NY Rangers @ Philadelphia 2-5 - The Cryers wanted to be more aggressive offensively heading into Game 6 of their Eastern Conference First Round series against the New York Rangers on Tuesday. Wayne Simmonds took that call to heart. Simmonds had a hat trick and goaltender Steve Mason made 34 saves to lead the Flyers past the Rangers 5-2 in Game 6 of their Eastern Conference First Round series. Claude Giroux had a goal and two assists and Erik Gustafsson scored for the Flyers. Philadelphia also killed off all five Rangers power plays; they've stopped the Rangers now on 20 straight advantages, dating to Game 2 of the series. Carl Hagelin and Mats Zuccarello scored third-period goals for the Rangers and goalie Henrik Lundqvist allowed four goals on 23 shots in two periods. Cam Talbot made his Stanley Cup Playoff debut in the third period in relief, stopping all five shots he faced. The best-of-7 series is tied 3-3 with Game 7 on Wednesday in New York (7 p.m. ET; NBCSN, RDS, TSN2, CSN-PH, MSG). Simmonds had a career-high 29 goals in the regular season, but had been limited to one in the first five games of this series. That changed in short order as he scored all three goals from a distance of about a stick blade's length from the goal. With the Flyers on the power play, Dan Girardi tried to clear the puck but Giroux intercepted the clearing attempt in the neutral zone and started a 3-on-2 rush with Simmonds and Scott Hartnell. The Flyers worked the puck around the offensive zone with Giroux pulling it out of the left corner and centering it to Hartnell. Lundqvist stopped his shot, but Simmonds grabbed the rebound and slid a shot off the skates of Rangers defenseman Ryan McDonagh, then banged the rebound past Lundqvist. It was the first time since Game 1 that the Flyers scored the game's first goal. It also was the Flyers' second power-play goal at home in eight chances in the series. Simmonds made it 2-0 by being in the right place at the right time when Brayden Schenn took the puck from Girardi in the New York zone. It rolled off his stick as he drove to the net but went right to Simmonds, who slammed it home 92 seconds into the second period. Gustafsson gave the Rangers a power play at 12:11, but jumped out of the penalty box to grab a long Braydon Coburn pass and beat Lundqvist on a breakaway at 14:17 to make it 3-0. Simmonds capped his hat trick with another power-play goal when he got to the net and tipped Jakub Voracek's shot past Lundqvist. It was the first playoff hat trick by a Flyers player since Giroux and Sean Couturier had hat tricks in Game 2 of the Flyers' 2012 first-round series against the Pittsburgh Penguins. Simmonds also is the first player to score a hat trick against Lundqvist in a playoff game. The last player with a postseason hat trick against the Rangers was John Madden of the New Jersey Devils against goalie Kevin Weekes in Game 2 of the 2006 Eastern Conference Quarterfinals. Up 4-0 after two periods the Flyers left it to Mason to preserve the win, and he was more than up to the challenge. After stopping all 13 shots he faced in the first and making a game-changing glove save on Benoit Pouliot during a New York power play with 6:23 left in the second, Mason was at his best in the third. His best series of saves came with 10:33 left when he aggressively challenged John Moore from left side and shouldered away a hard chance, then jumped over to the opposite post to deny Pouliot on the doorstep. He also flashed a quick glove to deny Hagelin on a shorthanded breakaway with 9:27 remaining. The Rangers were left to lament their missed chances, including a power play that saw them muster one shot. They won't have much time to dwell on it, with Game 7 in less than 24 hours. They have the game in their building, where they've beaten the Flyers nine of their past 10 visits. The Rangers also are 5-0 all-time at Madison Square Garden in Game 7s.
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