Prior to the Bruins home opener at TD Garden on Thursday, Brad Marchand discussed what it will be like playing in front of an empty arena. Hockey players are creatures of habit, and they often thrive off each other’s energy.

But still, there’s just something about feeding off a crowd’s energy that can’t be artificially created without those fans in attendance. Because of that, Marchand thought comeback wins would be hard to come by.

Thankfully, he was wrong.

“It does change the game a bit when there’s a big goal, there is momentum,” Marchand said Thursday morning of playing in empty arenas. “I don’ think there’s going to be as many comeback wins as maybe there’s been in the past because of that, those momentum shifts.”

Despite putting forth a solid effort through 40 minutes, the Bruins once again found themselves struggling to score goals, trailing the Philadelphia Flyers 2-0.

But in the third period the Bruins didn’t need a sold out TD Garden crowd. They didn’t need an emotional lift from their fans in attendance.

All they needed was a Jack Studnicka five-on-five goal—the Bruins first five-on-five goal of the season—57 seconds into the period, followed by another even strength goal off the stick of Charlie Coyle to swing momentum back in their favor, and put Marchand’s belief from earlier in the day to rest.

"I think at intermission," Studnicka, said about when the spark that ignited the offense came "I think it had a lot to do with it, prior to my goal. We know we're an offensive group in here, so just trying not to get frustrated and then, obviously, it was fortunate that pucks just started going in."

Both goals by Studnicka and Coyle came exactly how head coach Bruce Cassidy wanted them to come. By crashing the net, getting pucks on net, and putting yourself into positions to be successful.

Studnicka did that by barreling into the crease, parking himself in front of Flyers goalie Carter Hart and cashing in on his own rebound for his first career NHL goal.

“I’ll probably give it to someone special to me,” Studnicka said of what he will do with the puck. “Whether that’s my dad or my grandpa, someone like that.”

A little over a minute later, Coyle followed Studnicka’s goal by getting himself into a high-scoring area and converting on a big rebound left by Hart after Craig Smith’s shot from the point.

“You have to be willing to get inside, find some pucks around the front of the net,” Cassidy said. “If everybody’s on the same page, the puck’s going to end up there and everybody’s going to go there. We have a pretty good idea, then, how we can rebound pucks and keep pucks alive.”

The two teams traded a pair of goals later in the period as Nick Ritchie’s power play goal—his team leading second of the season—and Brandon Carlo’s seeing eye strike sent the Bruins to overtime for the third time this season.

Jake DeBrusk potted the lone goal of the shootout, giving the Bruins their second shootout victory in as many tries. They were 0-7 in the shootout last season.

Like he did last week in New Jersey during the extra frame, Rask kept the Bruins hopes for the extra point alive with a pair of big saves on Jakub Voracek and Kevin Hayes.

"The first one, Voracek I saw was all by himself in front of the net. Their D-man shot a floater in there. He made a good play and tried to tip it in my five-hole and the rebound was laying there. I just tried to get extended as much as possible and it kind of hit my glove," said Rask.

"The [Hayes] one, you see that develop. The guy was kind of slowing down on the wing and [Hayes] was driving the net wide and made a good play. I just happened to extend my leg."

In the first of a pair of games that concludes in Boston on Saturday, the two brought a physical presence to game. For the second game in a row, defenseman Matt Grzelcyk managed to avoid a serious injury, this time after he crashed awkwardly into the boards, injuring his left leg.

Grzelcyk returned for his next shift and played regular minutes in the third period. However, he did not appear in the three-on-three overtime session, an area where we often see the Bruins utilizing his skillset.

“He was playing through some discomfort. We did not want to expose him. He’d typically be out there. He wasn’t going to be able to cover the ice that he needed to in overtime,” said Cassidy.

He’s had a couple tough nights now, a tough fall on the Island [against the Islanders] and going into the boards here [against Philadelphia]. Hopefully there’s no long-term damage there. It doesn’t sound like it.”

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