David Pastrnak’s Hat-Trick Sinks Flyers on Lake Tahoe

After a 3-2 shootout loss Thursday night vs. the New York Rangers, Philadelphia Flyers hit the ice for fifth time outdoors, second against the Bruins, outdoors and the fifth matchup of the season tonight on Lake Tahoe to conclude the NHL Outdoor Weekend on Sunday for the first time on a golf course.

36 seconds in, Phil Myers attempted a shot onto the Bruins net-minder Tuukka Rask. However, it was blocked by Patrice Bergeron as he then made a stretch pass intended for Brad Marchand who found the loose puck. It was off to the races with David Pastrnak. Marchand found Pastrnak who banged home the games first goal off the one-timer, netting his 7th of the year past goaltender Carter Hart.

Sean Couturier would battle for the bouncing puck in the Flyers zone with Trent Frederic, Couturier would just throw the puck into the Bruins zone as Joel Farabee after the puck bounced onto his stick. Farabee wouldn’t miss, burying his 8th of the season. In his 7th outdoor career game at 31 years of age, JVR would register his 500th NHL point.

The Flyers would take their first, and only lead, of the game, after killing off the Bruins first power play.

After an attempted shot went wide by Brandon Carlo, Ivan Provorov shuffled the puck ahead as Couturier sprung out of the box. Boston’s defense had to quickly transition and the Flyers took advantage once more. Couturier was able to collect the pass and enter the Bruins zone. He dumped the puck to the trailing Kevin Hayes behind him. Hayes found JVR on the left face-off circle as pass the puck back to Couturier, who buried his 3rd of the year past the diving Bruins defenders. It’d be his and JVR’s 2nd point of the night fifteen minutes into the game.

However, it didn’t last long. Lesss than a minute later Boston kept the pressure on the Flyers like they’ve done for all their matchups this season. Charlie McAvoy came sprinting in the Flyers zone and dropped a pass to Pastrnak who then found Connor Clifton the another side of the blue line. Clifton and the rest of the Bruins had great puck-work, working in deep behind Hart’s cage. Clifton dropped the puck to Marchand and he didn’t miss finding the skater who started this whole flurry of action, McAvoy, who slap-shotted the puck past Hart for his 2nd of the season. Marchand, Couturier, and JVR all finished with two points after one period of play.

After scoring 36 seconds into the game, it was deja by again for the Flyers as Pastrnak scored 46 seconds into the game. Urho Vaakanainen picked the puck behind Rask’s net and found Nick Ritchie with a long stretch pass eerily similar to Farabee’s goal in the opening frame. Ritchie just dumped the puck to Pastrnak, who just simply did his magic.

Alain Vigneault’s 3-0 stat in outdoor games was in jeopardy after Boston took a two goal lead with 3:46 left in the middle frame. Erik Gustafsson tried to make a pass to Robert Hagg, but the pass was a bit too hard as he ended up slipping and falling while trying to attempt to leave the zone. The Bruins would take advantage.

Charlie Coyle would pick up the puck and make a little dashing spin move into the zone. He found Craig Smith, who then fed it back to Coyle for the Bruins fourth goal. Seconds later Trent Frederic would have a moment that Brayden Schenn did nine years ago by scoring his first in the NHL in an outdoor game.

The game was quickly slipping away from the Flyers, but the deal was sealed after a power-play goal by Nick Ritchie off a tip in after a zone entry by the Bruins power-play unit. Trailing John Moore was Craig Smith as he would fire one at Hart, making it a 6-2 game off the deflection. It’d be his 6th of the year.

Three goals in 99 seconds for the black and yellow put Carter Hart’s night to bed. Hart would make 17 saves on 23 shots. It’d be Brian Elliott’s game the rest of the way. Shorthanded truly was the name of the game in Lake Tahoe for the Flyers.

Philadelphia would be given life after a power-play goal with 7:08 in the hockey game, but it still wasn’t enough. JVR would score his 8th of the season. His 3rd on power-play tied him for 3rd in the NHL in PPG’s. The Flyers power-play goal was assisted by Kevin Hayes and Ivan Provorov. Hayes would finish the game with two points.

Pastrnak would go on to score his 3rd of the game and the Bruins 7th of the hockey game. His 1st and 3rd goals were one-timers. It was also Pasternak’s second hat-trick against the Flyers this season.

With the 6-3 loss to the Boston Bruins, the Flyers fall to 8-4-3 while the Bruins improve to 11-3-2. The Flyers are still winless in their season series against Boston with a record of 0-3-2.

Up next for the Philadelphia Flyers is a matchup against the New York Rangers on Thursday at the Wells Fargo Center. The game will be featured on NBCSN with a 7:00PM puck-drop. The Flyers are hoping for a healthy return of some the players still in COVID protocol.