Bruins Pound Flyers on Record-Setting Night
By Scott Cole
The Boston Bruins scored on their very first shot of the game. The Philadelphia Flyers scored on their third shot after a flurry of shots and rebounds. For a while, it was a fairly tight game. But then the Big Yellow Machine began to roll. Boston took the Easter night contest 5-3.
In doing so, the Bruins set the NHL record for wins in a season with 63. They still have two games left in their season: Washington and Montreal. If they win those, they will have earned the most points by a team in a single season. The 1976-77 Montreal Canadiens currently hold that record with 132 points. Boston is just one point shy facing two non-playoff bound teams.
On a positive note, despite this being the Flyers’ seventh loss in a row, they did make the Bruins earn it. They put up 37 shots on net and gave Boston plenty of fits as the game went on. Unlike some of their recent losses, they just didn’t roll over for the visitors…although early on, it looked like that would be the case.
Charlie Coyle got the ball rolling for Boston pretty early on. He took a pass from recent call up Connor Carrick, who passed it to Coyle who fired off a slapshot past Felix Sandstrom just 47 seconds into the game. You kind of got a feeling in your gut that it was “going to be this kind of game.”
However, Wade Allison responded just 17 seconds later. The Flyers made a rare rush on Boston goaltender Jeremy Swayman. The puck didn’t go in the first two times, but Allison found it and slipped it by for the game tying goal.
Then Flyers killer David Pastrňák was activated. Boston Scott kills the Giants when playing for the Eagles. Rhys Hoskins took down the Braves. And so it is when Pastrňák plays against the Flyers. In his first career game in January of 2015 against Philly, he scored two goals and he hasn’t stopped. In the last two seasons, he has had one hat-trick against the Flyers. Last night, he had his third career hat-trick against Philly…and he very nearly had six.
Pastrňák rang two shots off the post during a power play. It wasn’t until the second period that he finally found the net. Then he scored again, but the goal was waived off due to goaltender interference. Didn’t matter. He found the back of the net again five minutes later.
In the meantime, Joel Farabee brought the Flyers to within one. He was the recipient of a pass from Owen Tippett who intercepted a pass. He quickly got it to Farabee who scored his 14th of the year.
Just 39 seconds into the third, Pastrňák scored again. The goal was his 60th of the season, a career high for him (highest previously was 48). The goal was also the 300th of his career; 24 of which have come against Philly.
Halfway into the third, Tippett would score his 24th of the year. And just before the Flyers had the empty net, the Bruins put it out of reach with a goal by Pavel Zacha. The Bruins fans, of which there were many, were chanting “We want the cup!” to close out the game.
The Flyers season has two games left. They will host two last place teams this week; and interestingly enough two teams they have struggled with. They will play the Columbus Blue Jackets in their final home game on Tuesday; a team they are 1-1-1 with this year. On Thursday, the season will conclude at Chicago against the Blackhawks; a team that destroyed them 4-1 back in January.
Also, Tony DeAngelo was a healthy scratch. This is the third straight game that DeAngelo has been scratched. As normal, John Tortorella wouldn’t get into any specifics into why DeAngelo hasn’t played. This isn’t the first time he’s been scratched this year. This might be something worth watching as time goes on.