The Philadelphia Flyers lost to the Boston Bruins, 3-0, at Wells Fargo Center on Saturday afternoon. Five nights earlier, the Flyers beat the Bruins in Boston by a 2-0 count.
The Bruins took a 1-0 lead at 13:28 of the first period. From below the goal line, Matthew Poitras (1st goal of the season) banked a shot off goaltender Aleksei Kolosov into the net. Morgan Geekie and Hampus Lindholm earned the assists.
Boston built a 2-0 edge at 11:23 of the second period. With his momentum moving downhill, Justin Brazeau (3rd) fired off a shot into the net off a centering feed from Brad Marchand. Elias Lindholm earned the secondary assist.
Marchand (3rd) added a long-distance empty net goal at 16:21 of the third period. David Pastrnak drew the assist.
Samuel Ersson (nine saves on nine shots) left the game at 7:36 of the first period after sustaining a lower body injury. Earlier, he had an issue with his right skate blade. Kolosov stepped in to replace him. The Belarusian rookie turned back 20 of 22 shots.
Joonas Korpisalo earned the shutout victory. He stopped all 20 shots he faced.
The Flyers went 0-for-3 on the power play. They were 2-for-2 on the penalty kill.
FLYERS STARTING LINEUP
11 Travis Konecny - 14 Sean Couturier - 39 Matvei Michkov
74 Owen Tippett - 48 Morgan Frost - 71 Tyson Foerster
86 Joel Farabee - 21 Scott Laughton - 10 Bobby Brink
27 Noah Cates - 25 Ryan Poehling - 19 Garnet Hathaway
6 Travis Sanheim - 55 Rasmus Ristolainen
24 Nick Seeler - 9 Jamie Drysdale
36 Emil Andrae - 77 Erik Johnson
33 Samuel Ersson
[35 Aleksei Kolosov]
PP1: Drysdale, Tippett, Frost, Konecny, Michkov
PP2: Andrae, Foerster, Couturier, Farabee, Brink
TURNING POINT
Ersson was on a roll coming into Saturday's game and rattled off nine straight saves to keep the game scoreless in the first period. It was a major blow to the Flyers went Ersson had to depart at 7:36.
Kolosov did not play poorly in relief but Ersson had been playing outstanding hockey all week. The backup made some good saves but the starter's absence was felt.
POSTGAME 5
1) Right off the bat, at the 42-second mark of the first period, Travis Konecny was called for tripping behind the Boston net. The Bruins generated each of the game's first five shots on goal, including two shots from prime range. After a scoring chance for Couturier, the Flyers went on their first power play on a Charlie McAvoy roughing penalty. The Flyers generated only a routine shot from the flank by Tippett. Boston had nine of the first 11 shots by 7:36. The Flyers changed goalies at the stoppage, with Ersson heading up the tunnel.
2) The Flyers had a couple of "almost" plays as the first period moved along. Most notably, Frost and Tippett missed connections on a promising play on the rush that went awry. With 1:13 remaining, Cates was penalized for holding.
3) Boston opened the second period with 47 seconds of carryover 5-on-4 power play time. Kolosov made a good stop without a rebound as the Cates penalty expired. Around the five-minute mark, Tippett got off a quick shot on the rush from a Frost feed. At 6:13, Michkov was slashed to slow down a rush and Poitras went off. A late scoring chance for Brink was the sole highlight.
4) Tippett set up Frost at point blank range near the net at 16:17 of the second period. Korpisalo made a shoulder save to keep Boston ahead, 2-0. Second period shots were 7-7 (21-12 Bruins through two periods). The Flyers had a decent amount of puck possession in the middle frame but had 17 shot attempts either get blocked (11) or miss the net (six).
5) Andrae had several strong third period shifts on both sides of the puck. Brink deflected a Farabee shot on net with 10 minutes remaining in regulation. Korpisalo made the close-range save. Through 11 minutes, third period shots were 3-2 Bruins. There were multiple late-game scrums and penalties in the waning minutes.
