Rangers miss out on revenge in hard-to-swallow shootout loss

David Quinn hoped his team would have a “nauseating feeling” Sunday playing the Flyers, given the way the Rangers had played against them last month while getting thoroughly dominated in defeat.

After 65-plus minutes of hockey, they might be nauseated, just for a different reason.

The Rangers got a point this time, but they were still left feeling sick about not being able to get two in a 3-2 shootout loss at the Garden.

Nolan Patrick scored the lone goal of the skills competition in the fourth round. In response, Kevin Hayes had a chance to extend it and had deked out Flyers goalie Michal Neuvirth, but the puck rolled off his stick and the Rangers (15-14-6) went into their three-day Christmas break stuck in a 3-6-4 skid.

“I really thought we would get the two points. We need it,” said goalie Henrik Lundqvist, who stopped 29-of-31 shots while making his first start in a week. “I looked this morning at the standings and obviously the separation is getting bigger. We got to start winning here if we want to be a part of that race. Take this break and regroup and realize how desperate we need to be coming back.”

The Rangers had given themselves plenty of chances to win late after Boo Nieves scored his first goal of the year to tie the game 2-2 at 5:23 of the third period. The Blueshirts were buzzing in the final minutes of regulation but could not find a way past Neuvirth, who made 32 saves.

“[We] definitely had looks to end the game, it just didn’t happen for us,” defenseman Marc Staal said. “That’s kind of the way it’s going right now.”

The Flyers (15-16-4) were the team responsible for halting the Rangers’ feel-good 9-1-1 stretch on the day after Thanksgiving, handing them a 4-0 loss. The Rangers have not been able to fully get back on their feet since then.

Four of the Rangers’ last six losses have been decided in overtime or a shootout, making the slump they find themselves in all the more frustrating.

“I think the biggest challenge now is not the physical aspect, it’s the mental with losing a lot of close games, overtime, shootout,” Lundqvist said. “It drains you a little bit, I’m not going to lie. It’s a little tough to feel like you’re doing the right things but it’s not paying off. You just got to accept so far it’s been bouncing a little tough, the wrong way I guess.

“But at the same time, you got to earn them. In the last few weeks here, it’s been hard to get the wins. So coming back, we need to really dig deep.”

Lundqvist kept the Rangers alive with a few big saves during a frantic overtime but didn’t get much help in the shootout as Quinn elected to have his team shoot second.

“We’re undefeated on the road going second, so we tried it the way the goalie wanted it,” Quinn said. “We just didn’t score. He did his part.”

The teams were tied after what Staal described as a “pretty blah” first 40 minutes by both teams.

Kevin Hayes stayed hot and extended his point streak to seven games by setting up Chris Kreider for the 1-0 lead midway through the first period. But Michael Raffl kept a two-on-one for himself and beat Lundqvist to tie it 1:46 into the second period.

The Flyers took the 2-1 lead eight seconds into a power play in the third period on Wayne Simmonds’ rebound goal, but Nieves was quick to deliver the Rangers’ response, forcing overtime.

“I wouldn’t say it’s frustration, but it’s definitely a game that slipped away,” Nieves said. “We battled hard and we battled back, but we just came up short.”