NEW YORK — The Flyers relinquished a third-period lead Thursday night and fell to the Rangers, 3-2, at Madison Square Garden.
Rick Tocchet’s club couldn’t nail down a 2-1 advantage.
“That’s inexcusable,” the Flyers’ head coach said. “Being up 2-1 and then you give them those goals we gave, it’s inexcusable.”
The Flyers gave up a game-tying power play goal with 6:08 minutes left in regulation. Denver Barkey was in the penalty box for slashing.
Tye Kartye scored New York’s game-winner with 4:39 minutes to go. Jamie Drysdale and Travis Sanheim were both checking up ice on the opposite side. The Flyers’ fourth line was out there. Sean Couturier got caught in the neutral zone, which left Kartye open through the middle.
“We’ve got to reload,” Tocchet said. “If you’re not going to score on your chances — we had breakaways and stuff — when you’re up 2-1, you’ve got to protect the interior of the ice. For whatever reason, when pressure hits us, we forget that.
“You’ve got to protect the interior of the ice. If something bad happens, you give them the outside stuff. It’s something that we’re going to have to continue to preach and go through this. Winning hockey is protect the middle of the ...