Nice win for the Flyers tonight. They're now within two points of the No. 6 seed, which the Rangers are currently clinging to.

But, let me say this: The Rangers are bad. How they've won 24 games is beyond me.

This team has no offense beyond Marian Gaborik, and he spent so much time in the penalty box he left his team, well, punchless.

Aside from their all-world goalie Henrik Lundqvist, who must be the reason the Rangers are even in this playoff mix, the rest of the team is really sub par.

Aside from Gaborik (62 points) Vinny Prospal has 36 points and 27 of them are assists - mostly to Gaborik. No one else breaks the 30-point plateau.

Come on, even Flyers' rookie James van Riemsdyk has 30 points.

The defense has a couple of young, up-and-comers in Michael Del Zotto and Matt Gilroy, but they are very green, and I don't mean Mike.

Marc Staal is their best defenseman, and he's still growing up too.

Here's a not-so-bod prediction - the Islanders, not the Rangers, ar ehte New York playoff representative this season.

Still, well-played defensive and checking game by the Flyers tonight. I don't want to take away the way they've been playing lately.

Now 2-0 on the six game homestand, if they knock off Carolina Saturday, it'll set up a could-be classic against Pittsburgh Sunday.

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Here's some notes from the game:

* With the win, the Flyers improve their record to 25-21-3 and 53 points, including a 14-9-2 record at home.



* The win also gives the Flyers five straight wins at home… the last time the Flyers won five straight at home occurred from Dec. 9, 2008 – Jan. 10, 2009 when they won eight straight games at home.



* The Flyers recorded their second straight shutout over the Rangers, after posting a 6-0 victory on Dec. 30… They have now shut out the Rangers for a total of 155:14 of play.



* The last time the Flyers posted back-to-back shutouts over the Rangers was Oct. 20 (5-0 W) and Oct. 22, 1999 (2-0 W), John Vanbiesbrouck posted both shutouts for the Flyers.



* Ray Emery posted an assist on James van Riemsdyk’s goal in tonight’s game, becoming the first Flyers goaltender to record an assist in a game since Martin Biron had an assist vs. NY Rangers on April 12, 2009.



* Chris Pronger has a three-game point streak and has points in eight of his last nine games (11 pts - 2G,9A)… Rookie James van Riemsdyk has a three-game points streak and has at least a point in seven of his last nine games (10 pts - 5G,5A).



* The Flyers improved their record to 8-4-1 against Atlantic Division opponents.



* The Flyers have scored the first goal in 13 of their last 14 contests… They have also scored a goal in the first period in 12 of those contests and have allowed a goal in the first period in just 3 of the 14 games and have held their opponent scoreless in 30 of 49 games on the year.