a big goal for us, and then find a way to let it slip away at the end. Yeah it’s disappointing.

We talked about late game situations, we talked about habits this morning, why do you think this team throughout the year could never really figure it out?

It’s obviously something that’s got to be corrected. Winning hockey games and understanding that every play can make a difference in the hockey game. Two of the goals that they scored tonight came from an offensive zone situation that we have to learn and recognize how important, how critical those areas are. You look at a number of the goals we’ve given up this year, a lot of them we have the puck on our stick at that particular time so a sense of awareness, game management, clock management, also taking what the other team’s giving you, but just sort of the idea that you have to really have the urgency in those situations to not lose the puck. Taking care of the puck is everything in this game. You can defend all you want but if you turn pucks over you’re going to give the other team momentum. I think we saw that in that second period with us tonight. The things we were doing well in the first period we stopped doing in the second and because of that we lose offense, because of that the other team gets momentum. The other team gets scoring opportunities. 

Something that you did figure out was you had two power play goals, you had a 5-on-3 which is a first, what was looking different tonight?

The power play’s hot. Those guys went out and did a good job. Frosty was a big faceoff for us on the 5-on-3. It’s amazing how many opportunities Tippett’s had lately that haven’t been going in so I’m glad that he got rewarded with that and I like the mindset of it to be honest with you, it’s one pass and it’s just a one-timer, we’re hard at the net and obviously that first goal was a real nice play as well. 

What do you try to convey to the team?

I think first we’ve got to learn. Motivation is not going to be an issue heading into next year, but tonight is not the time for that big message. Had a couple days here to make sure we really have an opportunity to really sit down with the group and sort of make it very clear as far as what the expectations are going forward. Big picture of what we have to become.

Mike you mentioned that the good things you were doing in the first period did not carry over to the second period, why has consistency from period to period been such an issue?

A big part of it is execution. You’re talking about the second period, you’ve got the long change, a great deal of it you see at certain points through the game that there’s plays that are made that are bouncing off our stick and situations where you have to bear down and those opportunities. I also think that it’s again, one area that this group can grow is a willingness to grind more offensively. Quite often I feel like we just want to get the puck and skate though everybody. So the awareness to recognize what the other team is giving you and what they’re taking away in those situations and too many times in that second period we were trying to skate through when we had no speed and turning pucks over. So we’ve got to be willing in those situations to have better speed support, better skating barriers that use a little more indirect plays with the puck to set up our offensive zone play, and we didn’t get enough of that in the second. 

Philadelphia Flyers G Martin Jones

What happened on that scramble play in the first period? Looked like it hit you twice? Can you walk us through that sequence?

One-timer off the flank. It just hit my stick and kind of kicked to the middle. Just scramble mode at that point. Hoggy made a big block, bought me some time, I was able to get back and get the next one.

How much did you guys want to go out with a solid performance for the fans who have been through a very tough year with you guys?

Yep. Would liked to have win that one.

Where do you feel like you fell short there?

I thought we played alright tonight. PK was good. Tough to give up that power play goal late. It’s the way it’s gone for us this year. It’s been tough. But I thought we played alright tonight, we battled hard. 

Philadelphia Flyers RW Owen Tippett

How did it feel to break through and score?

Obviously the last couple of games I’ve feel like I’ve gotten the chances, so like you said, it’s nice to get one and to break through.

When we spoke to Mike Yeo he said he liked the mentality of the goal, not just the goal itself, how much of that do you bring, that one-timer get the puck on the net mentality to your game?

I think it was just right off the faceoff we knew we didn’t have much time left on the 5-on-3 and we wanted to get something to the net as quick as possible and Provy made a nice pass over and I think it bounced off one of their guys and found the way. 

At the end of the day how do you evaluate it with your time in Florida?

I think I started to find my game. With opportunity, comes confidence, and when you play with confidence you start holding on to the puck more and making those plays and I feel like I was getting solid chances each and every game. I like where my game finished.

 Philadelphia Flyers LW James van Riemsdyk

The power play’s been such an issue for you guys this season, to get two on tonight I know it's the end of the season but that’s gotta at least give you guys a pretty decent feeling coming out of the night that you at least get something out of it.

Overall it's never a good thing to finish last in a category like that, especially an important one like that. It’s a big difference if your power play’s in the top 10 vs. dead last and who knows how that can affect our season. I don’t know how to fully analyze it. I guess I need to collect my thoughts about that. I don’t know, obviously tonight we executed things and kinda took what they gave us and were able to get two.

James, why do you think that it has been a problem all year closing out games and avoiding those back breaking goals late in the third periods?

I don’t know. That’s obviously the million dollar question, there were times like you said I don’t know what the stats are (inaudible) felt like just down the stretch a lot of times we were right there and taking games into the third period in a decent spot. Kind of got away from us but I don’t know if that comes from recognizing situations in games a little bit better and knowing the time and the score and things like that and kind of really reacting to those situations or what. Certainly not how you are successful.

James, you were the only guy on the team who was able to dress in all 82 games this year, is that something you take some personal pride in?

Yeah definitely I take a lot of pride in how I prepare myself to play.   Especially now as you get a bit older you figure out what works and what doesn’t work.   You certainly take pride in being the guy that’s reliable and playing in all the games and being there for practice and setting an example that way. Obviously production wise I did better this year and definitely some things I can take into the summer and try to work on and improve upon, but as far as just being able to show up and be out there for all 82 and not missing practice and stuff like that. Obviously, that’s always a good quality.

Inside Access: Philadelphia Flyers vs. New York Rangers - December 23, 2019

Philadelphia Flyers vs. New York Rangers

Wells Fargo Center, Philadelphia

December, 23, 2019

Game Time – 7 p.m.

Pregame

The Philadelphia Flyers (20-11-5, 45 points, fourth in the Metropolitan Division)

The New York Rangers (17-14-4, 38 points, fifth in the Metro.)

Starting goalies: Flyers – Carter Hart. Rangers – Henrik Lundqvist. Hart's .912 save percentage was just a tick below the sure-shot Hall of Famer, Lundqvist's (.913), as the game began.

Other pregame tidbits – Sellouts aren't standard. Subjective opinion about the change from the Ed Snider era to Comcast ownership abound. However, the lack of playoff appearances this decade and no progress made in the post-season in recent seasons is the arguable lead reason why less fans are in the seats.

However, the team is hardly hurting and the arena looked mostly occupied for this special Monday night, Christmas-themed game.

This projects, cautiously, as a playoff year. Make a number of post-season runs and many tickets are likely to be sold and used.

On a personal note...

The transformation of the interior of the Wells Fargo Center is nearly complete. The main concourse and upper level concourse areas have video screen menus above the vendor stands. Retaining Bubble Hockey was wise, as this is a timeless classic. Food prices are up, but seem to be comparable with prices at other pro sports venues. Balcony level ring, which allows fans low-cost ticket access to see games is a great idea.

Tim Saunders offered some good-natured assistance upon my arrival to the stadium. Early birds flock together, as he and Keith Jones know. Two true professionals, who represent the still-open nature of hockey guys as the 2010's are set to giveaway to the 2020's.

Taco Night is a favorite among many, as a cordial Wells Fargo staff member told me at the pregame staff/media meal. She, along with so many others in the building, comprise a top shelf group of employees. That's surely not luck, as an arena of this size operates through thoughtfully executed planning.

The press level is nicely redone, with the tribute wall to Gene Hart rightfully still welcoming all media members, scouts, and other approved guests.

First Period

Good puck control by the Flyers in the later part of the period. Some penalties on both sides.

Philadelphia notably killed off a 5-3 during the frame. Steady team D and Hart's consistency prevented any scoring from the Rangers, who were solidly out-shot. Would the opposition have entered the intermission up by a goal in recent years? Yes.

Lundqvist was Lundqvist on the other end.

Shots: Flyers 12 – Rangers 8.

Second Period

Rangers didn't like how the first period went and came out shooting, topping the Flyers 9-1 in this statistical category in the first five-plus minutes.

Jesper Fast scored is sixth goal of the season for New York at 6:44. It was a short-handed marker.

Flyers 0-4 on the power play through nearly 33 minutes of action. Only four Philadelphia shots though this point in the game as well.

Rangers fought off late pressure, with Lundqvist stand strong until Travis Sandheim (third goal of the season) put one past him with 1.7 seconds left in the period. Assists to Justin Braun and Travis Konecny. The Flyers skated off to a loud ovation and hopes for the third period, with possible Christmas cheers (sorry, it was obligatory) to come.

Shots: Rangers – 14. Flyers – 7.

Third Period

Kevin Hayes ripped off a slap shot, that soared over Lundqvist's left shoulder and into the the top corner of the netting at 7:31 into the period, for his tenth goal of the season. Assists to Joel Farabee and James van Riemsdyk. Flyers' head coach Alain Vignuealt's task turned into encouraging his boys to apply pressure, while also keeping the Rangers at bay.

Travis Sandheim likely iced the game with a rebound shot through a crease that Lundqvist had to move out of in order to stop two Flyers shots. It was his second goal of the game and fourth overall at 15:49. Sean Couturier and Claude Giroux earned the assists.

And then, just hours before Christmas Eve day, Kevin Hayes also scored his second goal of the night and eleventh overall. Assists to van Riemsdyk and Braun.

This was a statement game, with some old school center ice skirmishes just moments after the Hayes tally.

Nicolas Aube-Kubel then capped the torrent of goals by scoring his first National Hockey League goal with less than a minute to go (officially at 19:20 of the third). Sandheim and Jakub Voracek had assists.

Shots: Rangers – 13. Flyers – 11.

Final shot total: Rangers - 35. Flyers - 30.

Final score: Flyers – 5. Rangers – 1.

Philadelphia now ranks third in the Metro, fourth in the Eastern conference in points. The Flyers have the sixth most points (47) in the NHL.

Next up - The Flyers begin a seven-game road trip after Christmas. Philadelphia faces the San Jose Sharks (16-20-2, 32 points), starting Saturday, December 29, at 10:30 p.m.

Postgame Quotes

In addition to the quotes shown below, Vigneault also said that he's going to visit his parents, who are in their mid-80's, over the Christmas break and that he was really looking forward to that. He offered greetings to all of us as well. It was a touching moment in what has been a personally challenging December for the entire organization.

Responses to media scrum questions - Postgame in the locker room and at the press conferences of both head coaches: 

Philadelphia Flyers Head Coach Alain Vigneault

It's a big game for you, obviously. First game against a former team, when did it sort of settle into a regular game?

Once the puck dropped, I focused on getting the right matchups on the ice and focused on the game and that's what we did. I really liked our energy in that first period. I don't think we were as good in the second. In the third, Carter made some big saves at the right time and they all seemed to lead to great opportunities from us at the other end and we were able to find the back to the net on really good plays.

This is the kind of game where if you didn't watch it, you might look at the score and not think of the goalie as one of the best players on the ice.

He was the best player on the ice. I mean there's no doubt Carter tonight made some big saves. For a little while there, I thought our execution was off and he made some big saves that the goals that we had on Hank were quality chances. There’s not much he could do on any of those. I'm trying to remember all of them but they were grade A looks. Carter had some grade A looks. He made some saves but you know at the end of the day, it's good to know that we can not play our A game and still find a way to win it and that's what we did in that third period.

The number suggests that timing of the Sanheim goal was crucial because you're like 19-0 when you're leading or tied and then you're like 1-11 when you are not. Are those numbers fair?

It's a tough league to come back. I mean if you look at the numbers, there are not many teams that are coming back. There's no doubt that that goal at the end of the second period momentum wise, energy wise gave us a boost. Probably I can't speak for them, but probably hurt them a little bit and came out in the third and were able to find a way to win that game.

He said this is a special game for you, but how much do you think it meant for Kevin?

I'm sure it meant more to him than to me. I mean, he's been wound up about this game for a while. I don't know if he told you, maybe he just told it was just another game, but I know that meant a lot to him. He’s a very emotional, young man and scored two really big goals for us tonight.

Did he talk to you about playing a former team again?

We talked about… he was there last year, he knows this coaching staff. I asked him questions about if what I saw in the video was right. And he said, “Yes, this is how they play.” So, we shared that. This morning in our meeting, I definitely looked at him in front of everybody and I said: “this is a big game for me, this must be a big game for you.” And we both smiled. So, without a doubt, the first time you play against a team where you've got some good memories, and you were there for quite a bit of time, it's always an emotional and challenging game. 

Philadelphia Flyers G Carter Hart

Strong effort by this team again in the third. You guys have done very well, think about how this team has been able to kind of step it up in the third and take over when you have to.

Scored another four goals in the last five minutes of the game. It’s 2-1 up until that point. This game just kind of, runs away at the end. Last few games, found the back of the net late in the third, and that’s been huge. You get that support late in the game and take them out of the game.

And for you, how well did you see the puck tonight? Some of the saves you made, especially in the second period, kept them in the game. How well did you see the puck and how well did you see everything in front of you?

I saw it well. We did a good job, they didn’t get any second whacks or anything. We did a good job out front, boxing guys out and tying up some sticks to make my job easier.

As well as you guys have played, are you almost sorry the break is coming?

We’ve played a lot of hockey, so it’ll be nice to recharge the batteries and take some downtime, get some downtime. Make the most of this recovery time and make sure that you’re sharper and ready to go out of the break.

New York Rangers Head David Quinn

Asked Mika if anyone saw that one coming, it was pretty hard to see that one coming after the first two periods of play.

Well even the first, even most of the third I mean there is a difference between playing well and winning and right now we’ve gotta do a better job at playing winning hockey because even I thought in the third we did a lot of good things. You know it’s 1-1 and I think we’ve got great chances, good zone time and we just made it too easy for them. We sell out for offense too much and we just, it’s killing us. And our power play was obviously was, it’s really hurt us lately. Our power play with plenty of chances you got a five on three, and it’s a team wide problem. Slowing the play down and not shooting pucks.

When you get into tight games like that, it just reemphasizes the special teams?

Our penalty kill was great, we got the short-handed goal. You got a five on three you have to score, and we just didn’t and we had a few chances but every time we get it, we slow it down, we look to make a pretty play and we just… you know we’re going to keep working on it.  You know our power play has really been a problem lately.

With the power play, is it more mental or is their adjustments you need to make or is it just more mindset needs to change?

Probably both. We need to move some people around I’ll tell you that. But our mentality, we just, we get it we hold it, we stick handle it, we look for a pretty pass instead of just moving it around and playing hockey with a power play and it’s killing us right now. There are games where we’ve done a lot of good things five on five, we put ourselves into position to win, we’ve improved in a bunch of areas, but you got to win the special teams. You got to score power play goals when you got five or six a night and we didn’t do it.

You talked yesterday about, you’re trying to be in a playoff race here and this was a four-point game. Do you think your guys were thinking too much about the playoffs maybe at this point?

No. Again I liked a lot of the things we did tonight. We played a good first, a good second, and I liked our third until we just shot ourselves in the foot. It’s two to one we’re still doing good things, Mika hits the post, we get some good chances and then we give them our third goal and that’s when we got demoralized and reality set in.

Does that make it harder to swallow just what it would have meant for you guys going to break?

Yeah it does and it should, it should hurt. But hopefully we can collect ourselves the next three days and be ready to play on the 27^th.

Philadelphia Flyers D Travis Sanheim

(Inaudible)

Yeah obviously it was tied up in the end of the second and then follow it up in the third and find a way to win, it was big for us and especially going into the break.

You get the goal late in the second period. How much does that kind of give you guys that momentum?

Yeah I think we obviously had our chances, Lundqvist was playing pretty good and made some key stops so it was nice to break through and same thing going into the third?

Was there an extra motivated Kevin Hayes tonight?

Yeah I think so, I think we all knew he was going to be pretty fired up and ready to go and it was nice to see him get 2.

New York Rangers LW Chris Kreider

Missed Question

You give them good opportunities on the rush and they opened it up when we got down and it just got worse for us.

You played well enough to be 1-1 in the third.

It’s tough when you’re going into the third 1-0. We should be going in 1-0 and then we give up a goal with 1 second left in the second period. Then give up 5 unanswered goals. I mean, they outlasted us. They were patient, they stuck to their structure. Eventually, we give them chances. Obviously, we had a couple of posts that made the game a little bit different. But we can’t be giving up the grade A’s like that while trying to get ourselves back in the game. The team feeds off it- turnovers, and the counterattack and they are so good on the rush. That’s how we used to play with AV, our structure was tight and eventually teams would get strung out and stretched out and you get your rushes and get your looks. We hurt ourselves there for sure in the third.

Guys talked about how big this game was. How devastating is this?

It is obviously a very important game. Divisional games we call them 4 point games. We play 82 games, so we have to figure it out quickly, rebound and enjoy a couple of days here and get rested and be ready to go here down the stretch.

Philadelphia Flyers C Kevin Hayes

Did that go about as well for yourself as you could’ve hoped for personally?

Yeah I mean, doesn’t really matter personally, it’s nice to get goals but the main goal was to get 2 points tonight and I thought our power play didn’t really help us in the beginning, they kind of took the momentum there and then the team came out in the third and we’ve been good in the third all year.

Can you talk about how much this game meant to you? I know it’s one of 82 but it got to give you a little extra juice?

Yeah a little bit I mean I played there for 5 years. Like I said if it was early on in the year it would probably be a little different but we’re almost 4o games in, this is my team here and it’s nice to get the win. I’m sure I’ll text those guys after but yeah that stuff doesn’t mean anything.

Was that first goal a little bit of knowing where Lundqvist does and doesn’t like the puck?

No honestly it kind of rolled off of my stick and I was just hoping he was cheating a little bit and I went far side and I think it hit the post and went in so it was a lucky shot.

Philadelphia Flyers LW Joel Farabee

*Missed Question*

I actually felt really good. I don’t think there was any period of time where I didn’t feel good. Right from the start of the game my legs felt really good. I think they took a penalty really early so I think I missed the first shift. But, yeah I felt really good out there.

How much of a lift did Sanheim’s goal give you guys with 2 seconds left in the second, after a period that really didn’t go your way for most of it?

I think they had a lot of shots, getting bodies in front …, so I think once we did that, the goals started to come. Obviously Sanny’s goal was huge, and gave us a lot of momentum heading into the second.

Does this break allow you any time to reflect on the way the season has gone so far …?

Absolutely, you get a few days off. You can look at a few things. Right now I think our momentum is going up, so I think once we get back we just got to keep that going. We got a big west coast trip coming up, so hopefully we keep the momentum going and this will be a big trip.

New York Rangers G Henrik Lunqvist

How frustrating was that one?

It is very disappointing that is for sure. I don’t know what to say. We did a lot of good things. That tying goal in the late second was tough, but I thought we had a good focus going into the third. It has been a trend lately that when we feel like we have to score a goal, when we fall behind, we start taking chances a little too much in my opinion and it’s been hurting us a few games now. We are close. It is a one goal game. Of course, we are going to push, but when it’s 1 or 2 goals we are still in it. It is important to learn from that and not do too much. That is what happened again.

You’re on the road, simple probably works in the third.

Like I said, we were doing a lot of good things. We were creating a lot of good chances. You just have to pick your spots on when to go and when to just stay cool for maybe next shift. Hockey, you can have a lot of time in the zone, but most times you are going to get hurt when you give up odd men rushes. It is going to happen when you try to push forward and try to tie it. It got away from us a little bit.

Is holiday break coming at a good time?

It is probably. It has been a lot of hockey for everyone. We will take the break to regroup a little bit. It’s a big game, it is disappointing to lose. We were right there. Just the way it ended too, as a goalie it is tough. They took whatever they wanted the last 5 minutes there in front. It was disappointing.

Philadelphia Flyers D Ivan Provorov

AV said you were a game time decision and that in your mind there was no question you were going to play. Did you have to talk him into it?

No, I mean I came in, I felt a lot better than I did last night and I knew if I was able to play a game and contribute and help the team, I already knew I was going to play

How was the energy level during the game?

It was tough at first, but the more I was on the ice the better I felt.

Nothing catching what you had?

No I don’t think so, it was just one of those days where it’s one of those nights where you don’t feel so great and then after 24 hours you feel better.

New York Rangers C Mika Zibanejad

I’m not sure anyone saw that coming, your thoughts?

I thought we played pretty good in the second half of that first period and really good up until that 1 second left in the second period. They get the tying goal. We try to stick to our game, and they got their goal. We got a chance, I think it was 2-1 with the post and a couple minutes later they score 3-1. Tough one. Not the way we wanted to go into this break.

The margin for error is not big.

We had a real good chance of putting the puck to the net, we didn’t do that today. I don’t know. It is really disappointing right now.

Is it frustrating that you had a lot of chances in the 2^nd, do you squeeze the stick more after that?

He’s a good goalie. He had really good form in that second period. We had really good chances and it goes off his shoulder and stuff. We just have to keep getting pucks there. I don’t think we did that enough in the third and allowed them to get their odd man rushes from it. It is just disappointing.

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