POSTGAME 5: Flyers Fall in Boston 4-1

The Philadelphia Flyers fell to the Boston Bruins, 4-1, at TD Garden on Thursday evening. The Flyers are now winless in their last five games (0-4-1) while Boston remained unbeaten on home ice (10-0-0) and extended their overall winning streak to five games.

Philly battled gamely but were ultimately overmatched. When a big play was needed, Boston made it. When a defensive stop or big save loomed large after a turnover, the Bruins made it. Moreover, the Flyers' penalty killing problems that sprung up this past weekend hurt them again in this game. Philly has given up 7 opposing power play goals on their last 11 penalty killing opportunities.
A fairly evenly played first period was scoreless. Tomas Nosek (2nd goal of the season) put Boston ahead, 1-0, at 11:58 of the second period; the game's only goal through 40 minutes.
In the third period, Boston pulled away. A Jake DeBrusk power play goal at 7:32 made it 2-0 Boston. An Owen Tippett power play tally very briefly narrowed the deficit to 2-1 but the Flyers gave up a backbreaking goal to David Krejci (3rd) just 16 seconds later Krejci added a power play goal at 16:21 to extend the Bruins lead to three goals..
Carter Hart deserved a better fate than to be hung out to dry but that's how it ultimately played out after he kept the team in the game for two periods. Hart made 28 saves on 32 shots. Linus Ullmark earned the win with 23 stops on 24 shots.
To make matters worse, the Flyers lost leading scorer Travis Konecny to an apparent right hand injury late in the second period. He did not return to the game.
Earlier in the day, the Flyers activated veteran checking forward Patrick Brown (preseason back surgery) from the injured reserve list. He entered the lineup and Kieffer Bellows was scratched.
The Flyers went 1-for-4 on the power play, The Bruins were 2-for-4.
FLYERS STARTING LINEUP
21 Scott Laughton - 13 Kevin Hayes - 11 Travis Konecny
74 Owen Tippett - 49 Noah Cates - 17 Zack MacEwen
86 Joel Farabee - 48 Morgan Frost - 71 Max Willman
44 Nicolas Deslauriers - 23 Lukas Sedlak - 38 Patrick Brown
9 Ivan Provorov - 77 Tony DeAngelo
6 Travis Sanheim - 61 Justin Braun
24 Nick Seeler - 55 Rasmus Ristolainen
79 Carter Hart
[32 Felix Sandström]
TURNING POINT
The Flyers had a good start to the game and hung tough even as Boston started to take over in the second period. Philly trailed by one goal heading into the third period but giving up two Boston power play goals and, every bit as damagingly, a killer goal immediately after getting back to within one was too much from which to recover.
MELTZER'S TAKE
1) At 3:48 of the first period, Cates had a breakaway off a MacEwen lead pass. Cates' five-hole shot attempt was stopped by Ullmark.
The Flyers had another prime chance at 4:56. The sequence started with a McAvoy giveaway. Frost unleashed a turnaround shot in the slot, but it was gloved down by Ullmark.
A Sanheim tripping penalty put the Bruins on the game's first power play at 5:39. The Flyers had a shorthanded 2-on-1 rush as. Konecny fed across to Laughton. Ullmark made the save. The rest of the power play saw Boston move the puck around effectively. Hart kept the game scoreless.
Shots for the two teams were 5-5 through the opening nine minutes. Scoring chances were 4-4.
Hart took an inadvertent stick to the neck from teammate DeAngelo. He was a little shaken up but seemed OK.
At 10:56, Konecny was denied point blank by Ullmark. Hayes had a follow-up attempt. The initial play was made by Sanheim.
Through 15 minutes, the Flyers had blocked five Boston shot attempts.
At 16:35, after a Laughton giveaway, Trent Frederic had an open look from the slot. Hart made a strong save and did not allow a rebound.
Willman blocked a shot and Frost was about to feed the puck ahead for a 2-on-1 but he was partially tripped up by Jake DeBrusk. The Flyers went on their first power play. With 42 seconds left in the period and two ticks left on the power play, the Flyers' Konecny came out onto the ice before his man went off. The Flyers were called for too many men on the ice.
Hart made a skate save, by the narrowest of margins, against Brad Marchand with 22.3 seconds left in the period. With 5.6 seconds left, Hart stoned Pastrnak on a one-timer. Boston took 1:19 of carryover power play time into the second period.
2) The Flyers played a very competitive first period against an elite opponent. First period shots on goal were 12-8 Bruins. Shot attempts were 30-17 Bruins (19-15 Boston at even strength). Scoring chances ended up 12-8 Boston but high-danger chances were equal at 6-6. Faceoffs were equal at 10-10.
3) With 26 seconds of carryover power play time remaining for Boston, Hart gloved a Marchand one-timer. The Bruins won the draw, and Hart had to step up again to stop a Pastrnak blast. With play back to full strength, the Flyers remained hemmed in. Hart had to come up with yet another tough save; this time a pad save on Bergeron from the doorstep.
Frost had a backhanded shot from the right circle and then set up a chance for Willman on the same shift. A few shifts later, WIllman came up with a big shot block and Hart made a clutch save on Taylor Hall to end a Boston threat after a turnover by DeAngelo prolonged a Boston possession.
At 11:25, the Bruins took a 1-0 lead. Lndholm carried through the neutral zone and sliced through the Flyers defense. Zacha picked up the puck. The Flyers scrambled around their end as Hart came out of his net. Philly momentarily seemed to dodge a bullet but Nosek was open in the near slot and scored after a feed from Nick Foligno. He scored from in close on Boston's 18th shot of the game. The assists went to Foligno and Zacha.
Boston kept up the pressure but couldn't add to the lead. At 15:56, Pastrnak took the puck toward the net but was denied. Philly had a good chance at the other end but DeAngelo missed the net.,
Konecny appeared to injure his right hand in a collision with Pastrnak in the Boston end. He appeared very frustrated as he headed up the tunnel.
The Flyers went to their second power play with 32.4 seconds left in the second period, Hall was whistled off for slashing. Hayes lost the ensuing faceoff and the Flyers never got organized. The Flyers took 1:28 of power play time into the third period.
4) Second period shots on goal were 10-4 Boston. Attempts were 21-8 Bruins. Scoring chances were 13-6 Bruins with a 5-1 high-danger edge for Boston. After faceoffs were dead even in the first period, Boston had an 11-9 edge in the middle frame. Brown led the Flyers with four credited hits through 40 minutes. Philly blocked 15 shots over the opening 40 minutes.
5) The Flyers were not able to get set up at all in the carryover power play time. Frost was stopped by an Ullmark pad save after retrieving a loose puck. Moments later, Frost created another power play for his team as went for a puck and was interfered with by Ullmark at 2:28.
At 5:54, Hayes was denied from the doorstep on a low blocker-side attempt. The Bruins went back to the power play at 6:32 when Willman was called for high sticking Clifton. The Bruins made the Flyers pay for it. Boston win the puck battles with Marchand keeping the puck alive. Finally, Pastrnak set up in his office in the circle and, rather than shooting, made a tape-to-tape pass to DeBrusk, who scored from near the right post at 7:32.
Good forechecking work by MacEwen and a drive to the net by the player sent the Flyers back to the power play as McAvoy was called for interference at 9:41.Hayes was tossed out of the ensuing left circle faceoff but Frost stepped in and won it cleanly. DeAngelo, moved the puck over to Hayes, who fed Tippett. At 9:48, Tippett wired home the puck from the right wing.
A mere 16 seconds later, though, Boston quickly restored their two-goal margin. Zacha hounded and outworked Provorov in a battle for a dumped-in puck and fed Krejci to make it 3-1. Lindholm got a secondary assist (his 14th helper of the season.
The Frost line generated good pressure but couldn't score as Ullmark used his mask to head a Frost shot to safety. The shift was short-circuited by Provorov tripping penalty at 14:45 that proved costly.
A failed PK clear by Sedlak created extended possession for Boston. Pastrnak fired a shot wide. The Flyers got a clear but the reprieve was only temporary as the Boston second PP unit burned them. Foligno made a great set up pass to Krejci for a textbook back-door goal. Hall got the secondary assist.
Third period shots were 11-10 Flyers. Attempts were 16-12 Flyers. Scoring chances were 8-8 (high danger chances were 6-4 Flyers). Final faceoff totals were 30-30. Frost went 8-for-12 to lead the Flyers at the dot. Farabee blocked four shots. Brown and Sedlak were credited with four hits apiece.