NEW YORK _ Different location. Different result.
After losing two home games to the New York Rangers earlier this season, the Flyers outlasted the Blueshirts, 2-0, at Madison Square Garden on Wednesday night.
Steve Mason made 34 saves to register his first shutout of the season and Wayne Simmonds scored the go-ahead goal in the third period as the Flyers recorded a rare victory at the Garden, where they had lost 12 of their previous 13 regular-season games.
The victory, their second straight, put the Flyers back in the Eastern Conference's final wild-card spot.
With 13 minutes, 51 seconds left in the third, Simmonds scored on a rebound while the Flyers were on their first power-play of the night. It was the 20th goal of the season for the Flyers' lone representative in Sunday's All-Star Game in Los Angeles.
"Obviously, you think about it a little bit," said Simmonds before the game when his first All-Star appearance was mentioned. "... But we have two games left, and I still have work to do."
With 10:15 to go, Jake Voracek's shot deflected off the Rangers' Michael Grabner and past Henrik Lundqvist to make it 2-0.
Lundqvist, who took a 33-13-4 career record against the Flyers into the game, had little to do in the first 40 minutes as the Flyers managed just 16 shots and had little offensive-zone time.
Down the other end, Mason had to be at his best because the speedy Rangers came in waves.
Mason, looking like the goalie who played superbly during the team's 10-game winning streak, stopped all 27 shots he faced in the first two periods, including two point-blank attempts by Rick Nash in the second.
Mason also got a break when Mats Zuccarello's second-period shot beat him but kissed off the post. Zuccarello also put a shot off the post early in the third period.
Mason made 16 first-period saves, including two terrific stops in the first 8:34. First, he appeared to get a piece of Grabner's shot as he went in on a breakaway, deflecting it off the crossbar with 12:35 left in the opening stanza. A little over a minute later, he showed right-to-left quickness to deny Nash, his former teammate with Columbus, from the right circle.
With 1:10 left in the first, a Flyers' turnover led to another Grade-A chance by Grabner in front, but Mason turned him away.
Mason made 36 saves, including a game-saver on John Tavares in overtime, in Sunday's 3-2 win over the Islanders. It was his first victory since Dec. 21 and he carried confidence into Wednesday's matchup.
"The way the team played is how we want to play for a full 60 minutes," Mason said before Wednesday's opening faceoff. "It's something to build off of."
But the Rangers used their sped to control most of the first period. The Flyers had their best shift late in the period as Sean Couturier's line cycled the puck, leading to a Matt Read shot from the high slot that Lundqvist turned away.
The Flyers tightened their defense a bit in the second period, giving them a chance to steal a win with a solid final 20 minutes.
The Flyers haven't scored much lately, whether facing a top-notch goalie like Lundqvist or one of the many backups they have opposed in recent weeks.
In the first 32 games, they averaged 3.28 goals per contest, third-best in the NHL. In their next 16 games heading into Wednesday, they averaged just 1.81 goals per game.
The Flyers will host Toronto on Thursday, finishing their 13th set of games on back-to-back nights this season. They went 14-8-2 in their first 12 sets of consecutive games.
