Krejci scores twice, Bruins top Flyers for 10th straight home win

BOSTON -- David Krejci scored two goals, and the Boston Bruins extended their season-opening home winning streak to 10 games with a 4-1 victory against the Philadelphia Flyers at TD Garden on Thursday.

The Bruins are one win from tying the NHL record, held by the Florida Panthers (2021-22) and Chicago Black Hawks (1963-64).
"It's hard to win one game, but win this many games -- 17 games, 15 wins -- that's crazy," Krejci said. "No one expected that, but we're staying even-keeled here. We were focusing on the task at hand, and we've been doing a pretty good job at it."

Pavel Zacha and Nick Foligno each had two assists for Boston (15-2-0), which has won five in a row. Linus Ullmark made 22 saves.
"I think our guys were too excited to play," Bruins coach Jim Montgomery said. "Our puck movement was really good, but we were skating out of position offensively and especially defensively. We were skating out of the middle of the ice a lot, which is uncommon for us, which gave Philadelphia -- and they took advantage of it, credit to them -- but they had some really good looks."
Owen Tippett scored, and Carter Hart made 28 saves for Philadelphia (7-7-3), which lost its fifth straight (0-4-1).
"We're still trying to build an identity. We're not there yet," Flyers coach John Tortorella said. "I see signs of it as far as how hard you have to play, the checking, the little things you need to do. But if we had an identity and we're rock-solid, we wouldn't be losing games."

Tomas Nosek gave the Bruins a 1-0 lead at 11:25 of the second period, tapping the puck in off a behind-the-net feed from Foligno, who drew Hart out of his crease on a wraparound.
It was Nosek's second goal in as many games; the forward ended a 65-game scoring drought in a 5-2 win against the Vancouver Canucks on Sunday. Foligno got his 299th NHL assist on Nosek's goal Thursday before getting his 300th later in the game.
"I think that's what's so great about [Montgomery's] system: It's so fast, but predictable," Foligno said. "I think it's tailored to a lot of guys in the room, and I think we feel that when we are playing, we know where guys are supposed to be. You can kind of have that sixth sense, and it's dangerous."
Kevin Hayes had a chance to tie it for Philadelphia from the doorstep at 5:54 of the third, but Ullmark save kept the Bruins ahead.
"It doesn't matter if we are winning or losing," Ullmark said. "If you're doing the right things, you can always come out of the games with a good feeling. We've been doing the right thing for a long time now, and we can see it's bearing fruit. You just gotta stick with it."

Jake DeBrusk made it 2-0 at 7:32 on a slap pass from David Pastrnak on the power play. Tippett cut it to 2-1 with a power-play goal at 9:48 after a cross-ice pass from Hayes.
"When things aren't clicking, it gets frustrating," Tippett said. "You want to be able to build momentum for the team, whether it's scoring or whether it's just creating chances and just turning the momentum of the game. I think when things don't go, you just have to turn back to being simple, and I think it was just a mindset to kind of put one on net."
Krejci made it 3-1 16 seconds later at 10:04. Zacha beat Flyers defenseman Ivan Provorov to a 50-50 puck in the Philadelphia zone, and Krejci picked it up to score from close range.
"We don't create enough offense to give things away for free," Tortorella said. "I mean, 'Provy' is trying to play very well for us. It's just a bad play."

Krejci scored his second of the game at 16:21 on the power play for the 4-1 final.
"It's getting frustrating," Flyers forward Scott Laughton said. "I mean, you lose five in a row, it's tough. [Boston's] a good team over there. … I thought we could have been better, but what are you going to do? You wake up the next morning and practice, and get better."
NOTES: Tortorella coached his 1,400th NHL game. The Boston native became the first U.S.-born head coach in League history to reach the milestone. … The Bruins became the fifth team in NHL history to win their first 10 home games of a season. The others are the 2021-22 Panthers (11 games), the 1963-64 Black Hawks (11 games), the 2016-17 Montreal Canadiens (10 games) and the 1925-26 Ottawa Senators (10 games). … Ullmark became the third Bruins goalie to win at least his first eight home games of a season (Gillies Gilbert, 16 games, 1973-74; Ross Brooks, eight games, 1973-74).