"Every step and every win is a little bit of confidence that you can gather and use to your advantage," Flyers coach Peter Laviolette said. "Our mind-set going into the game [was] . . . thinking that you're going to win the game even before the game is played. You can gain some steam to that as a team."
James van Riemsdyk gave the Flyers a one-goal edge with 4:50 remaining in the first period after Chris Pronger sprung him on a breakaway. Van Riemsdyk, who said he "flubbed" on the original shot, was able to outmuscle Marc Staal and bat his rebound behind Rangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist.
But the hotly contested, chippy game took a strange turn when Rangers star Gaborik - who had just one previous bout on his career fight card - dropped the gloves with Flyers tough guy Dan Carcillo 5 minutes into the second period.
Gaborik was no match for Carcillo, who made quick work of him with a few swift rights. With 61 points, Gaborik is by far the Rangers' most important weapon. Carcillo said after the game that he was surprised to see Gaborik come after him - with no Rangers teammates in sight.
"I wasn't expecting him to drop his gloves when he did," Carcillo admitted. "I was pretty much licking my chops."
Always colorful Rangers coach John Tortorella responded by screaming across to Laviolette on the Flyers bench.
"There's no honor, there's no honor in that," Tortorella said after the game. "[Carcillo's] a brave guy, huh? He's a brave guy. It's pretty embarrassing."
Tortorella contended that Carcillo targeted Gaborik, the Rangers top scorer. The video replays instead showed Gaborik giving Carcillo a slight cross-check after a scrum in front of the net. Gaborik dropped the gloves first.
Laviolette said he didn't hear Tortorella yelling at him.
