BOS@PHI: Rask earns 50th NHL shutout on 33rd birthday

PHILADELPHIA -- The Philadelphia Flyers had their nine-game winning streak end with a 2-0 loss to the Boston Bruins at Wells Fargo Center on Tuesday.

The Flyers (41-21-7) remained one point behind the first-place Washington Capitals in the Metropolitan Division. They were trying for their longest winning streak since they won 10 in a row from Nov. 27-Dec. 14, 2016.
Tuukka Rask made 36 saves for his 50th NHL shutout, and Matt Grzelcyk and Patrice Bergeron scored for the Bruins (44-14-12), who are 5-1-0 in their past six games and became the first NHL team to reach 100 points this season.
WATCH: [All Bruins vs. Flyers highlights]
The Bruins are eight points ahead of the second-place Tampa Bay Lightning in the Atlantic Division.
"It's one of those things you almost need 100 points to make the (Stanley Cup) Playoffs," said Rask, who turned 33 on Tuesday. "The League's tighter than ever and we're just trying to get a head start early in the season and keep that momentum going the whole year, and we've accomplished that this year. Now we finish strong."

BOS@PHI: Grzelcyk blasts one-timer for PPG

Carter Hart made 27 saves for Philadephia. He had won his previous seven games.
"I liked our game," Flyers defenseman Matt Niskanen said. "I'd rather win, but we just went on a heck of a run, played pretty good hockey tonight. You can see how tight it's going to be when you play only good teams in about a month here. So it was a good test for us."
Rask made 12 saves in the third period.
"He's that caliber of goalie," Boston forward Charlie Coyle said. "The saves he makes ... I remember playing against him, and even in practice it's tough to score on that guy. He battles. He almost makes it look easy. That's a good team, been on fire, and the saves he had tonight were so huge."
Coyle made his own big save, racing back to break up a Flyers 2-on-0 shorthanded rush with 2:06 remaining in the second.
"I thought it was the play that may have changed the game," Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy said. "We don't know if they would have scored on that play, but it definitely gave us life on the bench, seeing an effort like that to keep the puck out of your net. I think it helped us at the other end."
Later in that Bruins power play, Grzelcyk gave the Bruins a 1-0 lead with 1:21 remaining in the second period.
"For two periods I felt we were the better team on the ice," Flyers coach Alain Vigneault said. "We had some good opportunities to take a lead, couldn't get anything past [Rask]. That goal that they got on their power play at the end of the second period seemed like it gave them confidence and momentum because in the third period they were the better team."
Bergeron made it 2-0 at 14:40 of the third period. Brad Marchand had an assist to give him 18 points (five goals, 13 assists) during a 13-game point streak, the longest active streak in the NHL.

They said it

"It's a great milestone. I didn't even realize. Been around for many years. It's one of those things where you play enough games these milestones happen. Feels good." -- Bruins goalie Tuukka Rask on his 50th NHL shutout

Rask earns Tuesday's Pepsi Zero Sugar Shutout

"It [stinks] you come in, nine-game win streak and you get a loss. They played good tonight, we ran into a hot goalie. Hopefully we'll put his in the past and get back in the win column." -- Flyers defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere

Need to know

Gostisbehere was minus-1 playing 16:13 in his first game since Feb. 6. ... Bruins forward David Pastrnak had an assist on Grzelcyk's goal to give him seven points (three goals, four assists) during a six-game point streak. ... The Bruins have won four straight games on the road. ... Bruins defenseman Zdeno Chara had an assist on Bergeron's goal for his first point in 35 games. ... Cassidy said defensemen Brandon Carlo and Torey Krug are doubtful to play against the Buffalo Sabres on Friday and the Toronto Maple Leafs on Saturday. Each player has an upper-body injury ... Flyers defenseman Philippe Myers is expected to be out four weeks with a fractured patella in his right knee.

What's next

Bruins: At the Buffalo Sabres on Friday (7 p.m. ET; ESPN+, SNE, SNO, TVAS, MSG-B, NESN, NHL.TV)
Flyers: At the Tampa Bay Lightning on Thursday (7 p.m. ET; ESPN+, SNE, SNO, SNP, TVAS, SUN, NBCSP, NHL.TV)

Bruins shut out Flyers to reach 100 points