Giroux, Flyers gain in Metropolitan with OT win against Bruins

PHILADELPHIA --Claude Giroux scored his second goal with 1:21 remaining in overtime, and the Philadelphia Flyers gained ground in the Metropolitan Division with a 4-3 win against the Boston Bruins at Wells Fargo Center on Sunday.
Giroux took a pass from Jakub Voracek, broke in alone, faked dropping it between his skates, and lifted a backhand over Bruins goaltender Anton Khudobin from in close.

"I was just trying to freeze Khudobin]*
The game-winner gave Giroux an NHL career-high 29 goals, one more than he had in 2011-12 and 2013-14, and his 95 points are two more than his previous NHL high from 2011-12.
Travis Konecny had a goal and an assist for the Flyers (40-25-14), who are 5-0-3 in their past eight games. Nolan Patrick scored, and Petr Mrazek made 36 saves.

Philadelphia and the Columbus Blue Jackets each have 94 points, but the Flyers remained the first wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Eastern Conference based on the fourth tiebreaker, goal differential (Columbus is plus-14, and Philadelphia is plus-3). The two teams have played the same number of games and have the same total of regulation/overtime wins and the same number of points in the head-to-head series.
The Flyers are two points behind the Pittsburgh Penguins for second place in the Metropolitan.
"I think that's one thing we can't do, look up at the standings," Giroux said. "We need to worry about our next game here. If we do our job, we should be in good position."
Noel Acciari, David Pastrnak and Patrice Bergeron scored for Boston (49-17-12), which is 5-0-4 in its past nine games. Anton Khudobin made 20 saves.

The Bruins have a two-point lead on the Tampa Bay Lightning for first place in the Atlantic Division.
Bergeron scored with four seconds remaining in the third period to tie the game 3-3. The Flyers couldn't get the puck out of their zone, and Bergeron scored his 30th of the season from the high slot.
"Just hounded the puck, forced a couple turnovers at the end," Bruins forward Brad Marchand said. "That's the biggest thing. We didn't have a ton of control, but we continued to stay on it. Tried to force them to make plays, turn a couple of pucks over and end up in the net."
The Bruins were playing for the second straight day; they defeated the Florida Panthers 5-1 at TD Garden on Saturday.
"Always have to take positive from these games," Khudobin said. "We still get the point. Guys did great job … but losing [stinks], that's all I can say."
Boston got within 3-2 on Pastrnak's power-play goal at 6:54 of the third.
Philadelphia went ahead 3-1 on Patrick's goal at 5:31 of the third.
Giroux gave the Flyers a 1-0 lead at 9:38 of the first period on a one-timer from the left side to finish a 3-on-2 rush.

Konecny put the Flyers ahead 2-0 with a goal 25 seconds into the second period.
The Bruins made it 2-1 on Acciari's one-timer over Mrazek's left shoulder at 14:25 of the second.

Goal of the game

Giroux's goal with 1:21 remaining in overtime.

Save of the game

Mrazek stopping Pastrnak at 9:31 of the first period.

Highlight of the game

Konecny's goal 25 seconds into the second period.

They said it

"We all believed that it was going to happen. We were proud of the way we battled and got that extra point from that situation towards the end. It's a battle and we kept the puck in and we got rewarded, so obviously everybody was pretty happy about that comeback." -- Bruins captain Zdeno Chara
"The speed, the instincts that were involved there and to be able to finish it, I've seen some great highlight-reel goals throughout the year but I don't know if I've seen a better one than that." -- Flyers coach Dave Hakstol on Claude Giroux's overtime goal

Need to know

Chara had five shots on goal in 21:14 of ice time in his return after missing eight games with an upper-body injury. … Marchand was named the NHL's Second Star for March. He had 26 points (10 goals, 16 assists) in 15 games. … Voracek's assist on Patrick's goal was his 300th with the Flyers. … Konecny, 21, scored his 24th goal. It's the most by a Flyers player 21 or younger since Simon Gagne scored 33 goals at age 21 in 2001-02. … Giroux's 95 points are the most by a Flyers player since John LeClair had 97 in 1996-97.

What's next

Bruins: At the Tampa Bay Lightning on Tuesday (7:30 p.m. ET; NBCSN, SN1, TVAS, NESN, NHL.TV)
Flyers: At the New York Islanders on Tuesday (7 p.m. ET; MSG+ 2, NBCSP+, NHL.TV)