Rangers rally to beat Flyers in outdoor game

Mike Rupp scored twice and Hendrik Lundqvist saved a penalty shot with 19.6 seconds remaining to give the New York Rangers a 3-2 victory over Philadelphia in the NHL Winter Classic outdoor game on Monday. At the home ballpark of Major League Baseball's Philadelphia Phillies, a sellout crowd of 46,967 endured brisk winds, frigid temperatures and brief snow to watch the unique made-for-television NHL regular-season matchup. Rupp scored his second goal of the game and third of the season to pull New York even at 2-2 just 2:41 into the third period, flicking a tough-angled shot inside the near post to the right of Flyers goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky. Brad Richards gave the Rangers their first lead only 2:40 later, the Canadian slapping a rebound past Philadelphia's Russian netminder to put New York ahead by the final margin with 14:39 remaining. Lundqvist, the Rangers' Swedish goalie, made 33 saves, the biggest of them after the Flyers were awarded a penalty shot in the dying seconds after pulling Bobrovsky for an extra attacker. A sprawled Lundqvist blocked a rebound poke by the Flyers' Danny Briere with his right leg but the puck trickled through and toward the goal line before New York defenseman Ryan Callahan dove on the puck to prevent a goal. That gave the Flyers a penalty shot but Briere was denied by Lundqvist and the Rangers held off Philadelphia in the final seconds for the triumph. The matchup for the Eastern Conference lead took place on a regulation NHL rink behind the pitcher's mound and between the usual location of the bases. The Rangers won for the seventh time in eight games and improved to 24-9-4 with 52 points to stay atop the conference, the first time since 1996 they have topped the conference so late in the season. The Flyers fell to 22-10-4, having dropped five of their past seven games and all three meetings with the Rangers this season. After losing the 2010 Classic at Boston, Philadelphia also became the first two-time Classic loser. Lundqvist starred in the first period, stopping all 12 shots by the Flyers, including a pair of breakaways, the best of them by 39-year-old Czech star Jaromir Jagr between two New York defenders. Philadelphia's Brayden Schenn opened the scoring 12:26 into the second period, netting his first NHL goal on a rebound from point-blank range after Lundqvist blocked a shot from Flyers defenseman Matt Carle. The Flyers moved ahead 2-0 just 1:55 later when Claude Giroux, the NHL's No. 2 scorer, netted a backhand shot off a centering pass from Maxime Talbot, who was playing in his third Classic. It was Giroux's 18th goal of the season. New York responded only 30 seconds later when Rupp, an American, fired a wrist shot past the glove of a screened Bobrovsky to trim the Flyers' lead in half. Rangers defenseman Marc Staal made his season debut after missing 36 games due to a concussion. The 24-year-old Canadian's brother Jordan made his season debut for host Pittsburgh in last year's Classic after an injury. The game marked the fifth edition of the Classic, which debuted in 2008 at Buffalo, and the NHL's seventh outdoor regular-season game, counting Heritage Classics staged in Edmonton and Calgary, Canada.