Philadelphia Flyers

The Philadelphia Flyers staved off elimination in dominant fashion in Tuesday's Game 6, defeating the New York Rangers 5-2 at Wells Fargo Center to force a final showdown in this Eastern Conference quarterfinal.

Although the hosts had just three power-play opportunities over the entire evening, they made sure to capitalize on the first two.

Wayne Simmonds drew first blood by scoring with a man advantage 7:08 into the first period, scored within the first two minutes following the first intermission and then capped off his hat trick with a beautiful redirection past Rangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist late in the second to give the Flyers a 4-0 lead.

Hats flew onto the ice as is customary, and ESPN Stats & Info noted how long it had been since a Flyer had pulled off such a feat in the postseason:

Before the game, Simmonds spoke about how important it was for his club to be fearless and implied that it had to be aggressive in order to keep its pursuit of Lord Stanley's Cup alive.

"We can't be scared out there, we've got to go out there to win," Simmonds told the Associated Press (h/t ESPN.com).

There was no lack of attack from Simmonds' end, as he set the tone, backed up his words and drove his team to a monumental victory.

That final goal by Simmonds came just over a minute after Philadelphia's Erik Gustafsson lit the lamp, putting the Rangers in an insurmountable hole. The Blueshirts waved the white flag in a sense when they pulled Lundqvist to start the third period.

However, the New York Daily News' Pat Leonard alluded to the grander stakes at play:

Credit should go to Lundqvist's counterpart Steve Mason, who made 34 saves on 36 shots. Mason stood tall for most of the evening against a star-studded Rangers roster headlined by hot veteran Martin St. Louis, who didn't register a point after putting up six in the first five games.

One monumental stop came on Benoit Pouliot, who had a shot from point-blank range that Mason snagged with his glove, denying New York a golden opportunity to cut its deficit to 2-1 late in the second:

That was the story of the night for the Rangers, who controlled possession rather well but were stoned by Mason time and again, converting none of their five power-play chances.

Anthony SanFilippo of PhiladelphiaFlyers.com alluded to the fact that New York kept testing Mason's glove and he repeatedly denied his adversaries:

Toward the end of the game, things got chippy and Mason started to leak when the win was well in hand.

After Carl Hagelin finally put one in for New York to restore some pride, Rangers coach Alain Vigneault opted to pull Cam Talbot to give his team a spark. That was a short-lived effort, as Philadelphia All-Star Claude Giroux potted an empty-netter at 15:49 in the third.

Mason conceded a goal in the final minute to Mats Zuccarello, after which a skirmish ensued and several players were sent to the locker room early.

None of it had any bearing on the fact that the Flyers owned the rink from start to finish.

Going by the pure trend of this series, Tuesday's result is not a surprising outcome. The Flyers have now won all the even-numbered games, while the Rangers have taken all the odd-numbered ones.

Looking forward to Game 7, Jeff Skversky of WPVI-TV in Philadelphia noted how successful the Flyers have been in those decisive contests as of late:

That doesn't mean much, though, because this is a new postseason and this rivalry with the Rangers is as heated as can be. Winning in Madison Square Garden is no small task, and it will be difficult for Philadelphia to play as well as it did for another 60 minutes to come away with a win in the Big Apple.

Although New York will face the pressure of having to bounce back from a flat effort in what could have been a close-out game on Tuesday, it was already gearing up for the grand finale by pulling Lundqvist early.

There were also encouraging signs down the stretch when the Rangers finally got through to Mason, which can be used as a launching point for a quick Wednesday turnaround.

The passion and enthusiasm these teams have played with should translate to an excellent Game 7 on Wednesday, where just about anything can happen.

Expect nothing short of a last-minute thriller where Mason will have to be at his best yet again to outplay Lundqvist and deliver a win for Philadelphia.

Claude Giroux is the captain of the Philadelphia Flyers. That means he is the leader of the team both on and off the ice. Yet thus far, Giroux has let his team down with his poor performance in the 2014 Stanley Cup playoffs. In fact, he has almost been invisible.

In three games against the New York Rangers, Giroux has yet to score a goal. In fact, he has only two shots on goal in the series with both of them coming in Game 3 in Philadelphia.

Giroux is the Flyers' most important offensive player. He finished third in the league in scoring with 86 points. During the regular season, Giroux was also the engine who drove the Flyers. When their captain scored a goal, Philadelphia was 21-2-1. When he failed to score, the Orange and Black were just 21-28-9.

The Rangers have made it a special point to neutralize Giroux. New York is hitting Giroux and making sure he does not have room to operate with the puck. So far, it's working.

Giroux finished second on the Flyers with 223 shots on goal during the regular season. That's an average of more than 2.7 shots per game.

Against the Rangers, he is averaging less than one shot per game and failed to register a shot on goal in two of the three games thus far in the series. So far, the man who makes the Flyers go has been stuck in neutral.

The Flyers are putting up a brave front, saying they are confident their captain will rally. "He's been in the league for 6 years," Jakub Voracek told Ed Barkowitz of the Philadelphia Daily News. "He's doing so many other things right. I'm sure he'll be fine."

The Flyers do have reasons for optimism. After all, Giroux opened the regular season with a 15-game scoring drought. He did find his game after that and helped lead the Flyers to the playoffs after a dreadful start to the season.

But the playoffs are different. There is much less room for error. Giroux's regular-season slump lasted 15 games. In the playoffs, just one more loss would put the Flyers on the brink of elimination.

Giroux needs to be leading his team to victory on the ice now and can't take any more time to fix what's wrong. He is Philadelphia's best player, and he needs to play like it for them to have a chance to win.

Game 4 of this series is vital for the Flyers. After a 4-1 loss in Game 3, Giroux made a guarantee. "We'll be ready for Game 4," he told Barkowitz. "We're going to tie up this series and go back to New York. We just have to stay confident."

Giroux can make all the guarantees he wants. But unless the Flyers captain backs up his words with better play on the ice, Philadelphia's stay in the playoffs may be a short one.

The 2014 Stanley Cup Playoffs aren't even a week old and already the postseason is littered with intriguing story lines.

One of the most interesting comes from the Eastern Conference, where the third-seeded Philadelphia Flyers have been without number one netminder Steve Mason for each of the first two games of their opening round series with the second-seeded New York Rangers. What's more, reports surfaced Monday afternoon that Mason, who was 33-18-7 with a 2.50 goals-against average and .917 save percentage during the regular season, would still not be ready for Game 3 Tuesday evening when the best-of-seven series shifts to Philadelphia.

With that, Ray Emery, who helped the Flyers earn a split in two games at Madison Square Garden, will be called upon again tomorrow when the rivalry resumes.

The 31-year-old goaltender is no stranger to the playoffs, having now recorded 38 postseason appearances in his decade-long stint in the NHL but Emery hasn't been a team's number one netminder during the season's most critical juncture since the Anaheim Ducks were toppled in the opening round back in 2011.

Still, the veteran has acquitted himself well in Mason's absence as Philadelphia has reclaimed home ice advantage heading into tomorrow's opener at the Wells Fargo Center.

Here's a deeper analysis of Emery's performance so far.

Game 1 - 4-1 Loss @ NY Rangers, Emery: 4 goals against, 32 saves on 36 shots

Game 1 Grade for Ray Emery: C-

As a whole, the Flyers were awful in the series opener. Despite landing the game's opening goal for the first time in nine trips to Madison Square Garden, Philly couldn't maintain its composure and allowed New York to pull away in the final frame.

Making his first playoff start in three years, Emery appeared to fight the puck early.

A Rick Nash wrist shot from the left circle less than two minutes in was swallowed up by the veteran goaltender, but a lack of confidence or uncertainty as to the puck's location forced Emery to take a concerning peek behind him. He struggled to catch pucks cleanly, while his rebound control produced far too many second chance opportunities.

The Rangers grabbed their opening goal of the series off a rebound (and missed defensive assignment) atop the goal crease while the Blue Shirts put Game 1 away with a rebound conversion at the left side of the cage by Carl Hagelin.

Sandwiched in-between were a pair of power play conversions for which it's hard to fault Emery.

The first was a puck that pinballed to the right circle and was promptly hammered home by Brad Richards, while the second was a result of precision passing before a back door tap in for Derek Stepan. Yes, Mason's superior post-to-post quickness would have put a little added pressure on the Rangers to convert both opportunities, but the reality is neither conversion was the fault of the netminder.

But despite four goals against, Emery still gave his team a chance to win Game 1.

The cagey veteran turned aside 13 of New York's 14 attempts in the opening period and helped author a 1-1 tie heading into the third period after 22 saves on 23 total shots. It wasn't Emery's fault the Flyers took 10 minutes in penalties in the final period and were out shot 13-1.

Game 2 - 4-2 Win @ NY Rangers, Emery: 2 goals against, 31 saves on 33 shots

Game 2 Grade for Ray Emery: A-

The series' second outing didn't start much better for the Orange and Black, or for Emery.

A neutral zone turnover less than five minutes into the contest quickly turned into a three-on-two for the Rangers, which culminated with a Martin St. Louis one-time scorcher from the right circle. Once again, New York had capitalized on Philadelphia's mistake and, once again, the Blue Shirts were able to expose the decreased post-to-post flexibility of Emery versus Mason.

The Rangers doubled their pleasure a little over four minutes later, when Benoit Pouliot scored from almost the identical location with a change up shot on the power play. New York was in the driver's seat and it appeared the Rangers were on their way to their 10th consecutive victory at home over their division rivals.

But the Flyers gathered themselves and netted four unanswered goals, while Emery blanked New York over the final 51 minutes and change en route to a Game 2 victory and an even series.

It certainly wasn't a walk-in-the-park 51-minute blanking for the veteran goaltender though.

After just seven saves on nine shots in the first, Emery orchestrated 17 denials in the middle stanza. He managed his rebounds, showed confidence by challenging shooters atop the goal crease and executed a quality lateral save at the right post against St. Louis less than a minute before the Flyers netted the eventual game-winner.

But Emery's best work came once Philadelphia had the lead.

Just over three minutes after Luke Schenn put the Flyers in front, Braydon Coburn's attempted outlet pass from behind his goal was intercepted by Rick Nash in the slot leading to a point blank opportunity for one of the game's true snipers. Not only did Emery turn aside Nash's attempt but he had the answer to John Moore's follow up at the right side of the net as well.

The momentum of Game 2—and possibly the entire series—could have shifted if the Rangers had converted that Philadelphia miscue. Instead, Razor preserved his perfect period and the Flyers advantage.

Emery wasn't tested as persistently in the third period but had the answer to all seven of New York's attempts in the final frame.

All told, the 31-year-old netminder registered 31 saves and a .939 save percentage before being named the game's first star. Not only did the victory snap Philly's nine-game losing streak at Madison Square Garden, but it was Emery's first postseason triumph since April 20, 2011.

The Philadelphia Flyers earned a split of the first two games of their playoff series against the New York Rangers, ending a nine-game losing streak at Madison Square Garden. One of the biggest reasons for their success was the play of backup goalie Ray Emery.

Emery was a huge reason for the Flyers' 4-2 comeback win in Game 2. The veteran netminder made 31 saves. The key was the second period when the Rangers took 17 shots on goal, and Emery stopped them all. Meanwhile, the Flyers scored twice in the middle stanza to take the lead for good. Then, Emery shut the door again in the third period as the Flyers held on for the victory.

Flyers analyst and former player Rick Tocchet raved about Emery during the team's postgame show on Sunday, as recounted by CSNPhilly.com:

"They're down 2-0 in Game 2, what does Ray Emery do? He comes in and locks it down. I gotta give him so much credit. For this guy to come in those kind of situations and be the leader of the team and the first star of the game, he won the Flyers the game."

With the experienced Emery playing so well, starting goalie Steve Mason feels no rush to get back into the lineup. In fact, Mason will not play in Game 3 Tuesday night in Philadelphia but hopes to be available for Game 4.

“Right now, the way Razor’s [Emery] playing, there’s no hurry,” Mason told CSNPhilly.com's Sarah Baicker. “He’s the reason we won yesterday, so I think even if I was ready there’s no reason to take him out right now.”

One advantage that Emery has over Mason is playoff experience. Mason has played in only four postseason games in his NHL career and has yet to earn a victory. Emery helped lead the Ottawa Senators to the Stanley Cup Final in 2007 and served as the backup for the Chicago Blackhawks last season when they won the Stanley Cup. Emery has won 21 playoff games over the course of his career, including Game 2 this past Sunday.

Having an experienced goalie playing well behind them has boosted the team's confidence. "The whole year, every time Ray's been in he's been great for us," Vinny Lecavalier explained to Sam Carchidi of The Philadelphia Inquirer. "We have a lot of confidence in him."

Emery's strong play has led some members of the media and fans to question whether or not Emery should continue to start even after Mason is healthy enough to play. Head coach Craig Berube wouldn't allow any speculation. "When Steve's ready, Steve's ready. Until then, there's nothing really to talk about," Berube told Carchidi.

For now, Emery is happy to be contributing to an important postseason victory. "It's the best time of the year," Emery told Carchidi. "It's been a while since I got to play in a playoff series."

If he keeps playing as well as he has, Emery may get the chance to lead his team to more playoff success.