Flyers analysis

Flyers jump on Rangers, nail down Black Friday win

The Flyers led for the majority of the game

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Before a noticeable contingent of Rangers fans could piece together a chant, the Flyers sparked their own en route to a 3-1 win on Black Friday at the Wells Fargo Center.

John Tortorella's club ambushed New York with a pair of goals in the first 4:24 minutes of the game. Travis Konecny padded the Flyers' lead to 2-0 just 1:10 minutes after Bobby Brink opened the scoring.

Konecny iced the game with an empty-netter. He has 29 points (13 goals, 16 assists) through 24 games.

"I thought right from the get-go we were on our toes, our D were up in the neutral zone, we had good pinches," Tortorella said. "I thought right on through the game we played really well."

The Flyers (11-10-3) have earned at least a point in nine of their last 11 games (7-2-2) and 12 of their last 17 (10-5-2).

The Rangers (12-9-1) are on a season-worst five-game losing streak. They were without one of their top goal scorers in Chris Kreider, who's recovering from an upper-body injury.

This was the first meeting between the Flyers and New York this season. The clubs have two matchups left, both at Madison Square Garden.

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• Ivan Fedotov, who had given up four goals in each of his past two starts, rebounded with 22 saves on 23 shots.

In the final two minutes of the first period, Fedotov denied a 2-on-1 for the Rangers. It was a huge save to keep the Flyers' lead at two.

"Not giving them anything late in the period is big," Noah Cates said. "He has been huge for us. And sometimes that's tough when you don't see a lot of shots and then a Grade A chance comes your way."

The Flyers did a good job of jumping on a team that has been fighting it. They outshot New York 15-4 in the opening stanza.

"I think we set the pace early," Brink said. "Right from the start, we were forechecking, we were getting pucks to the net, momentum was on our side, the crowd was loud, it got us into it."

The Rangers cracked Fedotov midway through the game when Vincent Trocheck fired a shot through traffic to trim the Flyers' deficit to 2-1. It was practically a 5-on-4 for New York because Scott Laughton had to give up his stick to Cam York and fetch a new one from the bench.

Fedotov closed the door in the third period.

"A really good win," he said. "We played as a team, everybody played very good. We had much better play in the neutral zone, our zone. We stuck together."

Aleksei Kolosov was Fedotov's backup. Samuel Ersson skated in the morning and missed an eighth straight game. More on his status here.

"We've got a lot of good goalies in the organization," Konecny said. "We've got trust in all of them because you see them practice, the work that they put in to give us that confidence."

Rangers netminder Igor Shesterkin stopped 32 of the Flyers' 34 shots.

"It was a tough game for Feds today, not much action watching that other guy just stand on his head," Tortorella said. "[Fedotov] made some really key saves at key times."

Watch Part II of Ashlyn Sullivan's exclusive sit-down interview with Flyers general manager Danny Briere as they talk the state of the team, Morgan Frost and more.

• The trio of Brink, Cates and Tyson Foerster was highly effective. The young third line had a ton of jump and ignited things from the onset.

Foerster made an excellent play by blocking Adam Fox's shot and then beating the Rangers' defenseman in a puck race to set up Brink's goal.

"It was a great play," Brink said. "The credit goes to him."

Brink looked like one of the Flyers' most active forwards, finishing with four shots.

"I thought it was one of Bobby Brink's better games," Tortorella said. "Away from the puck, with the puck, created a lot of turnovers."

The Flyers have needed that type of secondary scoring.

The Flyers Postgame Live crew broke down the team's 3-1 win over the Rangers.

• Rasmus Ristolainen had a nice secondary assist on Konecny's first goal, giving him four helpers over the last four games. He also has a plus-7 rating in that span.

After picking up the primary assist, Sean Couturier has five points (three goals, two assists) over the last four games. Joel Farabee has played well with Couturier and Konecny.

• Jamie Drysdale skated in the morning as he continued to work his way back from an upper-body injury. The 22-year-old defenseman has missed the last nine games and is considered day to day.

• The Flyers are right back at it Saturday when they visit the Blues for their third game in four days (7 p.m. ET/NBCSP).

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