Flyers Road Trip Gets Off To Sloppy Start With Heartbreaking Loss To Rangers
Nov 5, 2026; New York, New York, USA; New York Rangers goaltender Dylan Garand (33) makes a save on Philadelphia Flyers center Trevor Zegras (46) during the first period at Madison Square Garden. Mandatory Credit: Dennis Schneidler-Imagn Images
The Flyers played hard, but their effort, which has been inconsistent all season, and mistakes gave the Rangers their first come-from-behind win of the season.
It’s been a disappointing start to the 2026-27 season for the Philadelphia Flyers, to say the least, as after going winless in their first nine games of the season, Philadelphia finds themself at the bottom of not just the Eastern Conference but the entire NHL.
Already behind in the standings, the Flyers now embark on one of their first big road trips of the season, and things didn’t get off to a good start Thursday evening in Manhattan as their rival New York Rangers handed Philadelphia a heartbreaking 3-2 loss.
The Rangers didn’t waste any time getting on the board when Oliver Bonk fanned on a clear, giving Marcus Pettersson a chance to hold the zone and slap shot on goal. Gabe Perreault managed to tip it past Joseph Woll into the net for the first goal of the game just four and a half minutes into action.
However, the second period was all Philadelphia as Tyson Foerster was able to stick-check the puck away and find Simon Benoit open, who banged it home for his first goal in over 100 NHL games to tie things up at one apiece. Just under two minutes later, Denver Barkey was able to make an incredibly skilled pass through the crease, which found the stick of Noel Acciari, who redirected the puck past Dylan Garand for a 2-1 Flyers lead.
In the third period, the Flyers were doing their best to play keepaway from New York, but a costly slashing penalty from Barkey gave the Rangers a late power play, and Pavel Dorofeyev made him pay.
Dorofeyev snagged a nice pass from Mika Zibanejad, and a misplay from Woll allowed the puck to score to tie the game at two. With momentum on the Rangers’ side, Adam Fox grabbed a turnover and found Tye Kartye one-on-one with Woll, and Kartye shunk a shot past the Flyers’ goalie, giving the Rangers a 3-2 lead late for victory.
Turnovers Continue To Cost The Flyers
On two occasions in the first period, the Flyers got stung by two big turnovers in the defensive zone. The first one was when Bonk tried to clear the defensive zone and whiffed a bit on the clear, which went right to Kartye, who cycled it back to Pettersson, and Woll had no chance to stop the shot.
The second time was later in the period when Jamie Drysdale missed on a pass, which Kartye tried to jam home right in front of the crease, but Woll managed to save this one thanks to a spectacular save.
This is something that needs to be cleaned up, and many of the goals that the Flyers have given up have been on either a bad pass that never makes it to the stick or on a turnover. After the Rangers tied the game, the Flyers started to press a little, and this season, when they press, they make mistakes.
In this game, that was on full display as with the last goal, Fox took advantage of a miscommunication which led to a Flyers turnover, and ended with the Rangers taking the lead. With this loss, they can look nowhere else but to the turnovers that led directly to two of the three goals in this game. We’re past the point in the season where we look for positives in losses, and the effort was there; the execution just wasn’t.
Winning Effort Battles Produces Results
Something that coach Rick Tocchet has been preaching all season in the media is that the Flyers need to up their effort level. However, once again, that wasn’t shown against New York.
This was obvious in the wall battles and how well they dug the pucks off the wall. These types of things don’t show up in the box score, but add up to uneven rushes and maintaining the offensive zone, which hasn’t been something that’s been consistent this season.
The Flyers who embodied this effort in the game were Jamie Drysdale and Simon Benoit. The defensemen played their best games on defense, with Benoit saving a goal on a wide-open net, and Drysdale breaking up several odd-man rushes while also pushing the puck back up the ice when it stagnated in the defensive zone.
Shot Accuracy Missing for Second Game
For the second straight game, the Flyers missed several open-net chances because the shot was not on target. There were several that were close to getting buried in the game, but in the waning moments of the game, Trevor Zegras had Garand out of position with the entire top of the net exposed, and the puck rode up his stick, and the shot went wide to the right.
While the defensive miscues will be the thing that will be remembered, the Flyers missed seven shots that would have been clear shot chances. These types of things happen with bad bounces, but the Flyers need to settle the puck and get the puck clean to get shots that put pressure on the goalies.
This loss is a letdown all around, but the Flyers need to work on their shot before going into Calgary, who are playing better but still have defensive holes that the Flyers can take advantage of.
Steve Hamilton
Steve may have been born in California, but don’t let that fool you. After dating a local woman and clashing with her and her family over sports for decades, he has an affinity for Philly sports. Balancing love for Philly and Bay Area sports teams may seem impossible; we can all agree that the Cowboys are the true evil.
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