Postgame 5: 27 Costly Seconds

For the third time this season, an unsuccessful closeout opportunity for the Flyers against the Boston Bruins resulted in a loss. This one was a 2-1 final at the Wells Fargo Center on Friday night.

The game was a tight-checking affair through two scoreless periods, despite the first period being extensively played on special teams including 5:35 of Flyers power play time. Joel Farabee was denied on a penalty shot with 3:35 left in the second period.
James van Riemsdyk (power play, 6th) put the Flyers ahead in the opening half-minute of the third period. Goals spaced 27 seconds apart by Brad Marchand (7th) and Sean Kuraly (2nd) turned the Flyers' 1-0 lead into a 2-1 deficit.
Brian Elliott stopped 21 of 23 shots, suffering his first loss of the season. Tuuka Rask denied 23 of 24 Flyers shots to earn the win.
The Flyers went 1-for-5 on the power play and 2-for-2 on the penalty kill.
Phil Myers (upper body injury) was a late scratch in this game. Justin Braun moved up to Travis Sanheim's pairing. Robert Hägg re-entered the lineup, with Erik Gustafsson moving over from left defense to right.
TURNING POINT
Through the first 10:33 of the third period, the Flyers limited Boston to just three shots on goal and held a 1-0 lead. Then Boston scored on two of their next three shots to forge ahead. First, there was a pileup in the crease for a loose puck after a David Pastrnak shot. Marchand was credited with the goal at 12:01. A mere 27 seconds later, Kuraly scored on a shot from the left wing that looked stoppable for Elliott. A late Flyers power play fell short as did a 6-on-5 with Elliott pulled.
MELTZER'S TAKE
1) The first period was filled with penalties, including the first Flyers fight of the season (Nicolas Aube-Kubel vs. Connor Clifton), a lengthy Flyers 4-on-3 that continued into a 5-on-4 after Brandon Carlo took his second trip to the penalty box, and an undisciplined slashing penalty by Scott Laughton. Travis Konecny's hustle created the first Philly power play as Carlo was forced to grab him to avoid losing a puck raise and yielding a likely scoring chance. But all the power play time (5:35 in all) went for naught for the Flyers. On the brighter side for the Flyers, they did a good job of killing the Laughton penalty two nights after giving up three straight third-period/overtime goals to the Boston power play.
2) All in all, the first period was a tight-checking stanza. Philadelphia did a good job at sealing off the lanes, both at 5-on-5 and on the penalty kill. Offensively, the Flyers didn't get a lot of great looks but Rask made a tough save on a James van Riemsdyk tip on net. First period shots were 7-5 Flyers, attempts were 21-13 Flyers, hits were 8-7 Boston (but the period's biggest hit was a crunching hit by Hägg on countryman Anton Blidh). Faceoffs were 11-7 in Boston's favor.
3) The Bruins threw an early push at the Flyers in the second period, and Elliott had to make tough back-to-back saves on David Pastrnak (using Gostisbehere as a screen) and Brad Marchand. As the period moved along, it mostly settled into the same tight-checking. low-shot type of period. The Bruins turned over some pucks in their own end but the Flyers had trouble turning them into shots on Rask's net. It took the Flyers almost half the period to get their first shot on net.
4) The Flyers killed off a questionable tripping penalty called on Joel Farabee. As Farabee exited the box, he got the puck as was fouled from behind by Jakub Zboril at 16:25; Awarded a penalty shot, Farabee moved in on Rask but the goalie held his ground and made the save on a five-hole attempt. Shots on goal in the period were 8-4 Boston (13-11 Bruins overall), attempts were 20-10 Bruins). Through two periods, the Flyers blocked 13 shots while Boston blocked 10.
5) Chris Wagner took a needless roughing penalty on van Riemsdyk with 1.1 seconds left in the second period.The Flyers turned it into a goal 27 seconds into the third period as van Riemsdyk set up shop in front of the net and re-directed an Erik Gustafsson point shot past Rask to break the scoreless tie, Claude Giroux got the secondary assist.