Wrap: Flyers Blanked 3-0 by Bruins
The Philadelphia Flyers fell to 4-6-0 through the first 10 games of the 2018-19 season as they dropped a 3-0 decision to the Boston Bruins at TD Garden on Thursday. The Flyers gave up two second period goals -- they have yielded the game's first goal in nine of 10 games -- and were shut out for the second time this season. Despite playing with an injury-riddled blueline, the Bruins improved to 6-2-2 and remained unbeaten at home (4-0-0).
The Flyers played a solid road period in the first; pretty tight and structured defensively and even in shots (7-7) at the end of a scoreless stanza. In the second period, they had two glorious scoring chances -- one for Travis Sanheim and a 2-on-1 in which Travis Konecny set up Claude Giroux -- and a few other good ones before they had a miscue and gave up the game's first goal.
An Andrew MacDonald turnover on backhanded attempt around the boards and a subsequent Zdeno Chara point shot that found its way through traffic, off a stick, and into the net left the Flyers behind by a 1-0 score at 13:00 of the middle frame.
During the first period, the Flyers didn't so much kill off their first penalty of the game as manage to not get scored upon. The Bruins were able to gain entry into the Philadelphia end with relative ease, but Brian Elliott made a key save and the PK was able to get three zone clears. The Flyers weren't so fortunate on their second PK, getting scored on with five seconds left as Jake DeBrusk tipped home a shot from the lower left slot.
That entire sequence was a backbreaker for the Flyers. The penalty itself -- a too many men on the ice penalty caused by Jakub Voracek touching the puck in the neutral zone -- was avoidable. The Flyers positional box play was atrocious: disjointed and too passive, with DeBrusk left wide open and a gaping lane to the net. Now the deficit had doubled.
The Flyers generated next to nothing in the first half of the third period before gettting back-to-back power play encompassing 3:55 of consecutive power play time with an overlapping five seconds of two-man advantage time. Voracek hit the crossbar on the front end of the power play. The pressure was heavier and more sustained but the Flyers remained unable to find the net.
The latter part of the third period saw frustration take over for the Flyers and they took a series of increasingly mindless penalties. Needing to pull goaltender Brian Elliott to make it a 5-on-5, the Flyers yielded a long-distance Chara empty-netter that officially counted as Boston's second power play of the game.
Boston went 2-for-5 on the power play. The Flyers went 0-for-3.
Elliott gave the Flyers a good overall game in goal, stopping 22 of 24 shots, including a point-blank chance by the deadly David Pastrnak early in the second period. Bruins counterpart Jaroslav Halak was simply better, compiling a 26-save shutout.
Essentially, the Flyers top line held Boston's to a stalemate. The Flyers' other lines did not deliver, nor did the power play. It should be noted that the fourth line had some offensive zone time and did not get scored upon at 5-on-5.
Giroux led the Flyers with five shots on goal. Sanheim led the team with eight shot attempts – four on goal, three blocked and one missed – while Voracek had seven shot attempts – one on goal, one blocked and five missed. Shayne Gostisbehere was credited with four of the Flyers’ 14 blocked shots and logged 24:33 of ice time. Ivan Provorov led the team with 25:41 TOI.
The Flyers return to action on Saturday afternoon, hosting the New York Islanders at the Wells Fargo Center.