The Philadelphia Flyers took on David Pastrnak and the Boston Bruins Saturday afternoon at Xfinity Mobile Arena in their final game of February. Dan Vladar got the start in net. Nicolas Deslauriers was inserted into the lineup with Denver Barkey becoming a healthy scratch. It took until the third period for goals to be scored, but Vladar put on an absolute clinic in net. He kept the Flyers in the game all afternoon, and the offense finally pulled together to secure the win. The orange and black improved to 27-21-11 on the season.
The Flyers got the game’s first power play just 2:08 into the first period as Nikita Zadorov was called for tripping. Bruins goaltender Jeremy Swayman made two huge saves on Travis Konecny and Bobby Brink. The Bruins also cleared the puck down the ice a few times.
Deslauriers and Tanner Jeannot dropped the gloves at the 8:33 mark of the first. Both players landed some big punches, but Jeannot looked to have won. It was a nice heavyweight matchup in a big game for both teams.
Mason Lohrei got called for holding at the 11:11 mark of the first period, which gave the Flyers their second power play. Mark Kastelic had a chance while shorthanded, but Vladar made the stop. Swayman only had to make one save on Konecny, and that’s it. There was too much passing by both power play units.
The Bruins went on their first power play at the 19:44 mark of the first as Sean Couturier was called for tripping. The Flyers did a great job of breaking up passes and clearing the puck down. Morgan Geekie missed a wide-open net as Vladar was still on the other side of the net. Cam York also blocked a shot before the first period ended.
Deslauriers got called for unsportsmanlike conduct at the 11:30 mark of the second period. This gave the Bruins their second power play. Vladar made some huge saves on Charlie McAvoy, and the Flyers did their job of clearing the puck down to waste time.
Cam York was called for tripping at the 15:36 mark of the second, which gave the Bruins their third power play. Vladar continued to stand his ground in net as he came up with four tough saves. Rasmus Ristolainen helped out by blocking a shot by Hampus Lindholm.
The Flyers took a 1-0 lead just 3:41 into the third period courtesy of Konecny. Christian Dvorak’s dump-in took a weird bounce off the boards, and he was able to re-collect it. From the side of the net, he found Konecny in front, and he put a wrist shot past the blocker of Swayman. Dvorak and Jamie Drysdale collected assists.
Drysdale gave the Flyers a 2-0 lead at the 11:55 mark of the third. He took a pass from Konecny and put a wrist shot just past the blocker of Swayman from the slot. Konecny and Dvorak picked up assists.
The Bruins got on the board at the 13:03 mark of the third period thanks to McAvoy. He deflected Lindholm’s shot from the point past the glove of Vladar. 2-1 Flyers. Lindholm and Pavel Zacha were given assists.
Swayman was pulled with 1:59 left in the third but had to return shortly after due to a hand pass. He’d be pulled again with 1:14 remaining in favor of the extra attacker with the Bruins down by one. It backfired, however, as Couturier scored an empty-netter with 53 seconds remaining. He took a nice pass from Noah Cates, who was at the wall, and put a wrist shot into the empty net from center ice. This gave the Flyers a 3-1 lead. Cates received the lone assist.
Flyers went zero for two on the power play and killed off all three of the Bruins’ man advantages.
Vladar saved 26 of 27 shots, giving him a .963 save percentage.
Goal Summary
1st Period:
No goals
2nd Period:
No goals
3rd Period:
Konecny (23) Assists: Dvorak (23), Drysdale (19)
Drysdale (6) Assists: Konecny (34), Dvorak (24)
McAvoy (5) Assists: Lindholm (16), Zacha (23)
Couturier (6) (Empty Net) Assists: Cates (18)
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Flyers next game is Monday, Mar. 2, in Toronto against the Maple Leafs.
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