Flyers Throttle Bruins in 6-3 Victory
The Flyers had their first real test in the young season challenging the Boston Bruins, one of this season’s cup favorites. Philadelphia aced the test, taking a decisive 6 -3 decision in a bumpy, but mostly solid effort on Wednesday night.
The first period saw the Flyers start slowly with the Bruins jumping out to an early possession advantage led by the “Perfection” line. The team had trouble dealing with the puck control efforts from Marchand, Bergeron, and Pastrnak who spent a lot of time deep in the zone. The Flyers were able to survive the pressure and turn an aggressive Bruins’ pinch into a two-on-one generated by Atkinson. Atkinson gained the zone and used Farabee as a decoy before writing a shot under the arm of Swayman. In years past the Flyers may have overpassed and killed the play, but Atkinson showed he is not shy about shooting.
The Flyers seemed to contain the Bruins despite giving up shots in volume. That changed when the Bruins’ fourth line was able to pin Aube-Kubel behind his own net, forcing the puck free. Karson Kuhlman was able to snarf up a deflected shot and push it past Jones, tying the game at one. This continues to be a concerning trend by Aube-Kubel when he has the puck. The Flyers are counting on the young forward to be better this season.
The Flyers were able to regain the lead late in the period courtesy of a Joel Farabee power-play goal. The goal was set up by Ryan Ellis who was able to deftly walk the blue line and unload a one-time shot that bounced through traffic onto Farabee’s waiting stick. He buried it with just under 10 seconds remaining. The period would end 2-1 with the Bruins holding a 20-10 shot attempt advantage at even strength.
The Flyers started the second period on a high note with Scott Laughton scoring his first of the season and extending the lead. New arrival Keith Yandle fired a puck into the zone that was destined for icing, but van Riemsdyk was able to beat the Bruins defense to the puck. Van Riemsdyk then fed Scott Laughton in the slot who slipped the puck between the keeper’s legs and into the net. The Flyers had seized control of the game, but a sloppy play would hand the momentum right back to the opposition.
Taylor Hall pulled the Bruins back within one, taking advantage of a bad change by Rasmus Ristolainen and a head start out of his defensive zone to go in alone on Martin Jones. Hall was able to roof a wrister over the arm of Jones. It was a sloppy play from Philadelphia, but the lead pass by Bruins’ defensemen McAvoy that found the cheating Hall was superb. This was more a demonstration of the Bruins’ quality than major Flyers’ failure.
The Flyers were able to control the Bruins’ bottom nine for most of the remainder of the period and looked dominant in doing so. This ended with an unforced icing by Travis Sanheim, which allowed the Bergeron line to take an offensive zone draw against the Flyers’ fourth line. They would lose the draw, and the Bruins buzzed around the net, generating several shots from in close. The puck found its way to Marchand, who had freed himself from Ristolainen, where he buried the puck to tie the score with under a minute to go in the period.
After conceding the tying goal late in the second period, the Flyers may have had reason to come out deflated to start the third. Joel Farabee and Cam Atkinson made sure that did not happen. Farabee was able to force a turnover at the redline and created a hurried two on one with a streaking Atkinson. Farabee threaded a pass to Atkinson in the slot. Atkinson was checked just as he got the puck, but was still able to direct the puck past a prone Swayman as he fell to give the Flyers the lead.
The Bruins started to press with their defense in an attempt to tie the game. This allowed the Flyers to catch the Bruins flat-footed on a rolling puck that Sean Couturier was able to scoop up. Couturier was able to gain the blue line and drop the puck back to Konecny. As Konecny closed to the high slot, Couturier crashed towards the net, setting a great screen. Konecny let a wrist shot go that beat the Bruins goalie high on the glove side extending the lead to two.
Couturier would finish the Bruins off with an empty net, powerplay goal, capping the scoring and give the Flyers the 6-3 victory.
In the young season’s first real test against a likely contender, the Flyers acquitted themselves well. Their forwards played well, especially the Farabee-Brassard-Atkinson line which was the only trio with a Corsi over 50%. The Flyers trailed the shot attempt metric in every period but did not appear to be on their heels. They were calm and collected and were content to allow the Bruins low danger chances. Martin Jones played a big role in this one as well. No matter what the advanced metrics may say, this was a strong performance by the team and they clearly deserved the win.
The Flyers will look to continue their win streak against the dangerous Florida Panthers on Saturday.