Flyers nip Rangers in return from week-long break

Philadelphia, PA -- In the old days, before the "new NHL" took root, something didn't necessarily have to give when two teams headed in the same direction squared off, because ties were still on the table.

A deadlock where neither team won might have been a fitting result for one team 2-5-0 on a season-commencing nine-game road trip facing the hosts who were off to a franchise-worst 1-7-0 kick.


Good for one team, that somebody had to lose on Thursday night.

Braydon Coburn's second goal of the season, coming at the 3:33 mark of the third period got the Philadelphia Flyers back in the win column via a 2-1 decision over the New York Rangers at Wells Fargo Center.

Steve Mason stopped 30-of-31 shots, including all 10 he faced in the final period, to help the Flyers halt a four-game losing streak and prevail for only the second time in nine outings this season. Matt Read assisted on Coburn's game-winner and tallied a shorthanded goal earlier in the contest.

Brad Richards scored the only marker for New York, which dropped its second in a row and fell to 2-6-0 on its season-opening nine-game road trip. Cameron Talbot, making his NHL debut with Henrik Lundqvist out with an undisclosed injury, recorded 25 saves in defeat.

Philadelphia failed on a previous opportunity to break the 1-1 stalemate, a five-minute power play that overlapped the second and third periods that was awarded by a boarding penalty to New York's Benoit Pouliot for checking the Flyers' Maxime Talbot face-first into the boards.

Not long after the expiration of the extended man-advantage, however, Coburn drilled a shot from near the blue line that rocketed past Cameron Talbot with Philadelphia's Wayne Simmonds setting a screen in front.

"We've got guys like Wayne screening the goalie and causing havoc in there, so you know as long as you can get the pucks through, things can happen," said Coburn afterward.

The Rangers nearly had the equalizer just over two minutes after Coburn's goal. With Flyers captain Claude Giroux in the box for a hooking call, New York's Brian Boyle sent a pass into the crease that caromed off Mason's stick and struck the Rangers' J.T. Miller's right skate before crossing the goal line. However, the score was disallowed after a booth review declared that Miller kicked in the puck.

"Obviously [the officials] saw something that I didn't, but it happens," said Miller. "It's a kicking motion; it happens all the time. I think it could have went either way."

Mason, who turned aside 12 chances during a flawless second period, later withstood a Rangers' offensive in the final minutes to protect the one-goal edge.

"Mason played great and made some big saves when we needed it," said Coburn.

Read got the slumping Flyers off to a good start midway through the opening period. With the Rangers on their first power play of the night, the Philadelphia forward stole the puck from Derick Brassard to create a breakaway chance that ended with Read firing a wrister through Cameron Talbot's pads for a 1-0 lead.

The Flyers stayed in front until late in the period, when Richards sent a bad- angle shot from the left corner that caught Mason off guard and went in with just 1:04 left in the frame.

Notes: Pouliot received a game misconduct for the major penalty ... Flyers forward Vincent Lecavalier returned to action following a three-game absence caused by a lower-body injury ... Rangers defenseman Michael Del Zotto was back in his team's lineup after sitting out two games with the flu ... Read had not scored since Apr. 23 of last season against Boston, a span of 10 straight games ... Flyers defenseman Mark Streit played in his 500th career NHL game ... The Rangers fell to 0-5-0 when failing to score first ... Philadelphia had been outscored by a 12-2 margin in the third period coming into the game ... On Friday morning, the Flyers shipped Tye McGinn back to Adirondack of the AHL.