Flyers Falter in 2-1 Loss to the Boston Bruins
By Collin Coyne
After the collapse against the Bruins Wednesday night, it certainly seemed like the Flyers came out looking hungry in the first period. Both teams traded chances in the opening minutes until Boston’s Brandon Carlo took a holding penalty, granting the Flyers their first of several man advantages.
While the powerplay lagged, Boston’s perfection line seemed dangerous quickly, and a Scott Laughton slash granted the Bruins a powerplay midway through the first. Despite a number of chances, goaltender Brian Elliott stood tall as the team weathered the storm, logging a rare kill against the white hot Bruins powerplay.
Tensions boiled over quickly, as Nicolas Aube-Kubel dropped the gloves with Connor Clifton. Aube-Kubel took an early punch, but was able to wrestle Clifton to the ground before being separated and ushered to the box. And both teams must have thought they were lonely, as both boxes quickly filled up.
First, Travis Konecny took an interference penalty, but as play wound down, Chris Wagner threw a gloved punch to the face of Travis Sanheim, resulting in a roughing call and some 4-on-4 hockey. Things didn’t remain that way long, as almost immediately Charlie McAvoy got called for a high stick, and shortly after Carlo would be called for a hooking.
With the boxes loaded, even the referee crew seemed confused, as it became clear no one knew who was supposed to exit the box as penalties began to expire, resulting in a brief stoppage while everyone got sorted out. Despite all the power play time, the first period would wind down to a close scoreless, with the Flyers managing to outshoot the Bruins 7 to 5.
The second period remained fairly standard for the majority, with almost all of the Bruins chances coming from their “Perfection” Line, registering a number of chances, but were unable to solve Elliott. After a questionable tripping call on Joel Farabee, the Flyers seemed to be on their heels, but a great outlet pass to hit Farabee as he exited the box, led to a penalty shot which Rask managed to fend off.
In the final seconds of the period, Wagner took another roughing penalty, granting the Flyers a power play to start the final frame. And finally, they broke through, with James van Riemsdyk scoring yet another deflection goal thanks to a great pass by Giroux and a hard shot by Gustafsson, putting the Flyers up one at the very beginning of the third period.
However things would not remain that way for long, as 12 minutes into the period a pile-up in front of the Flyers’ net led to a Marchand goal that evened the score. And not 30 seconds later Bruins’ Sean Kuraly ripped a laser off the post and in to give the Bruins a lead that they would not relinquish. Despite a late surge on a powerplay and with the goalie pulled, the Flyers were unable to get anything more past Rask, and fell yet again to the Boston Bruins.
The Flyers played a good game, but a lack of finish on the man advantage, and a really bad 30 second stretch was enough to give them their 4th loss to the Bruins this season. The Flyers get to face a fresh enemy in the Washington Capitals on Sunday in a matinee game in D.C.