Reeling Rangers, flustered Flyers vie for elusive win

To say the New York Rangers and Philadelphia Flyers are hungry for a win might be the understatement of the new year.

The Rangers and Flyers both put five-game losing streaks on the line Saturday afternoon when the teams face off in Philadelphia.

New York has lost eight of its last nine overall (1-6-2), suffering some ugly defeats in the process. In their last three games, the Rangers have absorbed a 10-2 loss to the Boston Bruins, squandered a two-goal lead in a 4-2 defeat to the Seattle Kraken and suffered an 8-4 setback to the Ottawa Senators.

"Listen, we've gone through a rash of emotions," Rangers coach Mike Sullivan said after the loss to Ottawa. "There's been tons of anger. We've run through the gamut of emotions here trying to right this thing and get it going in the right direction. We'll continue to try to solve it. There's no easy answers. We've got to work hard. We've got to work together. We've got to stick together. We've got to stay together, and we've got to compete together. And that's what we're going to do."

New York allowed four first-period goals by Ottawa, including one just 2:18 into the contest. Jonathan Quick was replaced by Spencer Martin after yielding six goals on 17 shots.

"They were more ready to play," New York captain J.T. Miller said.

Meanwhile, Philadelphia is going through a brutal stretch of its own. The team has given up 23 goals in its last four games and 25 during its five-game skid (0-4-1), while using three different goaltenders during that span.

Samuel Ersson allowed three goals on 14 shots in Thursday's 6-3 loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins. He was replaced by Aleksei Kolosov, who fared similarly, allowing three goals on 16 shots.

Starting goaltender Dan Vladar was injured earlier this week, although it's unclear how long he'll be sidelined.

"Adversity has hit our team," Philadelphia coach Rick Tocchet said. "And in your career, you're going to have adversity. I don't care who you are. It's how we deal with it."

The Flyers' special teams certainly are going through some adversity at the moment. Offensively, the team is 3-for-32 on the power play since Dec. 28. On the other end of the ice, Philadelphia's penalty-killing unit has given up 12 power-play goals in the past eight contests.

"The special teams, we all know, are killing us," Tocchet said. "The PK is leaking big time. ... So, 5-on-5 play is fine, you know? It just looks bad because our special teams is really bad. We've got to figure it out."

Bright spots for the Flyers on Thursday included a goal by Matvei Michkov, who had not scored since Dec. 22, and two assists by rookie Denver Barkey, who continues to be a positive presence in his first NHL season.

"It's a long season," Barkey said. "There's a lot of games. So, you're going to go through your ups and downs, your slumps, if you want to call it that. (The most important thing is) just sticking together as a team."

This is the second of four matchups between New York and Philadelphia this season. The Rangers won the first one, 5-4, on Dec. 20, as Artemi Panarin scored twice in regulation before adding the decisive tally in the shootout.