B’s lose power on road
Can’t take advantage vs. Flyers
FLYERS 4 BRUINS 3
PHILADELPHIA — The Bruins had lost just three times in regulation when scoring the first goal. They scored the first two last night, but suffered loss No. 4 in the process. The Bruins popped in two goals in the first 9:12 and continued to dominate in the chances department, but the Flyers scored the next four to take a 4-3 victory.
It’s the Bruins first backto-back defeats since Dec. 23 and 27, after falling to Montreal on Monday night.
Philadelphia struggled to contain the Bruins early, but the visitors fell into the same mistakes, allowing the Flyers to break into their offensive zone with ease.
A power-play goal, just the fourth allowed in the Bruins last 37 penalty kill opportunities, buried them in the second. While the Bruins scored on the power play early on, it was there where they were failed the most. They drew three straight penalties between the end of the second and the third, including a five-minute chance, and didn’t take advantage.
Torey Krug connected with David Pastrnak for the sixth time this season 4:39 into the first for a power-play tally to put the Bruins ahead 1-0. Krug stretched a pass to the opposite wall where Pastrnak was waiting right under the faceoff dot and sent it into the empty net.
Peter Cehlarik took a boarding call 1:25 into his season debut, but his redemption arc wasn’t an extended one. He extended the Bruins lead to 2-0 with 10:48 left in the frame, lifting a shot past Carter Hart’s glove off a feed from Jake DeBrusk along the left wall.
The fast-and-loose defensive effort from the Flyers rubbed off on the Bruins later on in the period. After allowing a couple of quality chances, including an acrobatic pad save from Jaroslav Halak to turn one aside, Oskar Lindblom had room to cut the Bruins lead to 2-1 with 7:16 left.
Jakub Voracek wound up from on top of the right circle with 14:28 to go in the second. Sean Couturier, posted up behind Matt Grzelcyk, deflected it off the shaft of his stick to tie it 2-2.
Patrice Bergeron sat for a trip with 13:50 left in the second, and 37 seconds later, Couturier had his second goal. He left the puck inside the blue line for Wayne Simmonds, who slipped a pass through the Bruins defense for Couturier to tap it on at the top of the crease.
The Bruins went on a five-minute power play with 3:12 left in the second off a Jori Lehtora boarding of Ryan Donato. Lehtora slammed a defenseless Donato into the boards, sending the Bruins forward to the locker room for the rest of the frame with a bloodied face. He returned for the third period.
After failing to convert, the Bruins got another chance on the man advantage with a too-many-men call going against the Flyers with 16:21 left in the third. They managed to combine for five shots over the seven total minutes of power play time, and didn’t produce on a third crack at it with eight minutes left.
Couturier netted his hat trick with 4:07 to play, sealing Halak’s fourth straight game of allowing at least four goals.
Cehlarik made it a onegoal game with 1:06 left with an extra attacker on the ice, but the final goal from Couturier already sealed the Flyers win.
The Bruins outshot the Flyers 40-18, their sixth game over their last 10 with at least 40 shots.
The Bruins have a quick turnaround with a home game against St. Louis tonight.