On Friday night, the Bruins visited the Philadelphia Flyers to complete the two game series. Coming into tonight’s game, the Bruins had met with the Flyers three times within the last two weeks. Yet again, Philly came in looking to wreak vengeance on the B’s.
Throughout the first two periods, the action was rather dry. Tuukka Rask came up a couple times over the course of the first two frames. Late in the second period, Bruins defenseman Jakub Zboril hacked down Joel Farabee on the breakaway. He was awarded a Penalty Shot. Joel Farabee came in from the left on his first even penalty shot attempt, but slid a weak shot straight into the pads of Rask, right down the middle. It remained 0-0 going into Period 3.
Entering the third period, the Flyers found themselves on the power play. Just 27 seconds into the final period, James Van-Riemsdyk found the opening goal of the game. Claude Giroux dumped it off to Erik Gustafsson. Gustafsson attempted pushing a slapshot towards the net, and Van-Riemsdyk was able to nod it home skillfully with the shaft of his stick.
Later in the final frame, with the clock running down, the Bruins found their lifeline. With 7:59 left in the game, Brad Marchand finished off a goal mouth scramble to get the Bruins on level terms. Charlie McAvoy extended his point streak to 7 games on the equalizing goal. Pastrnak’s shot directed towards net picked up the primary assist.
With the game tied at one a piece, the Bruins found themselves on an odd man rush just seconds later. Anders Bjork slid it back to Sean Kuraly just inside the blue line, who was able to snipe it into the top right corner with a bit of help from the post. Two goals in 27 seconds, and the Bruins had the lead.
The Bruins would hold on to the lead until the finish, as the Flyers would attempt a late goal with an empty net, but would not score. The Bruins would end up victorious.
Final Thoughts:
The Bruins regulation victory over the Flyers marks their fourth win in as many games against Philadelphia. Boston has now picked up eight points in the matchups, while Philly has only gained one in the series, courtesy of a shootout loss.
Two games against Buffalo were postponed due to COVID-19 within the Sabers. That gives the Bruins 5 days of rest before the Bruins return to action next Wednesday night at Madison Square Garden to begin their series with the New York Rangers. Boston currently sits atop the East Division with eighteen points, with the Flyers in second on sixteen.