It’s Jan. 25, the NHL season is nearly four months old, and the Eastern Conference rival Boston Bruins and Philadelphia Flyers met for the first time this year earlier this afternoon. But based on the end result, the Flyers are probably more than happy that such is the case.
In the Bruins’ first game since this past Monday’s matinee victory over the Los Angeles Kings, the Black-and-Gold wasted no time in simply assaulting Steve Mason.
As Philly killed off their first penalty of the afternoon, the B’s second came just 25 seconds later, and with captain Claude Giroux in the box, Boston’s captain struck. Banging home his team-leading seventh power play goal (and his 10th of the season overall), Zdeno Chara popped the top on what’d be an absolute demolition at the Wells Fargo Center.
Boston jumped out by two behind Jarome Iginla’s marker, snapping a nine-game goal-less skid for the 36-year-old with 18 seconds left in the first.
There’s no doubt that Philadelphia, despite the two-goal hole, were still after the first period. But a complete defensive meltdown in the second period took the Flyers out of the race against a Boston team more than capable of making the opposition look straight up silly. Reilly Smith blasted through the Philly defense, scoring an unassisted goal 6:59 into the second, and Patrice Bergeron’s tough angle shot at the 13-minute marker beast Mason and gave the B’s a 4-0 lead.
Exit Mason, enter Ray Emery. The rout was on.
Though Giroux completed a 1-for-1 with Chara, striking on the power play with Big Z in the box, a four-minute penalty to Nicklas Grossmann gave Boston its two knockout blows. Jarome Iginla scored ten seconds into the power play, and then 55 seconds later, Chara’s second of the night gave the Black-and-Gold a five-goal lead.
It would stay that way as the Bruins continued their recent hot streak, with Boston taking seven of a possible eight points in their last four games, downing Philly by a 6-1 final.
It’s tough to really gauge how well the Bruins played given how, well.. terrible, the Flyers played.
At no point in this game did the Black-and-Orange look like a team interested in today’s affair, and aside from a few stellar stops, B’s goaltender Tuukka Rask had an easy 25-save night.
But just what ails the Flyers? Well, against the Bruins (and beyond just them for that matter), the Flyers have a defensive unit that’s just not strong enough. That comes back to the irreplaceable Chris Pronger. The present day Flyer defense operates with a bend-don’t-break philosophy, and with guys like Grossmann expected to log serious minutes, it’s no wonder that it’s such a mess.
The strength of their defense is based largely on the play of all six defensemen, and the harsh reality is that the Philadelphia six just isn’t that great. They’ll get eaten alive by teams like the Bruins regardless of who’s manning the crease, and that was more than evident this afternoon.
Up front, Philly looked anything but engaged, and allowed countless scoring chances from the B’s skill players, with Iginla finishing the night with a season-high four points (two goals, two assists).
Up next
The Bruins head to Long Island for the finale of their season series with the New York Islanders. New York won the previous meeting between the two back on Jan. 31 by way of a total special teams domination, and will go for their first season series sweep of the Black-and-Gold since 2006-07.