Flyers enter crucial stretch vs. Rangers

The Philadelphia Flyers end the month of March with a critical three-game road trip, but first they will try to pick up two points at the expense of the visiting New York Rangers on Thursday.

Philadelphia (37-25-12) finds itself sitting fourth in the Metropolitan Division after playing sub-.500 hockey of late while the Columbus Blue Jackets have reeled off nine straight wins.

The Flyers had won two straight before Tuesday's 5-4 shootout loss to the Detroit Red Wings. The Flyers trailed 3-1 entering the third period before scoring twice to force overtime. Still, they left a valuable point behind in allowing Detroit to snap a 10-game losing streak (0-9-1) at their expense.

"Maybe we thought it was gonna be an easy game and didn't play the right way, didn't play hard," Sean Couturier told the Courier Post.

Philadelphia's Matt Read scored his first goal of the season and Shayne Gostisbehere tied it with a power-play goal at 9:40 to help the Flyers salvage a point.

Petr Mrazek, playing his first game in Detroit since being traded by the Red Wings to the Flyers on Feb. 19, allowed three goals on 19 shots. He was relieved by Alex Lyon (11 saves) midway through the second period. Lyon allowed the only goal in the shootout.

"We had to get playing. We had to get going," coach Dave Hakstol told the Courier Post. "We scratched and clawed our way out. That's a huge point that we did scratch and claw for, but it's also an important point we let slide by too easily in the first 40 minutes of the hockey game."

The Blue Jackets most recent win came at the expense of the Rangers, 5-3 on Tuesday night

Kevin Hayes, Mika Zibanejad and Chris Kreider scored and Henrik Lundqvist made 26 saves for the Rangers (32-33-8), who are playing out the string.

Kreider's goal pulled the Rangers within 4-3 with 1:52 left and New York pulled Lundqvist, but Columbus added an empty-netter.

The Rangers had won two in a row before losing their last two, one in overtime.

"It might not always be evident, but I think we are making strides," Kreider told NHL.com. "We are doing a lot better job of advancing pucks through the neutral zone and making the defense turn, making teams play defense in their own end."

Lundqvist's first start since March 10 nearly ended early after he was upended in a collision, but he remained in the game. He is 3-13-2 since Jan. 20 with a no-decision in 19 starts and one win in relief.

"It hurts a lot," Lundqvist told The Post after Tuesday's loss. "It's tough. The nights where you might not have a good game but still win, you can feel pretty good about helping the team. But this ... not winning ... you just have to battle through it."

Lundqvist (back/neck) and defenseman Marc Staal (illness) did not practice Wednesday.

Rookie Alexandar Georgiev is expected to start against the Flyers, whom he has never faced.

Mrazek is 1-1 with a 2.96 goals-against average and a .893 save percentage versus the Rangers.

The Rangers won the last meeting 5-1 on Jan. 16. The since-departed Rick Nash scored twice for New York and Lundqvist stopped 25 shots.