Rangers owned at home
For Flyers, MSG run still going
BY JOHN DELLAPINA
DAILY NEWS SPORTS WRITER
Henrik Lundqvist fails to hold back Flyers' second-period onslaught last night at the Garden despite presence of Mets third baseman David Wright (below).
The Dolans might be trying to take Cablevision and its sports properties private. But until proven otherwise, on hockey nights when they come to town, the Philadelphia Flyers own the Garden.
Often rattled by the Rangers on Broad St., the Flyers have had no such problems on Seventh Ave. in recent seasons. And they avenged a loss Saturday night in Philly by throttling the Rangers, 4-2, last night at the Garden.
The triumph, keyed by a commanding performance by Peter Forsberg, extended the Flyers' recent run of Manhattan success to 7-0-1 in their last eight visits - 9-1-1 in their last 11. The Rangers? They got an early slap back to reality after a couple of season-opening victories.
"I'm not happy one bit," Rangers coach Tom Renney said after a brief postgame address to his team. "There's nothing good about tonight's game in any way, shape or form."
Including the results of a checking line constructed by Renney to soley thwart Forsberg and linemates Simon Gagne and Mike Knuble. Blair Betts centered that line with Marcel Hossa and Adam Hall.
"It's embarrassing," Betts said of getting caught watching the puck only to lose his check down low on goals by Forsberg and Gagne. "It's something we specifically went over - what they do there, once on the faceoff and a very similar play the second time. Both times I kind of got mesmerized by the puck, and stuff like that's gotta stop."
Of course, defensemen Marek Malik and Michal Rozsival weren't in position to cover for Betts either time. But then, on a night when the Flyers figured to come out hard - they were 0-2-0 and anxious to even the score from Saturday's shootout loss - the Rangers put up very little fight.
There was no first-shift Rangers goal on this night - as there had been in their first two games. Rather, there was Forsberg plastering Rozsival with a bodycheck 10 seconds in and then roofing a puck over a prematurely dropping Henrik Lundqvist in the game's fourth minutes after slipping away from Betts.
A sprawling shot-block and outlet pass from his knees by Petr Prucha set up the Tomas Pock goal off a two-on-one with Brendan Shanahan that got the Rangers even at the end of a lopsided first period. But the Flyers took over in the second, when Knuble, Geoff Sanderson and Gagne (five-on-three) scored within a 5:26 span to seize a 4-1 lead.
The Rangers' power play got a goal back when Shanahan rammed home a Michael Nylander feed with 29 seconds left in the second. But more relevant are the 13 previous failed power play tries this season and three more in the third period (paging Brian Leetch.)
"They came out really hard and we looked like we weren't ready to play tonight," winger Martin Straka said. "I don't know what was the reason, but we were sloppy. We were sleeping. We didn't hit anybody. We didn't shoot."
Added Shanahan, "It bothered all of us because we had a great opportunity not only to go 3-0 but to put a division rival 0-3. I think since I've been here I've recognized that this is a very hard-working team. And it's not for lack of desire or want but I think more of belief.
"We have to develop that belief that not only do we deserve to go out and win every night, but that we're better than the team we're playing against."
WARD OK: D Aaron Ward played despite missing practice Monday with a groin pull suffered Saturday at Philadelphia. That meant that D Darius Kasparaitis was scratched for the third straight game.
Originally published on October 11, 2006
