Rangers vs. Flyers recap: Philly erases early two-goal deficit to tie the series at 1

Only 8:22 into Game 2 against the Flyers, the Rangers had a quick two-goal lead, and a chance to take a 2-0 series edge with the series traveling to Philadelphia on Tuesday.

But a furious Flyers comeback and a strong performance in goal pushed Philadelphia past the Rangers 4-2.

While they conceded first in Game 1, the Rangers got on the scoreboard first on Sunday courtesy Martin St. Louis. The Rangers managed to win the puck in the neutral zone, and a passing play from Rick Nash to Derek Stepan ended with an extra feed to St. Louis who snapped it home for a 1-0 edge.

The Rangers doubled their lead on a power play goal later in the period. With the second unit out on the man advantage, Derick Brassard worked a cross-ice pass to Benoit Pouliot, who lifted a shot past Ray Emery for a 2-0 lead.

Staring down a 2-0 deficit , the Flyers managed to cut New York's lead in half with 5:46 to play in the first. A strong individual play by Jakub Voracek beginning at center ice took him past Ryan McDonagh, to the net, and around Henrik Lundqvist to make it a 2-1 game heading into the second period.

Despite outshooting the Flyers 17-9 in the game's middle period, the Rangers left the frame trailing by a goal. Philadelphia evened the score at two on an early power play goal after Anton Stralman was called for interference. The Flyers kept the puck moving around the Rangers zone for almost the entire two minutes, and the puck finally landed on the stick of Jason Akeson who beat a prone Lundqvist to knot the score.

Philadelphia would continue to press with the game tied, and found their first lead of the afternoon on a delayed penalty. An initial shot by Adam Hall was stopped, but Luke Schenn followed up on the play and banged home the rebound for a 3-2 Flyers lead.

The Flyers settled down in the third, and the Rangers could only muster seven shots in a comeback attempt in the game's final 20. The Rangers took a late too many men penalty to really quell a final push, and the Flyers evened the series at 1-1 with a 4-2 victory. Wayne Simmonds would add a late empty-netter for the Flyers to secure the victory.

Emery was a big difference for the Flyers, as a 17-save second period allowed the Flyers to take a lead they never relinquished. The Rangers struggled to deal with the Flyers forecheck as well as they did in Game 1, and were victimized by an aggressive group of Flyers forwards. McDonagh got beat badly on the first goal, while Stralman struggled at times in his own end when under duress.

Again, Emery was really much better today. After giving up two goals on the first four Rangers shots, Emery stopped 29 straight, some of which were really quality chances.

Nash again led all Rangers skaters in shots (6) and had a number of excellent chances to tie the game. His line with Stepan and St. Louis continued to generate chances, and did score the Rangers' first goal.

With the series now tied, Game 3 will be in Philadelphia Tuesday night at 8 pm.