The Philadelphia Flyers traveled to Boston, Massachusetts, to take on the Bruins in their second game of a back-to-back. Sam Ersson got the start in net. Nicolas Deslauriers was inserted into the lineup with Carl Grundstrom becoming a healthy scratch. Everything continued to go wrong for the Flyers. They’d suffer their third straight loss, and Ersson sustained a lower-body injury at the end of the second period. The orange and black failed to bear down and fell to 24-20-9 on the season.
The Bruins got the game’s first power play at the 4:54 mark of the first period as Denver Barkey was called for tripping. The Flyers did a great job of stealing pucks and clearing down the ice. Ersson only had to make one save on Fraser Minten.
Viktor Arvidsson gave the Bruins a 1-0 lead at the 9:49 mark of the first. Casey Mittelstadt, from below the goal line, found Arvidsson at the right circle, and he put a snapshot through the legs of Ersson. Mittelstadt and Minten tallied assists.
41 seconds later, Pavel Zacha made it 2-0 Bruins. He took a nice pass from Morgan Geekie and put a wrist shot over the glove of Ersson from the low slot. Geekie and Jonathan Aspirot picked up assists.
The Flyers got their first power play at the 18:31 mark of the first period as Hampus Lindholm got called for holding. Bruins goaltender Jeremy Swayman made a save on Owen Tippett, and the Bruins were able to clear the puck down a few times. Travis Konecny missed a backhanded flip try just a bit high as well.
Minten made the score 3-0 Bruins at the 2:27 mark of the second period. He took a backwards pass from Mittelstadt and put a wrist shot through the legs of Ersson. A Flyers turnover allowed this to happen. Mittelstadt received the lone assist.
Konecny got the Flyers on the board at the 3:16 mark of the second. Nikita Grebenkin made a great pass to enter the offensive zone. Mark Kastelic turned the puck over to Konecny, who put a snapshot past Swayman from the slot. Pressure from Christian Dvroak caused the turnover. Dvorak picked up the lone assist. 3-1 Bruins.
The Flyers went on their second power play at the 4:10 mark of the second period as Mason Lohrei was called for tripping. Swayman made a save on Trevor Zegras, and that’s about it. Bobby Brink missed on a shot wide, and the Bruins did their job of clearing the puck.
The Bruins took a 4-1 lead at the 16:12 mark of the second courtesy of Mittelstadt. Ersson made the initial save on Andrew Peeke but allowed a rebound. Mittelstadt got to the rebound and put a backhander over the glove of Ersson as he was going down. Assists went to Peeke and Minten.
The scoring parade continued for the Bruins as Tanner Jeannot made it 5-1 in favor of the Bruins at the 18:40 mark of the second period. He redirected Peeke’s shot from the blue line past Ersson. Ersson was heavily screened in front. Peeke and Sean Kuraly tallied assists.
Grebenkin got a goal back for the Flyers at the 19:05 mark of the second. Konecny went on a breakaway, and Swayman made two saves on him. Grebenkin got to the rebound that Swayman allowed on the second Konecny shot and put a wrist shot past Swayman. 5-2 Bruins. Konecny received the only assist.
Dan Vladar replaced Ersson in the net and played the entire third period. Ersson was seen holding his left side as the second period ended.
The game went to four-on-four at the 7:17 mark of the third period as Garnet Hathaway and Kastelic were called for roughing. Nothing much happened here. Rasmus Ristolainen made a nice pass to Konecny to send him in on net, but Swayman made the blocker save.
The Flyers pulled Vladar with 3:40 left in the third in favor of the extra attacker with the team down by three. It backfired, however, as Marat Khusnutdinov scored an empty-netter at the 16:30 mark. Charlie McAvoy’s shot attempt went off a Flyer and straight to Khusnutdinov. Khusnutdinov then put a wrist shot into the empty net. McAvoy and Aspirot picked up assists.
Peeke got called for tripping at the 17:53 mark of the third period, which gave the Flyers their third power play. They capitalized on this opportunity thanks to Matvei Michkov. Swayman made the initial save on Tippett but allowed a rebound. Barkey got to the rebound, made a pass to Michkov through the blue paint, and Michkov put a wrist shot into the wide-open net. This made the score 6-3, Bruins. Barkey and Tippett were given assists.
Flyers went one for three on the power play and killed off the only Bruins man advantage.
Ersson saved 15 of 20 shots, giving him a .750 save percentage. Dan Vladar made 6 saves on 6 shots in replacement.
Goal Summary
1st Period:
Arvidsson (13) Assists: Mittelstadt (15), Minten (14)
Zacha (15) Assists: Geekie (20), Aspirot (3)
2nd Period:
Minten (14) Assists: Mittelstadt (16)
Konecny (21) Assists: Dvorak (22)
Mittelstadt (11) Assists: Peeke (6), Minten (15)
Jeannot (6) Assists: Peeke (7), Kuraly (12)
Grebenkin (4) Assists: Konecny (29)
3rd Period:
Khusnutdinov (12) (Empty Net) Assists: McAvoy (32), Aspirot (4)
Michkov (13) (Power Play) Assists: Barkey (7), Tippett (16)
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