FLYERS FALL A GOAL SHORT AGAIN IN 3-2 LOSS TO BRUINS

Comeback hockey not been kind to the Flyers over the last three games. Earlier in the month of January, the Flyers pulled points out of three straight games they trailed by one goal after two periods. Now they've dropped three straight games in regulation; twice after battling back to tie games only to yield a backbreaker late in regulation and once as a fervent late-game push narrowly fell short as time expired.

On Monday night at the Wells Fargo Center, the Flyers fell in a 2-0 hole in the first period, and got signifiantly outplayed. Philly was then the better team for most of the remaining 40 minutes, clawing their way back to knot the score at 2-2 with 7:52 left in regulation. A deflection goal by Boston with 1:54 left remaining on the clock doomed the Flyers to a third straight loss.

Ultimately, the Flyers wasted a power play and even strength goals by Wayne Simmonds. With a little more puck luck, Simmonds easily could have had a four-goal or even five-goal game and certainly a hat trick.

"[Chasing the game in the third period is] not what we want to have every single game it just seems like it’s been like that the last three or four. Obviously every game is tight and we’re working hard and keeping in it, but we just have to be a little bit better," Simmondssaid.

Michal Neuvirth, who was limping heavily after the game, stopped 28 of 31 shots in a losing cause. The Flyers' netminder had no chance on any of the Boston goals.

Patrice Bergeron and Brad Marchand scored first-period power play goals for the Bruins. Brett Connolly netted the game winner late in the final stanza. Winning netminder Tuukka Rask made a host of 10-bell saves (as did Neuvirth) in stopping 34 of 36 shots.

The Bruins, who entered the night with the NHL's second-best combined special teams ranking, went 2-for-4 on the power play and 3-for-4 on the penalty kill. All Flyers' power plays took place in a lopsided middle stanza dominated by Philly.

"I think our intensity, we were more assertive [in the second period]," Michael Del Zotto said. "We were winning one on one puck battles. It seemed like we wanted it a little more. It’s no excuse for how we started again a couple penalties which hurt us and put us behind which may have lost us a little bit of momentum but you see when we do play assertive were a tough team to beat."

Flyers head coach Dave Hakstol was in a contentious mood after the game, denying that the first period was the real cause for the loss because it left no margin for error the rest of the night. This despite also saying the team was not good enough at 5-on-5 and owning up to how surgically the Bruins' power play carving up the Philadelphia PK to build their 2-0 lead in the first period.

"No, I didn’t think that it was lost in the first. Our 5-on-5 play was just okay. Our effort was excellent in the second and third to come back and tie it up. So no, it wasn’t lost," the coach said.

The coach also said there was no comparison between this game and the previous two. To review, in Pittsburgh last Thursday, the Flyers had a strong first period and a disastrous second period that forced them into comeback mode. The game before that against Toronto, the Flyers blasted out of the gates to a 1-0 lead and an 11-1 shot advantage and then stopped competing until striking for a third-period tying goal on a great individual effort.

Three games, all of which featured at least one period where the Flyers got significantly outplayed in multiple facets and were forced to battle uphill in the final stanza.

“This game was a different game than the previous two so I wouldn’t even compare it to the other ones. We’ve got to have a little better start than we did tonight but I won’t compare it in terms of execution to the previous two games. Not even close," Hakstol said.

Hakstol also denied that special teams have been a costly common denominator to all three games. He said the Flyers "won" the special teams battle in Pittsburgh -- technically true in that they scored three power play goals to two by the Penguins, but ignoring the fact that two Penguins' power play goals in the second period cut their early 2-0 deficit to one in the opening minute of the stanza and the subsequent one put the Pens ahead to stay -- and the game was really lost on five-on-five. The coach is correct that the Penguins controlled the final 40 minutes of the game at five-on-five.

"I think we won the special teams battle [last game]. We lost the battle 5-on-5 in Pittsburgh. I don’t want to jump to anything there. We gave up two tonight early. We got to do a better job, bottom line," Hakstol said.

The coach also said he did not see the two late-game opposition winning goals or penalty killing failures at key junctures as frustrating or discouragng.

"Is it disheartening? No, there is no time to be disheartened. We got to get to work and get back to work," Hakstol said.

Philly featured several lineup changes on Monday night.

Jordan Weal made his Flyers debut, skating on the left wing of the fourth line. He had a first-period scoring chance and skated 1:56 on the second power play unit out of his 9:51 total ice time.

Matt Read moved up from the fourth line to the second line left wing spot, and Michael Raffl shifted positions to center the unit. Sam Gagner was a healthy scratch. On defense, Brandon Manning started over healthy scratch Evgeny Medvedev. With Steve Mason taking a maintenance morning, Neuvirth got the starting nod in goal.

Sean Couturier remained out of the lineup with a lower-body injury. His absence was once again felt by the Flyers, especially in the opening period.

The Flyers received the game's first penalty as Michael Raffl was called for an offensive zone hold on Torey Krug. The Bruins' second-ranked power play cashed it in as, from the slot, Bergeron directed home his 19th goal of the season off an initial shot by Ryan Spooner that was blocked by Radko Gudas and went right to Bergeron with advantageous stick positioning against Nick Schultz. David Krejci got the other assist at 5:04 of the first period.

Shots were 8-3 in Boston's favor at a TV timeout at 12:16 of the period. The Bruins had already blocked five Philadelphia shot attempts at this point. Shortly after play resumed, Neuvirth had to make a pair of tough stops on Loui Eriksson and Bergeron after a missed body check attempt by Gudas behind the net and then a giveaway by Matt Read.

Weal had his first Flyers scoring chance moments after the Bruins turned a puck over up the wall but, under pressure, wristed an 18-foot shot attempt wide of the net.

Del Zotto picked up a slashing penalty on David Pastrnak in the Flyers' defensive zone at 15:47. Marchand made the Bruins two-for-two on the power play as, from the right circle, he sniped a cross-ice pass from Chara high to the long side for his 20th goal of the season. Colin Miller got the secondary assist at 17:27.

Immediately after the Boston goal, the Flyers nearly scored. A sprawled Rask made the stop on Simmonds from the slot. Shots in the first period ended up 16-8 in the Bruins' favor.

Immediately off the opening faceoff of the second period, Marchand tripped Simmonds. The Flyers went to their first power play. Rask stopped a Giroux right point shot through a Simmonds screen with one minute left on the penalty. The rest of the Philly power play passed uneventfully.

The Flyers went right back to the power play as Dennis Seidenberg cross-checked Scott Laughton as the center wheeled behind the net at 3:38. This time, Philly wasted little time cashing in against one of the NHL's best penalty kills. After a left circle faceoff, Shayne Gostisbehere got the puck at the left point and snapped a shot on Rask. Brayden Schenn got to the rebound first and made a quick pass to an open Simmonds, who had plenty of gaping net into which to deposit his 13th goal of the season. The assist went to Schenn and Gostisbehere at 3:45.

With a promising Flyers rush developing, Zach Trotman interfered with Jakub Voracek at 5:00 to put Philly right back on the power play. Rask fought off an early right circle wrister from Voracek and Boston got the puck to safety. The second unit applied late pressure but could get a top quality chance.

The Claude Giroux line applied very heavy pressure in the Boston end as play neared the nine minute mark of the period but Rask made a tough save on Giroux. At the 10:57 mark, Jimmy Hayes hooked down Raffl near the Bruins net. The Flyers went to their fourth consecutive power play. Shots for the second period were 9-1 in the Flyers' favor at this point.

Immediately after the first faceoff, the Flyers turned a puck over and Marchand sped up the left side to fire a low shot from the top of left circle on net. Neuvirth squeezed the pads shut. At the other end, Schenn put a wrister on net but the Flyers were second to the 50-50 rebound in front. The second unit was unable to do anything with its portion of the power play.

Immediately after the power play expired, the Flyers had a bang-bang chance in front. A momentary double-clutch by Pierre-Edouard Bellemare gave Rask just enough time to make his 12th save of the period.

Chara made a key block on Simmonds, who seemed poised to score from inside the left hash marks with 2:22 left in the second period. Streit took a defensive zone hooking penalty with 24 ticks left on the period clock. The Bruns took 1:37 of carryover power play time into the third period.

Shots in the second period were 15-6 in the Flyers' favor; 23-23 in Philly's favor through 40 minutes.

The Bruins quickly applied pressure on their carryover power play. Neuvirth made a pair of saves and Ryan White made a late block to get Philly through its first successful kill of the game.

Gostisbehere forced a neutral zone turnover and started a counterattack for the Flyers. Simmonds tipped a Voracek pass just wide of the net at the four-minute mark. A few minutes later, Gosisbehere stole a puck in the defensive zone at the end of a shift and led a rush up the ice to create another scoring chance.

Nick Schultz made a rare pinch from the point to collect a loose puck in the right slot but was stopped on a backhand attempt at 9:11. As play moved the other way, Neuvirth stretched out to make a difficult save on a Hayes tip in front of the net for a stoppage and TV timeout at 9:48.

With 9:55 left, Rask casually made a stop on a side angle shot by Simmonds and covered up the puck with Voracek whacking away to try to jam it inside the post. On the ensuing shift a point shot through traffic by Boston hit the post past a screened Neuvirth. Going the other way, a momentarily open Schenn chance from the right slot got blocked.

There was no Bruin nearby to block the shot at when Simmonds collected a loose puck near the left post and tucked it in the net. Boston challenged the goal for a potential offside by Del Zotto as the puck was carried into the offensive zone. The challenge was unsuccessful, and Simmonds got his 14th goal of the season and second of the game to tie the game at 12:08. Voracek and Del Zotto got the assists.

The Giroux line buzzed and cycled almost at will in the Boston end with time ticking down near 6:30 left in regulation. Rask made a pair of tough stops to preserve the 2-2 score.

With 1:54 left, the Flyers' yielded a crusher. A D-to-D pass was deflected home by Connolly. A replay delay ensued to see if the puck was played with a high stick. It wasn't. Chara and Kevan Miller got the assists on Connolly's seventh goal of the season.

On the next shift, the Flyers generated a scramble in front but could not score. With 1:38 left, Simmonds was penalized for accidentally high sticking Chara near the Boston net. The Flyers pulled Neuvirth for an extra attacker to make 5-on-5. Torey Krug received a minor for tripping Voracek behind the Bruins net at 18:57. The Flyers called timeout before skating 5-on-4 with an empty net.

With 35.4 seconds left after a couple errant Flyers passes went down the ice to their own end, Boston took an icing. A pair of last-ditch Gostisbehere shot attempts got blocked and the Flyers' fate was sealed in their third straight regulation loss.

Shots in the third period were 13-9 in the Flyers' favor; 36-31 in Philly's favor overall. Boston blocked 26 shots to 19 blocks by the Flyers. Seidenberg blocked a half-dozen Flyers' attempts, while Chara and the Flyers' Del Zotto snuffed out five each for their clubs. The Flyers won 58 percent of the faceoffs on the night.

The Flyers have one game remaining before the All-Star break. They will practice on Tuesday at 11:00 a.m. at the Skate Zone in Voorhees, NJ, and then depart for a Wednesday game in DC against the powerhouse Washington Capitals.

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