PHILADELPHIA (CBS) – The Flyers are frustrated. The season hasn’t been a good one so far, and there haven’t been any signs that it’s close to being turned around.

It came to a head for Scott Hartnell Monday night against the Lightning, when Hartnell took a bad penalty and was benched by coach Peter Laviolette.

“Well sometimes you have a brain cramp during a game and frustrated just with how the season is going, personally how things are going, and decided to take it out on a little player out there,” Hartnell told Angelo Cataldi and the 94WIP Morning Show on Thursday.  “Kind of laugh about it now, but it was stupid and it put the team at risk to going down a goal I think, but the boys killed it off. Lavy [Laviolette] was trying to send a message to me to wake it up, and to the team as well. So hopefully, not only does that go for me, hopefully it goes for everybody. There’s some consistency there too.”

LISTEN: The WIP Morning Show interviews Scott Hartnell

“No [Laviolette] didn’t say anything. I knew [the benching] was coming., deep down you are cheering for the boys to kill it off just so it doesn’t look twice as worse. Figured I sit down a few shifts, but it ended up being the rest of the period. I played a couple in the third, but that happens sometimes. You take the good with the bad and keep working hard.”

The Flyers are off until Sunday, when they take on the Pittsburgh Penguins, a team that has been able to bring the best out of the Flyers until recently. In their last game the Flyers got off to a 4-1 lead, and eventually surrendered it and lost 5-4.

Purcell’s in-close deflection at 9:25 of the third came shortly after the Lightning killed off a short-handed situation.

Ondrej Palat, Tom Pyatt and Steven Stamkos also scored for Tampa Bay, which improved to 12-1 when leading after the first period. Stamkos scored his 21st goal this season into an empty net with 3 seconds to play.

Maxime Talbot and Claude Giroux had goals as Philadelphia fell to 0-11 when trailing entering the second period.

Flyers defenseman Kimmo Timonen played in his 1,000th NHL game on his 38th birthday. He is the 282nd NHL player, and sixth from Finland, to reach the milestone.

Pyatt put the Lightning up 2-1 after skating down the slot and redirecting Tyler Johnson’s pass past Ilya Bryzgalov with 2:57 left in the first.

Giroux got the Flyers even at 2 from the left circle at 15:21 of the second.

Tampa Bay took a 1-0 lead when Palat scored from the low right circle 6:38 into the game. The rookie scored his first NHL goal in Saturday night’s 4-1 victory over the Carolina Hurricanes.

Talbot tied it at 1 at 13:55 of the first. The center made a nifty move to get past two Lightning defenders and then slip a backhander past Anders Lindback. Jakub Voracek hit the post with 2 seconds remaining in the period.

Philadelphia’s Matt Read hit the crossbar 6 minutes into the third.

NOTES: 39 players that have reached 1,000 NHL games played spent at least part of their career with the Flyers. … Johnson has a goal and two assists over his first three NHL games. He was recalled March 14 from Syracuse of the AHL. … Tampa Bay D Keith Aulie stopped a 22-game point drought with an assist on Purcell’s goal.

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Read beat Johan Hedberg on the first shot and New Jersey’s Ilya Kovalchuk matched him. Giroux scored the second shootout goal, and David Clarkson and Patrik Elias both failed in their attempts against Ilya Bryzgalov.

The slumping Flyers badly need this win following a 5-2 loss to the Devils on Wednesday. The Flyers are still on the outside of the Eastern Conference playoff race.

Max Talbot scored in regulation for the Flyers and Clarkson had a goal for the Devils.

Bryzgalov finished with 26 saves.

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Angelo’s winner = Cole Hamels for what he does in the community, for his interview with WIP Morning Show, and for being named Opening Day starter.

Angelo’s weasel = Rich Dubee, who admitted that Phillies did not tell the truth about Halladay’s condition last season.

Caller winner (approved by Rhea) = Philadelphia Eagles, for what they did in free agency.

Caller weasel (approved by Al) = Ilya Bryzgalov, for playing poorly in the first of home-and-home with the Devils, after saying if the Flyers lose both games against the Devils, “they’re done”.

Who are your winners and weasels for the week? Let us know in the comments.

Philadelphia, PA (CBS) — This looks bad. Really bad.

The 76ers’ season is over. It was over before it started, when they made the trade for Andrew Bynum. The Flyers season began with hope and has since sunk rapidly, more than what the most pessimistic pessimist envisioned. They don’t look playoff bound either.

The Eagles had their worst finish since going 3-13 in 1998—and the Phillies are trying to recover from an utterly forgettable 81-81 season.

If the Phillies don’t make the playoffs this season, it will mark the first time since 1991 that Philadelphia’s four major pro sports teams will not make the playoffs.

But it could be worse—believe it or not.

There have been far more dismal times for Philadelphia’s teams.

Take 1972, for instance. The Sixers went 30-52, thankfully eight games better than the woeful Buffalo Braves. But still, no postseason for a team that would reach the ultimate nadir of 9-73 the following season.

In ’72, the Eagles finished last in the NFC East going 2-11-1, and the Phillies made a splendid summer for everyone by landing in the basement of the National League East with a 59-97 record—the fewest victories the Phils have had in a full season in the last 40 years, 37.5 games behind the division-champion Pittsburgh Pirates.

Even the Flyers, the eventual saviors of the city, didn’t make the playoffs, closing their 1971-72 season 26-38-14 and out of the playoffs.

Back then, the Sixers, Eagles and Phillies weren’t just bad—they were pathetically bad.

In the ’72 NFL season, the Eagles had the most anemic offense in the game. They were a team that lost by an average of 14.8 points per game, scored a league-low 145 points during the 14-game schedule and allowed 352 points.

If not for Steve Carlton’s incredible 27-10 record with such a horrid team, ’72 was completely unmemorable for the Phils. They finished first from the bottom in the National League in runs scored (503) and their team batting average was a robust .236.

Billy Cunningham and Hal Greer were the last remnants of the 76ers all-time great 1966-67 team that won the NBA title. The ’72 team would deteriorate further to new depths the following year, going 9-73 in ’73. The Sixers were so bad that local newspapers threatened not to cover them.

In ’72, the Flyers began shaping into one of the all-time great franchises that went on to make the playoffs 17-straight years and become the only Philadelphia team to win consecutive world championships since the Steve Van Buren-led Eagles won two-straight world NFL championships in 1948 and 1949.

But ’72 was Fred Shero’s first year as Flyers coach. He and general manager Keith Allen were shaping a team and culture that still carries on today. Shero also inherited goaltender Doug Favell, who wasn’t bad, and someone named Lew Morrison wore No. 8. The following year, 1973, a 20-year-old named Bill Barber, an eventual Hall of Famer, arrived with another rookie who took over the No. 8 jersey, Dave Schultz, an all-time Philly favorite.

Two years after ’72, someone else showed up that put the Flyers over the top, goalie Bernie Parent, and ended the miasma that enveloped Philadelphia sports teams.

Joseph Santoliquito is a contributing sports blogger for CBS Philly.

Patrik Elias and Adam Henrique, who scored twice, also tallied in the opening period as the Devils beat the Flyers for the third time in three games this season. Andrei Loktionov had the prettiest goal for New Jersey, with a toe-drag move that left Flyers goalie Ilya Bryzgalov at his mercy.

Johan Hedberg had 23 saves for New Jersey, which has won two straight and three of four after a six-game losing streak.

Jakub Voracek and Scott Hartnell scored for the Flyers, who have lost four of five.

The Flyers were their own worst enemy, giving up two goals with bad pinches, another that went in off the skate of Matt Read, and another on a giveaway behind their net.

Philadelphia defenseman Andrej Meszaros got the Devils going, giving up the puck behind his net in the opening minutes. His pass up the middle of the ice was weak, and Steve Bernier got the puck. The rebound of his shot went to Henrique, who took a backhander that caromed to Elias for a tap-in goal.

Voracek tied it 1-1 on a power play by scoring his 13th goal. Wayne Simmonds set it up with a pass from beside the net to Voracek, who was alone in the left circle.

Henrique gave the Devils the lead for good 36 seconds later with a shot from the side boards that deflected past Bryzgalov off Read’s skate.

Kovalchuk made it 3-1 late in the period when Read made a bad pinch on a power play. It led to a breakaway by Kovalchuk, who scored his 10th of the season and second short-handed against Bryzgalov. He also scored a short-handed goal on a penalty shot in the season opener.

Loktionov stretched the lead to 4-1 early in the second period, taking advantage of another bad pinch to lead a counter attack. He fooled Bryzgalov and scored his fourth goal.

Henrique made it 5-1, scoring on a power play for his ninth of the season.

Hartnell closed out the scoring late for the Flyers.

The Devils, who defeated the Flyers in five games in the second round of last season’s playoffs, are 3-0 against Philadelphia this season — all in Newark. New Jersey has scored in the opening three minutes of each of those games.

Perhaps stirred by the loss, Philadelphia leaders Danny Briere and Claude Giroux feverishly worked on exercise bikes with their heads down.

NOTES: This was the first time the Devils scored four goals since a 5-3 win over the Flyers on Feb. 15. … The teams will play in Philadelphia on Friday night, their next to last meeting of the season. … Flyers D Luke Schenn was scratched because of the flu.

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PHILADELPHIA (CBS) – A critical four points will be on the line over the next three days as the Flyers play a home-and-home set with their Atlantic Division rival the Devils.  It starts tonight in New Jersey.  The two teams will then skate in South Philadelphia on Friday.

The Flyers will be looking for a second straight win in this first game.  They snapped a three-game losing streak last time out when they beat Buffalo on Sunday night, 3-2.

The Flyers and Devils have matched-up twice this season, with New Jersey grabbing both decisions.  They won 3-0 back on January 22nd and then picked up a 5-3 victory on February 15th.  However, Martin Brodeur was strong in net in both games for New Jersey, and he is out with back issues.  The Devils have been a different team since he has been sidelined, losing seven of nine games.  Look for Johan Hedberg to get the start between the pipes tonight for New Jersey.  Ilya Bryzgalov will start for the Flyers in goal.

The Flyers, with 25 points, are tied with the Islanders for tenth (top eight make the playoffs) in the Eastern Conference.  New Jersey has 29 points and that is good for 7th.

KYW’s Matt Leon spoke with Sam Carchidi, Flyers beat writer for the Philadelphia Inquirer, about the match-up.

You can follow Matt on Twitter @mattleonkyw.

Ford will report to the Blue Jackets’ American Hockey League in Springfield, Mass.

Originally selected by Chicago in the eighth round, 256th overall, of the 2004 NHL draft, Ford has 72 goals and 69 assists in 256 career AHL games with Hartford, Lake Erie, Hershey and Adirondack.

The 6-foot-1, 207-pound right winger, a California native who played college hockey at Wisconsin, has four goals and nine assists in 35 AHL games this season.

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Ilya Bryzgalov stopped 18 shots for the Flyers (12-14-1), who are still on the outside of the Eastern Conference playoff race.

They are ahead of the Sabres, who are buried in last place in the Northeast Division and have lost four straight. Brian Flynn and Jochen Hecht scored for Buffalo.

With both teams struggling, tempers were short. Buffalo’s Mike Weber slugged it out with Wayne Simmonds, and Sabres center Steve Ott threw a punch at Kimmo Timonen.

Hecht scored early in the third to make it 3-2 and give the Sabres some life. The Sabres didn’t let up minutes later and had a shot trickle past Bryzgalov. Philadelphia’s Braydon Schenn made a split-second lunge and knocked away the puck just before it crossed the line for the tying goal.

The Flyers will take the stops however they come. They needed this one a day after a 3-0 loss at Boston. The Flyers held a closed-door team meeting after the game.

Philadelphia was coming off a 5-4 loss to Pittsburgh on Thursday, going scoreless in the final two periods and blowing a 4-1 lead. The scoring drought reached five periods on Saturday.

There was no danger of a scoring slump against the Sabres. Gagne scored his second goal since he was reacquired from Los Angeles on a slow trickler past Ryan Miller on the power play. Talbot scored a short-handed goal minutes later for a 2-0 lead.

Flynn punched in the rebound to make it 2-1 midway through the first.

Then they rumbled.

Simmonds took out Tyler Ennis and followed it with a fight against Weber. Simmonds connected with three straight rights to the side of the face and easily won that fight as the crowd roared in appreciation. Weber was hit with a misconduct.

Ott threw a punch at Timonen to end the first. Flyers forward Scott Hartnell went up to Ott, and the two jawed at each other as they left the ice to end the period.

Giroux made Buffalo pay when he scored only 17 seconds into the third for Philadelphia’s second power-play goal and a 3-1 lead.

The Flyers fumbled the puck at the blue line, and Hecht capitalized with a short-handed goal to make it 3-2.

Each team had more hits than goals from there. Buffalo forward Nathan Gerbe tried to rough up Giroux along the back boards with hits to the back and head. Luke Schenn stood up for Giroux and sent Gerbe into the boards.

NOTES: The Flyers will play three games over the next 13 days. … The Flyers have already played six sets of back-to-back games this season. … The Sabres are 3-4-1 since they fired coach Lindy Ruff. Only Florida has fewer points in the Eastern Conference.

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The first-period scoring outburst was more than enough offense for the Bruins in a 3-0 shutout over the slumping Philadelphia Flyers on Saturday.

Boston played one of its best defensive games of the season, limiting Philadelphia to 23 shots as Tuukka Rask picked up his 13th career shutout despite not seeing the puck during several long stretches as his teammates controlled play at the other end of the ice.

“We took their time and space away a lot of times and didn’t give them second chances,” said Chris Kelly, whose goal with 6:32 left in the first period put Boston up 2-0.

Tyler Seguin had just given the Bruins a 1-0 lead of the game when he scored on a power play with 8:07 left, his third goal in two games.

Kelly followed that with a wrist shot from the slot, then Daniel Paille finished the flurry by beating Ilya Bryzgalov on a breakaway with 5:08 still to go in the first. The goals came in a span of just 2:18 and the Bruins remained in command the rest of the way.

“I think we only had one shot in the first 10 minutes, but I didn’t think that we were playing poorly,” Kelly said. “The shots aren’t always there. We seemed to get rolling after that and I thought we played a pretty consistent game.”

Boston got goals from three different lines and the six assists came from six players.

Rask stopped the shots that came his way sporadically and got some help from Seguin, who cleared a loose puck after Rask misplayed it while charged out of the crease to avoid a breakaway.

“I think I saw pretty much every puck,” Rask said. “It’s never easy whenever you don’t see that much traffic. It’s kind of mentally tougher to stay sharp.”

The Bruins also managed to hang on to a 3-0 lead, the same cushion they had Tuesday at Washington before the Capitals rallied to win 4-3 in overtime.

There was no rallying for Philadelphia, which lost its third straight exactly one week after reaching .500 for the first time this season.

“After 1-0, we stopped competing,” coach Peter Laviolette said.

The Flyers held a closed-door team meeting after the game. Philadelphia was coming off a 5-4 loss to Pittsburgh on Thursday, going scoreless in the final two periods and blowing a 4-1 lead. The scoring drought reached five periods on Saturday.

“They scored a goal and we never recovered. We never responded to it,” Laviolette said. “We were looking for a response from last game and that wasn’t the response we were looking for.”

Bryzgalov stopped just three of the six shots he faced in the first period, but regained his composure and was the primary reason the game didn’t turn into a rout. Bryzgalov kept Philadelphia within reach with saves on some great scoring chances for the Bruins, who outshot the Flyers 28-23.

The Bruins scored on their first power play when Milan Lucic backhanded a pass across the crease to Seguin, who hit the open net and put Boston up 1-0 with 8:07 left in the first period. It was Seguin’s eighth goal of the season.

Kelly got free in the slot for another wrister with 6:32 left for his 99th career goal and it took less than a minute for the Bruins to strike again. Shawn Thornton forced a turnover at the blue line and set up Paille’s breakaway goal with 5:49 left in the first that put Boston up 3-0.

“Our guys stuck to the game plan,” coach Claude Julien said. “We looked more like the team that had those leads in the past. We had a little glitch there for a couple of games. We’re hoping to turn the page on that.”

Bryzgalov was pulled Thursday after allowing four goals against Pittsburgh.

Laviolette left Bryzgalov in this time despite his struggles in the first period. His teammates didn’t help him much Saturday with sloppy defense in their own end and the Bruins capitalized on it for their second and third goals.

Bryzgalov was sharper in the second period — and the Flyers needed him to be as Boston outshot Philadelphia13-7 in the period.

Notes: Rich Peverley had an assist on Boston’s second goal, giving him 200 career points. … Seguin has five goals and three assists in eight career games against Philadelphia. … The Flyers are 0-9-0 this season when trailing after the first. … The Bruins have outshot their opponents in all but six of 22 games this season. … Julien has 244 career wins as coach of the Bruins, one short of tying Milt Schmidt for second in team history.

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Pascal Dupuis, James Neal and Tyler Kennedy also scored goals for the Atlantic Division-leading Penguins, who won their third straight game.

Jakub Voracek had two power-play goals, Zac Rinaldo and Kimmo Timonen also scored for the Flyers, who blew a 4-1 lead after the first period.

Both starting goalies — Philadelphia’s Ilya Bryzgalov and Pittsburgh’s Marc-Andre Fleury — were pulled after allowing four goals.

Scott Hartnell had his tying goal disallowed near the midpoint of the third period because his stick was above the crossbar when he deflected Timonen’s shot into the net.

The Flyers fell to 11-13-1 and remain on the outside of the playoff race with 23 games remaining.

The visitor has won all three games this season in this intrastate rivalry between two teams that struggle to play much defense against each other.

Voracek had a hat trick in a wild 6-5 win at Pittsburgh on Feb. 20. The Flyers and Penguins combined for 45 goals through the first four games of last year’s first-round playoff series that Philadelphia won in six games.

A turnover by Timonen near Pittsburgh’s blue line led to a three-on-one break for the Penguins. Sidney Crosby fed Kunitz, who ripped one past a diving Brian Boucher to give the Penguins their first lead in the opening minute of the third period.

An unusual number of Penguins fans at the Wells Fargo Center roared in approval while the orange-clad Flyers fans fell silent.

Dupuis got Pittsburgh’s comeback started, scoring off a crisp behind-the-net pass from Crosby to cut it to 4-2.

Just 2:43 later, Neal scored his team-high 15th goal. Neal tried to center a pass from the side of the net to Evgeni Malkin in front, but the puck hit Bryzgalov’s blocker and went under him.

Then Kennedy ripped a slap shot just inside the left post to tie it at 4 with 4:13 left in the second. That ended Bryzgalov’s night. Boucher entered to the usual “Boosh” chants.

The Flyers scored three times in the last five minutes of the first period to take a 4-1 lead.

First, Rinaldo put the Flyers up 2-1 on his third goal of the season. Fleury kicked aside Nicklas Grossmann’s slap shot, but the rebound went to Rinaldo in front and he snapped a wrister into the net.

Fleury then gave Philadelphia a gift goal when Timonen’s floater from outside the left circle bounced off his chest and went in.

Seconds into a power play, Voracek got his 12th goal on a wrister from the point that hit defenseman Paul Martin’s skate and trickled between Fleury’s legs with only 8 seconds left in the period.

Fleury angrily flicked the puck out of the net and was replaced by Tomas Vokoun at the start of the second.

Voracek scored his team-high 11th goal to give the Flyers a 1-0 lead near the midpoint of the first period. Claude Giroux set it up with a crossing pass from the left circle to the right, where Voracek slipped a soft one-timer between Fleury’s legs.

As the Flyers celebrated, Hartnell got into with Neal, who was coming out of the penalty box. The Penguins ended up with a power play and Kunitz scored his 13th goal less than a minute later to tie it.

NOTES: Matt Read was back in Philadelphia’s lineup a month ahead of schedule after injuring his ribs in the first meeting against the Penguins. … Voracek has nine goals in the last 10 games. … Kunitz has a point in seven straight games, a career-high streak. … The road team is 18-5-1 going back to 2009. … The Penguins are 10-3-1 in their last 14 games at the Wells Fargo Center, but they’re 32-90-10 overall in Philadelphia. … The Flyers’ sellout streak is up to 93 games.

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“Basically, I’m just trying to get healthy,” Pronger told 94WIP’s Glen Macnow and Rob Ellis. “I don’t think there needs to be anything other than me trying to get healthy just to live a normal life, and then we’ll kind of take it from there. My goal and my purpose is just to try to get as healthy as I can get, try to get my vision back to where it can be, or should be, and kind of go from there.”

At a press conference on Thursday afternoon Pronger said he’s made some strides in his recovery, but still has a long way to go.

“I’ve made improvements, but I still have symptoms,” Pronger said. “My eyesight is … I keep having to get stronger and stronger glasses.”

Pronger said he’s not planning on retiring, but does not have any target date to return to the ice, if at all.

“Well, I can function at a lot higher rater, or higher level,” Pronger told Macnow and Ellis. “Before, I guess, there was probably a five or six month period where I just kind of sat around the house and didn’t do anything. Didn’t feel like doing anything, didn’t want to do anything, you kind of get a little depressed, you start getting fat, you start eating a bunch of junk. You start falling down and slippery slope.”

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) – It’s fair to say that Flyers fans dislike Sidney Crosby more than any other player in the NHL. The “Crosby Sucks” chants that echo through the Wells Fargo Center are deafening.

As it turns out, Penguins fans, maybe all of Pittsburgh, don’t like one of the Flyers very much either.

“I mean Hartnell, the hair, I mean everything. He taunts the fans,” Ron Cook told 94 WIP’s Morning Show on Thursday. Cook is the midday host on 93.7 The Fan in Pittsbugh, a sister station of SportsRadio WIP. “I mean, he loves it and they react to it. He’s by far [the most hated Flyer], I really thought about this earlier in the year. Is Ray Lewis more disliked in Pittsburgh than Hartnell? I think Hartnell is the most disliked guy in Pittsburgh, in all of sports, right now.”

“They absolutely hate him. But you know what? I love the guy because he gets it,” Cook said. “He gets it’s about entertainment, and he plays to the crowd perfectly in Pittsburgh and it’s so much fun to watch. I wish he played for the Penguins. I think he’s one of those guys that if he’s on your team, you absolutely love him. I would say he has passed [Alex] Ovechkin as the most disliked guy—because Ovechkin has become kind of irrelevant.”

New York is riding high on a three-game winning streak, but instead of being able to fully celebrate their good fortune and the improved play of their newest star, the Rangers are holding their breath as they wait for medical news regarding key defenseman Marc Staal.

Nash broke a third-period tie and added an insurance goal in the Rangers’ 4-2 victory over the PhiladelphiaFlyers on Tuesday night. Any feelings of euphoria were greatly lessened because of concern regarding Staal, who appeared to be struck in the right eye by a deflected puck 5:45 into the third.

“I just looked at it. It’s scary,” said subdued Rangers coach John Tortorella, who hadn’t gotten an update on Staal’s condition.

Madison Square Garden was rocking with delight following Nash’s goals that were scored about nine minutes apart and pushed the Rangers ahead of the Flyers in the standings, despite New York (11-8-2) playing three fewer games.

Nash, who played his first nine NHL seasons in relative obscurity in Columbus, has four goals in three games since returning from an injury that forced him to miss four.

All seven of his goals this season have been scored in the third period.

“That’s my job. That’s what I’m trying to do,” he said. “It’s fun for me to play in front of a sold-out building in a hockey city that truly loves the Rangers.”

Nash fired a shot that sneaked under the right arm of goalie Ilya Bryzgalov 2:50 into the third to give New York its second lead. He doubled the advantage to 4-2 with 8:18 left, fighting off a hook on his hands by defenseman Kimmo Timonen and making a shift from backhand to forehand to score.

It is the second time this season the Rangers have won three straight. They are eighth in the East, one point ahead of Philadelphia and one point behind seventh-place New Jersey.

“I just started smiling after he scored the second goal,” winning goalie Henrik Lundqvist said. “It just feels so good to have a player like that on the team that can be the difference every night.”

Ryan Callahan scored two first-period goals and assisted on Nash’s second, and Lundqvist made 23 saves for the Rangers, who played without Brad Richards. The star center sat out two nights after he was checked from behind into the boards by Buffalo’s Patrick Kaleta.

Staal went down when a shot by Timonen from the blue line clipped the stick of Flyers forward Jake Voracek and caromed up into his eye, causing a cut. Staal, who wasn’t wearing a visor, squirmed on the ice and held his face before skating off.

“You can feel that it took the life out of the bench a little bit and the whole crowd,” Callahan said. “It’s a scary moment.”

Wayne Simmonds and Voracek both scored power-play goals in the first period for Philadelphia, and Bryzgalov stopped 16 shots.

The Flyers (11-12-1) got to NHL .500 for the first time this season on Saturday, but are back below again with games against Pittsburgh and Boston looming this week.

“We look at the record, but we can’t be looking at it every time we’re .500 or down, or have that one goal to be .500,” Flyers captain Claude Giroux said. “This third period was good but not good enough. We made a couple of mistakes. It is just frustrating to see that we played a good game but can’t finish with the two points.

“We need to find a way to motivate ourselves whoever the other team is.”

The Rangers started quickly and nearly scored two minutes in. New York drew a holding penalty against Timonen at 1:09 and needed only 21 seconds to grab the lead.

Derek Stepan sent a pass left-to-right across the Philadelphia zone past defenseman Nicklas Grossmann over to Callahan, who settled the puck in the right circle and put it past Bryzgalov.

The Flyers made the most of their first advantage after New York forward Stu Bickel was sent off for elbowing at 6:50.

After Callahan couldn’t get the puck out of the Rangers’ end with a full-out lunge at the blue line, Voracek sent the puck across the zone to his left to Giroux, who quickly found Simmonds down low alone at the right post for an easy tip-in at 7:18 for his 10th goal.

Philadelphia struck again after Callahan was called for hooking at 16:53 and argued his case all the way to the penalty box.

Simmonds sent a pass from the goal line to the slot to Voracek, who kicked the puck onto his stick and let go a quick shot that Lundqvist blocked. The rebound came right back to Voracek, who found an opening for his 10th of the season with 2:53 left in the first.

Callahan got the Rangers even in the closing seconds of the period.

Ryan McDonagh forced a Philadelphia turnover in the neutral zone and sent a pass up to Callahan, who raced into the Flyers zone along the left-wing boards. As he darted toward the net, Philadelphia defenseman Luke Schenn sprawled on the ice in front of him. Callahan calmly skated around him, drove in on Bryzgalov and jammed a shot in from the crease with only 40.6 seconds to go.

Callahan unleashed an emphatic fist pump and a yell to celebrate his seventh goal.

“Anytime you let in a goal in the first minute of a game or the last minute of any period it gives the other team momentum,” Flyers forward Scott Hartnell said.

The teams combined for 14 shots in the first — eight by the Rangers — and scored four times. There were only a handful of good scoring chances in the second period when each team had six shots.

NOTES: Grossmann sustained an undisclosed lower-body injury in the first period and didn’t return. … Callahan has 13 two-goal games in the NHL. … Nash has four goals and two assists since returning. Nash also has a seven-game point streak. The Rangers are 10-2-1 when he has a point and 11-5-1 when he plays.

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In 31 games with the Flyers, the 23 year-old Wellwood has five goals and 10 assists.

Wellwood will be available for Tuesday night’s game against the Rangers.

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) – The Flyers have finally reached the elusive .500 mark (11-11-1), after beating the Senators 2-1 on Saturday afternoon, and jumping back into the playoff picture. The Flyers currently sit eigth in the Eastern Conference with 23 points, one point ahead of the also disappointing Rangers and two points behind the Devils. With only 25 games remaining in the lockout-shortened season, the Flyers embark on their biggest week of the season, beginning tonight in New York.

The most compelling figure on the Flyers team for the last two seasons has been controversial, quirky, and unorthodox goaltender Ilya Bryzgalov, who has had his share of ups and downs. This season, he’s 21st in the NHL in GAA (2.61) and tied for 27th in the NHL in save % (.907). However, Bryzgalov hasn’t received much help from his defense and is tied for first in the NHL in games played, with 21. Many have called Byrzgalov the Flyers’ top player in the first 23 games of the season, while others have criticized his behavior and inconsistent play.

Matt Leon previews the week’s games with Sarah Baicker of Comcast Sportsnet:

The Flyers will play three Eastern Conference rivals in five days, in the Rangers (10-8-2), Penguins (15-8-0), and Bruins (14-3-2). The Flyers will play the Rangers (Tuesday) and the Bruins (Saturday) on the road, where they have won only four of 12 games in 2013.

Tuesday, March 5th – 7:30pm | at New York Rangers

The Flyers have had two tough, grind-it-out, 2-1 hockey games against the Rangers this season, with each team winning one. In their first match-up this season on January 24th, Bryzgalov stopped 18 of 19 shots, en route to a 2-1 win. Only 5 days later in their second meeting, this one at Madison Square Garden, the Rangers got a 2-1 win of their own. Nevertheless, Bryzgalov had a superb game, stopping 26 out of 28 shots in the loss.

The Rangers have won nine of their last 10 against the Flyers dating back to last season, and five in a row at Madison Square Garden. Bryzgalov, with the Flyers, is 0-3 at Madison Square Garden and 1-4 overall against the Rangers.

Thursday, March 7th – 7:00pm | vs. Pittsburgh Penguins

Flyers vs. Penguins has quickly shaped up to be the unquestioned best rivalry in hockey, and one of the best rivalries in all of professional sports. This year, the Flyers lost 3-1 at home to open the season against the Penguins, but got revenge beating them 6-5 in Pittsburgh on February 20th. Ironically, Bryzgalov played well in the Flyers loss against the Penguins (24 saves on 26 shots), while struggling and allowing five goals in the Flyers win against the Penguins this season.

Saturday, March 9th – 1:00pm | at Boston Bruins

While the Flyers are finally hitting their stride, winning five of their last seven and getting to .500, the Bruins have been on cruise control all season long. The Bruins have 30 points (14-3-2), which is tied for second most in the Eastern Conference and fourth most in all of the NHL.

Bryzgalov struggled against the Bruins last season, allowing 16 goals in four games, in which the Flyers were 1-3, including two shootout loses.

Although injuries have hamstrung (no pun intended) the Flyers all season, this week gives the Flyers and Bryzgalov a crucial opportunity to prove to the fans, the media, and the rest of the NHL if they’re for real or for fake.

Andrew Porter is the Audio Roadshow Coordinator for SportsRadio WIP, editor and writer for The School Philly, and a contributing sports blogger for CBS Philly. You can follow him on Twitter @And_Porter.

He’s so good, that an NHL scout compared Nurse to Flyers defenseman Chris Pronger.

“He’s the kind of guy who is not going to make a lot of mistakes,” NHL Central Scouting’s Chris Edwards told NHL.com. “He’s steady and solid, and you can trust him out there.”

If Nurse’s last name seems familiar, it’s because it’s the same as Donovan McNabb’s wife Roxie’s maiden name. Roxie is Darnell’s aunt, and was a standout athlete herself – she was a star guard for the Syracuse Orange women’s basketball team in the mid-90′s.

Darnell Nurse says his uncle Donovan has been a big influence. “From a physical standpoint, being able to work out with guys who’ve been through the experiences, as well as being in a house with so many competitors, is great,” Nurse told NHL.com. “But the three biggest people, to be honest, are my parents [Richard and Cathy] and Uncle Donovan [McNabb].”

Nurse, who just turned 18, figures to be selected in June’s NHL Draft.

Lundin suffered a concussion.

The play happened Saturday midway through the first period of the Flyers’ 2-1 win. Zolnierczyk launched himself into Lundin as the Ottawa forward was cutting into the Flyers’ zone.

Zolnierczyk received a major penalty for charging and a game misconduct on the play. He will be fined just under $13,000.

(© Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

The win gave the Flyers a .500 record for the first time this season, at 11-11-1. Philadelphia has won five of its last seven games.

Marc Methot scored for the Senators, who lost in regulation for the first time since Feb. 16.

Goalie Ben Bishop had won his last four starts for Ottawa (12-7-3), posting 1.69 goals-against average during the stretch. But the Senators have had trouble scoring on the road and struggled to get quality chances against the Flyers.

The Flyers started slowly, trapped in their own zone but the Senators were unable to take advantage.

A hard hit on Senators defenseman Mike Lundin by winger Harry Zolnierczyk midway through the first period resulted in a five-minute major and game misconduct. Zolnierczyk appeared to leave his feet for the hit, which will automatically be reviewed by the league. Lundin did not return to the game.

After a scoreless first period, the Flyers made it 1-0 at 7:24 on Voracek’s team-leading ninth goal. He powered past the Senators defense to cut toward the net and beat Bishop.

Simmonds added his goal 4 minutes later, taking a pass from Brayden Schenn to beat Bishop and give the Flyers a 2-0 lead. Bishop stopped 39 of 41 shots.

Methot scored at 14:11.

Ottawa was careless in the third period, taking several penalties. Daniel Alfredsson received a five-minute major and game misconduct for crosschecking Rinaldo at 12:29 of the third period. A later penalty resulted in a 2-minute Flyers 5 on 3, but the Senators were able to keep it a one-goal game. The Flyers then killed off a late 6-on-4 power play for the Senators after they pulled Bishop to hold on for the win.

(© Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) – Sometimes a television show can be so good, it changes your worldview. The Americans has changed my worldview.

The Americans is a new show on the FX network, that is set in the 1980′s, and about Russian spies living in the United States. The spies, who are trained to look, speak, and act like people who were born and raised in America, look like people you see every day. The nice couple that lives on a street in the suburbs, with two kids, who bring brownies to the new folks that move into the neighborhood. The little old lady, sitting by herself in the coffee shop, enjoying a muffin. It could be anyone.

So now my life is full of possible spies. Admittedly however, my worldview is pretty limited in the first place. It consists of family, friends, people I pass on the street, and Philadelphia athletes.

Since you don’t know any of my friends or family (and the one member in my family you do know is way too ridiculous to be a spy), I decided to let you know some of the sports figures in our fair city who I think are most likely to be spies.

Nnamdi Asomugha

This one really couldn’t be more obvious. First of all, he’s not even good at football, and when he was good, he played on a team none of us ever saw. He’s very intelligent, and there’s always been something a little bit off about him. The nail in the coffin was the discovery of his solo-lunches in his car at the Novacare complex. Clearly he needs some secrecy to phone in his latest discoveries.

Kwame Brown

Please explain to me any reason that Kwame Brown is in the NBA, if it’s not to collect information. Go ahead, I’ll wait. It’s certainly not to play basketball. Brown is a spy, and has been for years. He’s a basketball player with small hands who has no discernible basketball skill. What better place to do it than the city that independence was born, with uber-patriot and uber-soft teammate Spencer Hawes. The biggest problem Brown has is that his bosses have so much electronic communication to wade through, as Doug Collins’ thousands of middle-of-the-night text messages are clogging the feed.

Charlie Manuel

A great spy can make it sound like he’s from the United States. An even greater spy can make himself sound like Charlie Manuel. Manuel’s done a brilliant job of convincing his through his way of speaking, and his questionable decision making, that there’s absolutely no way he could be spy material. While he’s misusing relievers, he’s stealing nuclear secrets. We never knew.

Ilya Bryzgalov

I know what you’re thinking. Why would the Russians use a spy who is very clearly Russian, and can’t manage to keep himself out of the headlines? Well that’s easy, he’s not a Russian spy. Ilya Bryzgalov is a United States double agent. I haven’t quite figured out what information he could be collecting, but I’m sure it’s something.

Wayne Simmonds gave Philadelphia a 2-0 lead less than four minutes later, and Gagne scored his first goal of the season in the second period, one day after being reacquired by the Flyers from the Los Angeles Kings.

Max Talbot stretched the advantage to 4-0 in the second, chasing goalie Braden Holtby to the bench just one day following his home shutout of Carolina. Talbot’s slap shot hit the camera inside the net and quickly ricocheted out.

Ilya Bryzgalov made 23 saves and was in line for a shutout until Joel Ward tipped in his own deflection with 2:09 left to cut the Capitals’ deficit to 4-1.

Gagne, who will turn 33 this week, was acquired Tuesday from the defending champion Kings for a conditional draft pick. He took a red-eye, cross-country flight and appeared in his first game after being a healthy scratch for the past five games with the Kings.

Gagne, who hadn’t scored since Nov. 17, 2011 — a span of 28 games. He missed the final 46 games of last season because of injury.

A highlight video of Gagne’s first stint with the Flyers was shown during the first period, officially welcoming the popular forward back to Philadelphia, where he spent his first 10 NHL seasons before being traded to Tampa Bay in 2010.

He seemed unaware of the video, at first, but then acknowledged the cheering crowd with a half-wave. Gagne received a louder ovation when he took a pass from Brayden Schenn feed and slammed a shot past Holtby for a 3-0 lead.

The Flyers have trailed 1-0 in 12 of their 20 games this season, but Giroux and Scott Hartnell combined to give them a quick strike on Wednesday. From his knees, Hartnell flipped the puck back to Giroux, who fired a rising shot past Holtby. It was the fourth time this season the Flyers scored in the first minute.

Hartnell, in his fifth game since returning from a broken left foot, added another assist on Simmonds’ power-play goal. As Simmonds spun away from the net, he managed a backhanded flip that eluded Holtby.

Philipp Grubauer then made his NHL debut in relief of Holtby, and blanked the Flyers the rest of the way. Grubauer was called up on Tuesday from the Hershey Bears of the American Hockey League. The Capitals (7-11-11) lost for the third time in eight games.

NOTES. Flyers D Erik Gustafsson left the game shortly after blocking a shot in the second period and didn’t return. The team said he has a lower-body injury. … Gagne’s goal was his 260th with the Flyers. . Holtby made his eighth consecutive start for the Capitals. He was supposed to rest on Wednesday, but got the start because regular backup Michal Neuvirth was sick. . Edmonton Oilers executives Kevin Lowe and Craig MacTavish watched the game from the press box.

(© Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) – The Flyers’ five-game home stand continues tonight as they welcome the Washington Capitals to town.

Philadelphia is 9-11-1 and coming off a 4-2 loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs on Monday night.  With 19 points, the Flyers sit in third place in the Atlantic Division, seven points behind front-running Pittsburgh.

The Capitals actually played last night, beating Carolina 3-0 in one of their better efforts of the season.   But even with that victory, the Capitals are mired in last place in the Southeast Division with 15 points.

This will be the second meeting between these two teams this season.  The Capitals won the first on their home ice, 3-2 was the final back on February 1st.

Forward Simon Gagne is expected to be in uniform tonight.  The veteran was reacquired in a trade with the Kings yesterday.

Ilya Bryzgalov will get the start in net for Philadelphia.

KYW’s Matt Leon spoke with Sam Carchidi, Flyers beat writer for the Philadelphia Inquirer, about the match-up.

You can follow Matt on Twitter @mattleonkyw.

Gagne was drafted 22nd overall by the Flyers in the 1998 NHL Draft. Gagne was traded to the Tampa Bay Lightning in 2010, and then signed with the Los Angeles Kings in 2011, where he won a Stanley Cup.

Ben Scrivens made 23 saves for Toronto, which survived a double-minor against leading scorer James van Riemsdyk in the third period. Van Riemsdyk, who was drafted with the second overall pick in the 2007 draft by the Flyers and played three seasons with them before being traded, was held scoreless in his return to Philadelphia.

Scott Hartnell, playing his second game since fracturing his foot Jan. 22, scored his first goal of the season for the Flyers, who had won three of their last four and are in the middle of a five-game homestand.

Jakub Voracek, who brought a five-game scoring streak into the game, assisted on Hartnell’s goal and then scored one of his own on the power play to cut Toronto’s lead to 3-2 late in the third period.

But the Maple Leafs got some big saves from Scrivens to hold on.

The Leafs took a 1-0 lead into the first intermission after Kessel outhustled Kimmo Timonen to a puck along the boards with 2:41 left and beat Flyers goalie Ilya Bryzgalov, who made 17 saves, to the far side. The tough-angle goal — Kessel’s fourth of the season — came off a smart pass from Tyler Bozak.

Toronto doubled its lead with just under 5 minutes remaining in the second period when Nikolai Kulemin was sprung free on a breakaway by Nazem Kadri and backhanded it past Bryzgalov for his second goal of the year.

Hartnell, who enjoyed a breakout season last year with a career-high 37 goals, got the Flyers on the board with 2 minutes left in the second period off an excellent crossing pass from Voracek.

Voracek’s goal came with 8:18 left in the game off an assist from Timonen. The 23-year-old winger, in his second year in Philly, now has five goals and nine assists in the past five games.

Toronto made it 3-1 with 12:08 left in the game on Grabovski’s sixth goal of the year. Seconds after the Maple Leafs power play ended, Clark MacArthur’s shot right in front of the net was saved but the rebound was kicked right to Grabovski, who backhanded it past Bryzgalov.

Notes: NHL legend Wayne Gretzky was in the house, watching from a suite at the Wells Fargo Center, along with former Flyers goaltender Bernie Parent. . During the game the Flyers announced they traded Mike Testwuide to Calgary for Mitch Wahl. Wahl is currently playing for AHL Abbotsford and will be assigned to Adirondack. . Monday’s game marked the second of three meetings between Philly and Toronto this year. The Leafs beat the Flyers 5-2 in Toronto on Feb. 11.

(© Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) – The Flyers, winners of three of their last four, will be on home ice tonight as they welcome the Toronto Maple Leafs to town.

Philadelphia is 9-10-1 on the season and coming off a 5-3 come from behind win over the Winnipeg Jets on Saturday.   Flyers have played pretty good hockey at the Center this season, going 5-2-1 in eight games thus far.

This will be the second match-up with the Maple Leafs this season for the Flyers.  The first didn’t go so well, as the Flyers lost 5-2, in Toronto, back on February 11th.

One of Toronto’s goals in that game was scored by former Flyers’ first-round pick James van Riemsdyk.  That is one of eleven goals the forward has logged this season, and that total has him two off the NHL lead.  The Flyers traded van Riemsdyk to the Maple Leafs for forward Luke Schenn prior to the season and this will be his first game back in Philadelphia in a Toronto uniform.

Toronto is 11-8 on the season heading into tonight.

KYW’s Matt Leon spoke with Dave Isaac, who covers the Flyers for the Courier Post, about tonight’s match-up.

You can follow Matt on Twitter @mattleonkyw.

Brayden Schenn scored two goals and Claude Giroux added one for the Flyers, who scored three on the power play. Evander Kane, Olli Jokinen and Alexander Burmistrov scored for the Jets, whose road-game winning streak ended at 2.

Flyers left wing Scott Hartnell, who had missed the last 16 games with a broken foot, was a last-minute addition to the team’s lineup. Not even his surprise return was enough for the Flyers to hit the ice with any energy. They went a stretch of 9:47 in the opening period without registering a shot on Ondrej Pavelec.

Jets left wing Evander Kane scored the first goal of the afternoon, the third game in a row in which the Flyers were scored on first. Kane swatted home the puck as he stood unguarded to left of Flyers goaltender Ilya Bryzgalov.

Schenn answered back, stuffing the puck past Pavelec with just under 5 minutes left in the first period.

Jets center Jokinen broke the 1-1 second-period tie, after stealing the puck from Schenn as he charged into the Flyers’ zone. Jokinen stopped only to spin around and lob the puck into the net.

Bryzgalov, who fought through fatigue, stopped 36 of 39 Jets shots.

Burmistrov’s tip-in goal gave the Jets a 3-1 advantage, which at first appeared to be the enough his team would need to leave Philadelphia with a win. But the Flyers continued to fight to overcome their slow start – making their power play, which had struggled in recent games – count.

Giroux scored next to cut down the Jets’ lead. During a long second-period Flyers 5 on 3, the Flyers’ captain whipped the puck through traffic from the point, besting Pavelec, who stopped 33 of the 37 shots he faced.

Schenn tied the game at 6:18 into the third period, scoring his second of the afternoon and third in four games. And it was Schenn, once again, who set up the play that resulted in Simmonds’ game winner at 8:47. Zac Rinaldo added an empty-net goal with a second left.

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PHILADELPHIA (CBS) – When the NHL and players union settled their labor dispute, a condensed schedule was the only way to make sure there was hockey this season. More back-to-backs, fewer off days would mean sloppier hockey.

The post lockout schedule has taken its toll on Ilya Bryzgalov.

“I don’t know like, I just wake up in the morning today and like think about what happened last night, and I realized watching the schedule, oh my God,” Bryzgalov told 94WIP’s Michael Barkann and Ike Reese.  “For 30 days—like 31 days we played 19 games. 19. It’s a lot. Usually during the normal season you play like a maximum amount of full month games, like 15. That’s a four game difference and 12 of them were played on the road. I feel like exhausted, and I’m pretty sure my team feels the same way because it’s a crazy schedule. Lots of travel, lots of games, lots of back-to-back games and sometimes it’s just tough to find the energy and emotions to play some games, even when you know it’s a very important game, but nothing is left inside you because you need some time to regroup.”

LISTEN: Mike and Ike interview Byrzgalov

Though on the ice has been a whirlwind for the Flyers, off the ice has been relatively quiet for Bryzgalov. After heavy fan criticism last year, Ilya Bryzgalov says he’s heard nothing but good things.

“They support you. They nice, they never say bad things to you,” he said. “I don’t know. I’ve never heard anything bad or something. They’ve always said, ‘OK, Bryzy, you know it was a great game’, or ‘It was a not very good game, it was a lousy game, you get them next time’, or ‘tough bounces’. It’s always supportive.”

Tomas Kopecky also scored for Florida, which was 0-2-3 since a 3-2 shootout victory in Philadelphia on Feb. 7. Scott Clemmensen, who backs up Jose Theodore, stopped 32 shots to earn his first win since April 7.

Luke Schenn and Jakub Voracek scored Philadelphia’s goals in the third period.

The Flyers came out flat one night after a wild 6-5 win at Pittsburgh. It didn’t help when they learned before the game that center Matt Read will miss six weeks because he tore rib cage muscles when hit by the Penguins’ Chris Kunitz. Read leads Philadelphia with seven goals and is a key contributor on the power-play and penalty-kill units.

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Philadelphia general manager Paul Holmgren made the announcement Thursday night before the Flyers faced Florida. Read was injured on a hit by Chris Kunitz in the first period of Philadelphia’s 6-5 win at Pittsburgh on Wednesday night.

Read leads the Flyers with seven goals, and his 13 points are third behind captain Claude Giroux and Brayden Schenn. He is the third Flyers player on the top line to get hurt this season, joining Scott Hartnell and Danny Briere. Hartnell could return within 10 days, and Briere is already back in the lineup.

(© Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

The Flyers and Penguins are one of professional sports best rivalries going right now. The fans don’t like each other, the players don’t like each other, and the coaches don’t like each other.

Is this the best rivalry in pro sports right now? Flyers fans say “yes.” Michael Barkann and Ike Reese asked that question of their audience on Audio Roadshow on Thursday. Here are the results:

Flyers vs. Penguins: 59%

Ravens vs. Steelers: 13%

Yankees vs. Red Sox: 26%

Lakers vs. Celtics: 2%

Voracek’s third goal came 33 seconds after Pittsburgh’s Brandon Sutter tied the game on a wraparound as the Penguins rallied from a pair of two-goal deficits in the third period.

Voracek’s first goal of the game came on the power play, giving the Flyers a 3-2 lead with 9.9 seconds left in the second period. His second, the 200th point of his NHL career, put Philadelphia ahead by two goals 18 seconds into the third period.

Wayne Simmonds had two goals and an assist and Nicklas Grossman also scored for the Flyers.

Goaltender Ilya Bryzgalov overcame a shaky start for his eighth victory.

Evgeni Malkin and James Neal scored power-play goals, while Sutter, Tyler Kennedy and Matt Niskanen also scored for the Penguins.

The Flyers capped a season-long six-game road trip with two victories. Philadelphia, which routed the New York Islanders 7-0 Monday, struggled early on the road trip, dropping three of its first four games before recovering with two wins.

Tomas Vokoun, making his first start since a home loss against New Jersey on Feb. 10, took the loss.

Philadelphia appeared to put the game away after Simmonds’ second goal of the game, which hit off Niskanen’s stick went into the net, to make it 5-3 at 7:36 of the third.

But the Penguins rallied on Neal’s power-play goal at 12:46 and Sutter’s game-tying goal with 2:03 remaining.

Niskanen gave the Penguins a 1-0 lead at 5:07 of the first, the 14th time in 17 games Pittsburgh scored the opening goal.

Defenseman Kris Letang’s shot deflected off a Philadelphia skate to Niskanen, who ripped a hard shot past Bryzgalov.

Flyers coach Peter Laviolette called a timeout after the goal in an attempt to spark his sluggish team, which had just two shots on goal to that point, but it worked in the Penguins’ favor.

Flyers forward Harry Zolnierczyk was whistled for boarding 13 seconds later, putting Pittsburgh’s No. 2-ranked power play on the ice.

Malkin nearly converted seven seconds into the advantage, as Bryzgalov gloved a shot against the post, but the play was ruled inconclusive after an extra look by officials.

No matter.

Malkin scored later on the power play at 7:15 of the first, slamming Paul Martin’s rebound off the end boards inside the post. It was the ninth straight game the Penguins scored a power-play goal.

The Flyers settled down, scoring twice in the span of a minute to tie the game.

Grossman got the first one, firing a loose puck across the line after a wild net-mouth scramble that had four Penguins piled in the crease, desperately trying to prevent a goal.

Letang tried his best to keep the puck out of the net, stopping the initial shot at the goal line, but it eventually popped out to Grossman, who scored the Flyers’ opening goal 11:49 of the first.

Simmonds scored a minute later, taking a Danny Briere pass and powering his way to the top of the crease where he slid a shot past Vokoun.

Then things got heated between the cross-state rivals and the penalty box quickly filled with three players apiece less than a minute after the tying goal.

Penguins defenseman Deryk Engelland went off for roughing, Flyers forward Brayden Schenn for cross-checking, and unsportsmanlike conduct penalties were also issued while Tanner Glass and Simmonds had a fight.

The teams played a clean second period, combining for just three penalties, but the last one, an elbowing call against the Penguins’ Craig Adams, resulted in Voracek’s go-ahead goal with 9.9 seconds left in the period.

The rebound from Simmonds’ attempt at the top of the crease came out to the faceoff dot where Voracek fired a wrist shot past a diving Vokoun, giving the Flyers a 3-2 lead.

Voracek scored his second of the game 18 seconds into the third period, taking advantage of a miscommunication between Vokoun and Martin behind the net. Braydon Coburn’s shot after the turnover bounced to Voracek, who made it a two-goal game.

Kennedy cut the deficit to one goal at 5:29, putting the rebound from Martin’s point shot behind Bryzgalov and Simmonds’ scored his second of the game at 7:36.

Martin finished with three assists.

NOTES: Flyers forward Matt Read left the game with an upper-body injury. … The rivals meet again March 7 in Philadelphia. … Both teams play next at home against Florida. The Flyers host the Panthers Thursday, while the Pittsburgh welcomes Florida the following night.

(© Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) – The Flyers will try to break even on their six-game road trip tonight as they wrap things up in Pittsburgh.

After hammering the Islanders on Monday in New York, 7-0, the Flyers are 2-3 on this trek.  The other win came in Winnipeg.

Overall on the season the Flyers are 7-9-1, good for 15 points and that has them sitting fourth in the Atlantic Division.  They are seven points behind the Penguins, who are tied with New Jersey for first place.

While the Penguins are 11-5, much of their damage has come on the road where they have won eight of ten games.  They are just 3-3 in six games at home.

This will be the second meeting of the season between these two teams.  The first came in the season opener back on January 19th at the Center, Pittsburgh winning 3-1.

KYW’s Matt Leon spoke with Sarah Baicker, who covers the Flyers for CSNPhilly.com, about tonight’s match-up.

You can follow Matt on Twitter @mattleonkyw.

Lists are according to Angelo Cataldi and the WIP Morning Show:

Football

1. Green Bay

2. Denver

3. Philadelphia

Baseball

1. Boston

2. St. Louis

3. Philadelphia

4. New York

Hockey (US Only, Toronto is ranked #1 overall)

1. Philadelphia

2. Pittsburgh

3. Boston

4. Detroit

Basketball

1. Los Angeles

27. Philadelphia

What do you think of Angelo’s list? Let us know in the comments.

Show your Phillies pride! Send us your fan photos!

Giroux scored two goals and added an assist, Read had a goal and two assists and Voracek had four assists. Ilya Bryzgalov was solid in making 19 saves for his first shutout of the season and 30th in the NHL.

Zac Rinaldo scored his first goal of the season, and third of his NHL career, when he took a perfect feed from Harry Zolnierczyk and scored into a vacated net to make it 5-0 at 3:31 of the third. Danny Briere closed by scoring twice in the third period — first on a power play with 9:33 left and they win 2:14 remaining.

Giroux got the Flyers going with a goal just 26 seconds into the game and then added another with 5:15 left in the second to push the lead to 4-0. In between, Read and Brayden Schenn scored for the Flyers, who had lost three of four on their six-game trip that ends Wednesday in Pittsburgh.

Evgeni Nabokov played much better than his statistics showed and finished with 18 saves for New York. He kept the Islanders in the game during the first period that was dominated by Philadelphia. He made several key saves to keep the deficit at 1-0, but things got out of control in the game-turning second period.

The Flyers connected just 15 seconds into the middle period when Read scored his seventh of the season, putting in a rebound of Giroux’s shot. Schenn scored a power-play goal at 7:57 — with another assist going to Voracek — and Giroux connected again with 5:15 left when he deftly pulled the puck from behind the net and stuffed it inside the left post.

Philadelphia blew the game open by scoring three times on just six second-period shots.

New York couldn’t sustain the momentum generated by wins over the rival New York Rangers and New Jersey Devils in its previous two games following a five-game losing streak. While the Flyers will soon be heading home, the Islanders will begin a three-game trip at Ottawa on Tuesday.

Giroux was the catalyst for the Flyers, who were in desperate need of a win. After Philadelphia was beaten 4-1 in Montreal on Saturday, Giroux called out his teammates for their lackluster play.

“There’s no compete,” the Flyers captain said. “We’re not winning battles. We’re just going through the motions.

“We should be winning more battles than this. It’s just frustrating to see. I know I have to be better, but a team is 20 guys and you need everybody to show up.”

Giroux hadn’t scored in seven games, and netted only one goal in 14 contests after posting a goal in each of Philadelphia’s first two games of the season.

He took matters into his own hands right after the opening faceoff. Read skipped the puck down low to Giroux, who got behind defenseman Andrew MacDonald and snapped a shot past Nabokov.

The Islanders had been riding a hot power-play unit that scored on seven of 12 chances the previous three games, but it failed them during a 5-on-3 advantage that lasted a full two minutes in the first and generated only one shot.

NOTES: New York’s John Tavares was chosen as the NHL’s first star of last week after scoring five goals and adding two assists in three games, including his fourth career hat trick Saturday against the Devils. … Islanders D Brian Strait injured his left ankle during the second period when he appeared to catch his skate in the ice without being hit and crashed into the boards in front of the New York bench. He was dragged onto the bench by teammates and didn’t return. He was to be reevaluated Tuesday. … Rinaldo hadn’t scored since March 15, 2012 — a span of 24 games — also against the Islanders.

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David Desharnais, Tomas Plekanec and Rene Bourque also scored for the Canadiens, who outshot the tired-looking Flyers 29-19.

Gallagher left four minutes into the third period after being hit into the boards by Luke Schenn and did not return. There was no immediate word on the injury.

Daniel Briere scored for Philadelphia, which has lost three of its last four games.

The Flyers were coming off a 5-3 loss to New Jersey on Friday night. They were outshot 12-2 in the opening period but goalie Brian Boucher, filling in for Ilya Bryzgalov, kept them in the game.

Gallagher got his fifth of the season at 8:53 after taking a feed from Max Pacioretty and putting a nifty move on Kimmo Timonen before scoring on a low shot.

Gallagher and Pacioretty combined again to feed Desharnais alone in front 1:15 into the second frame.

Defenseman P.K. Subban made a sprawling save after goalie Peter Budaj misplayed a puck behind his crease, but the shutout was broken moments later when Briere put a shot in off Andrei Markov’s leg at 13:56.

Budaj got his third start with Carey Price at home battling a virus, and picked up his first win.

Plekanec got his seventh of the season 4:32 into the third as he took his own rebound off defenseman Braydon Coburn and fired it past the sprawling Boucher.

Pacioretty also went for treatment after he appeared to bang an elbow on the goalpost on a drive to the net at 11:52 of the third.

Bourque was credited with an empty-net goal at 18:56.

NOTES: Goalie Robert Mayer was called up from AHL Hamilton to back up Budaj. … Montreal defenseman Alexei Emelin, hit on the face by a puck in the preseason, has traded in his face cage for a visor. … Ryan White, Yannick Weber and Tomas Kaberle were scratched for Montreal. The Flyers sat out Kurtis Foster, Herry Zolnierczyk and Tom Sestito.

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Travis Zajac, Alexei Ponikarovsky and Patrik Elias scored the Devils’ other goals with Ilya Kovalchuk getting the primary assist on each. Martin Brodeur made 25 saves and had an assist, while Steve Bernier iced the game with an empty-net goal.

Wayne Simmonds, Mike Knuble and Matt Read scored in a first-period onslaught for the Flyers, who are 2-7 on the road this season. Ilya Bryzgalov had 15 saves.

Clarkson’s team-high 10th goal came on a deflection of a point shot by Adam Larsson. Elias assisted on the last two goals.

The Devils scored on the first shot of the game, then watched the Flyers score three goals in a 2:36 span later in the first period to take a 3-1 lead. New Jersey scored two goals in the second period to tie the game at 3-all.

Kovalchuk had the primary assist on all three of the Devils goals, with the last one coming when he intercepted a pass by defenseman Kimmo Timonen deep in the Philadelphia zone and found Elias between the circle for a shot that Bryzgalov got a piece of but couldn’t stop.

Ponikarovsky, who was acquired from Winnipeg on Wednesday after Dainius Zubrus was put on the injured list, had cut the Flyers’ lead to 3-2 just 26 seconds into the second period with a shot from the left circle. Brodeur started the play with a long pass to Kovalchuk near the Philadelphia blue line. He found Ponikarovsky coming down the left side for an uncontested snap shot high into the net.

Simmonds, Knuble and Read had silenced all but the Devils fans in the building with their outburst midway through the opening period.

Simmonds got the red light turning, beating Brodeur in close on a power play at 9:27 after Brayden Schenn misfired on a shot from between the circles.

Knuble got his second of the season with a rising shot from between the circles that seemed to fool Brodeur after Stephen Gionta went down to block it. Ruslan Fedotenko set up the goal with a nice pass from the side boards.

Devils coach Peter DeBoer then called a timeout to settle his team down.

It didn’t work. Defenseman Mark Fayne had a clearing pass intercepted in the right circle by Claude Giroux and he found Read alone in the left circle for a shot that zipped past Brodeur at 12:03.

Zajac had given the Devils the lead 40 seconds after the opening faceoff. Kovalchuk picked up the puck near his own blue line, skated into the Flyers zone and found his center in the left circle for a quick shot that beat Bryzgalov. It was Zajac’s first goal since the team’s met here on Jan. 22.

NOTES: Giroux appeared in his 300th NHL game. … The Flyers and Devils will meet three more times this season. … The assist was Brodeur’s 41st of his career and first since February 2013 versus Pittsburgh. … Flyers LW Scott Hartnell, who broke his left foot in the first game against the Devils here on Jan. 22, skated Friday and is expected to be sidelined another week, general manager Paul Holmgren said. … Read has goals in three of the last five games and leads the Flyers with six goals.

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PHILADELPHIA (CBS) – The Flyers return to the ice tonight as they visit the New Jersey Devils.  This is the third game of a six-game road trip, and thus far the Flyers have split the first two games.

Flyers have had their share of injuries this season, and when forward Scott Hartnell went down, the Flyers brought back one of the more popular players in recent memory, Mike Knuble, to help fill the void.

Knuble spent four seasons with the Flyers from 2005-2009, scoring 114 goals during his stay.  He signed with Washington as a free agent prior to the 2009-10 season.  But he says it is nice to be back.

“To be back in town, it’s a pretty easy transition,” Knuble tells KYW Newsradio. “It’s like you never left sometimes.  There’s still some familiar faces, guys I’m playing with here, there’s five or six guys left over from when I was here.  And then all our staff is the same, so you walk in and it’s like there’s basically maybe some new paint on the walls and that’s about it.  Couple of pictures have moved around, but other than that it’s pretty much the same as when you left it.”

Knuble has played in 1,050 games during a 15-year career that now has carried him into his 40′s.

“It’s been really crazy,” Knuble says.  “I think my career has been one way from about age 23 to 30, I was a certain type of player.  Then I got real lucky in Boston one year, scored a bunch of goals (30 in 2002-03) and then my career from 31 to 40 has been a whole other direction.  It’s been a great ride, it’s fun, it’s the best job in the world.  I wish a lot of people could experience the stuff we get to experience every day.  Like I said, it’s the best job in the world, you don’t want to give it up.  Ultimately we’ll be ex-players a lot longer than we are current players, so you want to play as long as you can.”

In ten games since rejoining the Flyers, Knuble has tallied a goal and three assists.

Tonight, the Flyers will skate with a New Jersey team that leads the Atlantic Division with an 8-2-3 record.

“They lose their best player in free agency last year, and they’re still coming along great,” Knuble says.  “They lose Zach Parise to Minnesota in free agency and I think it would’ve been very easy for their players to kind of feel sorry for themselves and use that as a big excuse and have a mediocre start and all that.  But they’ve been awesome right out of the gate, they’ve been a very good team.  We’re a team that’s trying to climb up the ladder here, trying to claw back into the playoffs, I think we can do it, but ultimately you’ve got to learn to beat the teams like New Jersey, develop that confidence that you can try and beat them and so that’s going to be a great test for us.”

The Flyers lost their first meeting with the Devils, getting shut out in New Jersey, 3-0, back on January 22nd.

The Flyers and Devils will face-off at 7:00pm tonight.

You can follow Matt on Twitter @mattleonkyw

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) – Knock, knock. Who’s there? Not Mac Miller. I’m ashamed to have written that. I’m sorry.

The Flyers are no longer celebrating a victory with Mac Miller’s “Knock, Knock,” but with “Bring Out The Bottles,” by Redfoo, Daily News beat writer for the Flyers Frank Seravalli reported on Twitter.

Since when do players celebrate victories with songs that sound like they belong at Egypt, or any of the other 90′s era Delaware Avenue nightclub? Someone buy the Flyers a Guns N’ Roses album. Or Metallica Or 2Pac. Something, anything. They can do better than a “Party Rock Anthem” remake.

I wasn’t a huge “Knock, Knock” fan, but I’ll take it over this song.

The Flyers (6-7-1), coming off a 5-2 loss in Toronto, won on the road for the second time this season. Jakub Voracek had two assists.

Andrew Ladd scored both goals for the Jets (5-6-1), the last in the final seconds. Winnipeg was coming off a 1-0 win in Ottawa on Saturday.

Ilya Bryzgalov was solid in net for the Flyers, who were outshot 26-23.

Al Montoya recorded his first loss as a starter for the Jets. Ondrej Pavelec replaced Montoya in the third after what was reported as a lower-body injury for Montoya.

The Flyers took a 2-1 lead in the first, even though they were outshot 9-6 by the Jets.

Montoya didn’t have much of a chance when Schenn redirected Voracek’s pass right in front of the net on Philadelphia’s second shot of the game at 8:07.

Winnipeg tied it up at 14:12, when Blake Wheeler fed Ladd just in front of the Flyers net and he squeezed one past Bryzgalov’s short side.

A late cross-checking penalty to defenseman Zach Redmond was costly, with Timonen slamming the puck down a clear path between the faceoff circles that Montoya wasn’t fast enough to block.

There was no scoring in the second, although Winnipeg again outshot the Flyers 10-6 for the period. There was also a short scrap between Jets defenseman Mark Stuart and McGinn.

McGinn then redirected Vortacek’s pass into Winnipeg’s net at the 4:17 mark from just outside the crease.

Ladd scored his final goal at 19:13 after the Jets pulled their goaltender.

The Jets went 0 for 4 on the power play.

This was Winnipeg’s and Philadelphia’s first meeting this season.

It was also the first game defenseman Dustin Byfuglien has played since the Jets visited Montreal. He got a massive cheer when his name was announced in the starting lineup.

Notes: The Jets went into the game with the most productive defense in the NHL at 34 points, led by top-scorer Tobias Enstrom with 13 points.

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