Flyers beat Bruins at home
Couturier’s goal midway through third lifts Philly
Sean Couturier scored near the midway point of the third period to break a tie and Philadelphia picked up a critical 3-2 victory over the Boston Bruins on Saturday.
Brian Elliott stopped 29 shots for Philadelphia, which moved within four points of Boston for the fourth and final playoff spot in the NHL’S East Division. The Bruins have two games in hand on the Flyers with Philadelphia having 16 games remaining. The two teams have completed their regularseason series.
Travis Konecny and former Union College standout Shayne Gostisbehere added goals for Philadelphia in the victory, which was only the second in eight contests against Boston this season.
Patrice Bergeron and Jack Debrusk scored for the Bruins. Jeremy Swayman stopped 20 shots in the Boston net.
Couturier broke a 2-2 tie just less than seven minutes into the third, converting off a Joel Farabee pass to the right of the net and capitalizing on a fallen Swayman in the Boston crease for his 12th goal of the year.
That was enough for Elliott and the beleaguered Flyers’ defensive corps, which clamped down on the Bruins power play. Boston entered Saturday’s game with a 10for-20 mark against the Flyers on the power play this season. Philadelphia held the Bruins scoreless in four tries on Saturday.
Boston opened the scoring early in the first period when Bergeron capitalized on a turnover behind the Philadelphia net and whipped a onetimer past Elliott. It was Bergeron’s 16th goal of the season and his eighth in eight games against the Flyers.
Former Union College standout Shayne Gostisbehere celebrates after scoring a goal past Boston Bruins goaltender Jeremy Swayman during the first period of their game on Saturday. Gostisbehere took a nifty pass from Travis Konecny for the Flyers’ second goal of the game. Philadelphia won just two of eight games against Boston this season and trails the Bruins by four points for the fourth and final playoff spot in the East Division.
The Flyers answered quickly when Konecny pounced on a deep rebound from a Robert Haag shot and put it into the empty left side of the net to tie it. Late in the first period, Konecny threaded a nifty pass to Gostisbehere, who tipped it past Swayman to give the Flyers a 2-1 lead.
Stars 4, Panthers 1: Rookie Jason Robertson scored twice for his first multigoal NHL game, and Jamie Benn scored his third power-play goal in the past six games to lead Dallas.
Lightning 3, Predators 0: Andrei Vasilevskiy made 36 saves to lead Tampa Bay to a victory over Nashville.
Blackhawks 4, Blue Jackets 3: Alex Debrincat had a goal and an assist, Kevin Lankinen stopped 23 shots and Chicago rallied from an early two-goal deficit to beat Columbus.
Maple Leafs 6 , Senators 5: Auston Matthews scored three times to increase his Nhlleading goals total to 31, Jack Campbell made 27 saves to set an NHL record for consecutive victories to start a season and Toronto beat Ottawa.
Red Wings 5, Hurricanes 4 (SO): Adam Erne scored in the seventh round of the shootout as Detroit beat Carolina.
Jets 5, Canadiens 0: Connor Hellebuyck made 19 saves for his second shutout of the season and Andrew Copp, Nikolaj Ehlers and Mathieu Perrault each had a goal and an assist for Winnipeg.
Blues 3, Wild 2: Ryan O’reilly scored with two seconds left in overtime to give St. Louis a victory over Minnesota. Mike Hoffman scored twice for the Blues, tying it with 41.6 seconds left in regulation after the Blues pulled goalie Ville Husso.
Notes: The Lightning acquired defenseman David Savard from the Blue Jackets in a threeteam trade that also involves the Red Wings. Tampa Bay gave up a 2021 first-round pick and a 2022 third-rounder to Columbus for Savard and sent a 2021 fourth-rounder to Detroit. The Blue Jackets retained half of Savard’s $4.25 million salary-cap hit and the Red Wings got involved to pick up a quarter of it to help the capstrapped Lightning . ... The Avalanche acquired goaltender Devan Dubynk from the Sharks for defenseman Greg Pateryn and a fifth-round pick in the 2021 draft . ... The Panthers acquired defenseman Brandon Montour from the Sabres for a third-round pick.