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Wrap: Flyers Beat Boston in OT; Phantoms Drop Shootout to Devs

April 5, 2021, 10:57 PM ET [57 Comments]
Bill Meltzer
Philadelphia Flyers Blogger •NHL.com • RSSArchiveCONTACT
Wrap: Flyers beat Boston in OT

It wasn't the regulation victory that the Flyers were hoping for, but the team earned a 3-2 overtime victory over the Boston Bruins at TD Garden on Monday evening. The victory moved the Flyers within three points of Boston for the final playoff spot in the East Division, although the Bruins retain their tiebreaker advantage and still hold two games in hand on the Flyers.

The team will rematch at the Wells Fargo Center on Tuesday night, play other teams on Thursday (the Flyers playing on the road against the Islanders, the Bruins on the road against Washington) and then complete the season series with each other on Saturday afternoon in Philadelphia.

Monday's game was the third this season between the Flyers to go beyond regulation and the fourth to be decided by a single goal (the other two were Boston blowout wins). Travis Sanheim (2nd goal of the season) delivered the first Flyers win against the Bruins this season. In OT, he blocked a Patrice Bergeron shot, took advantage of Bergeron falling down, and then beat Dan Vladar over the glove to end the game.



During regulation, Travis Konecny (8th goal of the season) and Karson Kuhlman (2nd) traded off goals in a 1-1 first period. Patrice Bergeron (PPG, 12th) scored in the opening minute of the middle stanza; the only goal of the period. Sean Couturier (PPG, 11th) knotted the score with the lone goal of the third period.

Brian Elliott earned the victory in net, stopping 27 of 29 shots. With Tuukka Rask on IR and Jaroslav Halak in COVID-19 protocol, Dan Vladar got the start in goal for the Bruins. He ended with 29 saves on 32 shots.

The Flyers went 1-for-3 on the power play. They are 5-for-20 on the man advantage against Boston this season. However, the Bruins are 9-for-18 on the power play against Philly this season, and went 1-for-2 on this night.

For highlights and analysis from this game, visit the Postgame 5 on the Flyers' official website. The Flyers will not hold a morning skate on Tuesday. Carter Hart will get the start in goal for Philadelphia in the Wells Fargo Center half of the home-and-home set.

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Phantoms Lose in Shootout to Devils

The Lehigh Valley Phantoms (12-3-3) had to settle for one point on Monday as they dropped a shootout decision, 2-1 (3-2), to the Binghamton Devils (4-8-5) at the Barnabas Health Hockey House located inside the Prudential Center in Newark.

Lehigh Valley got off to a slow start in the first period but eventually got going enough to have a 9-8 shot advantage in the opening 20 minutes. The game remained scoreless until shortly past the midway point of regulation.

After Zayde Wisdom created a power play chance for the Phantoms. they coughed up a shorthanded counterattack for a Marian Studenic goal (3rd of the season) at 10:29 of the second period. The Devils carried their skinny lead into the third period.

At 4:06 of the third period, Lehigh Valley drew even. They won a battle to keep the puck in the offensive zone and moved it around. Ryan Fitzgerald passed over to rookie defenseman Linus Högberg. Skating in to the top of the circle, the Swedish blueliner wired a shot past goalie Gilles Senn (26 saves on 27 shots) to knot the score.

In overtime, the Phantoms got through a 4-on-3 penalty kill and went on to generate of the three shots on goal in the five-minute frame. In the shootout, rookie Tyson Foerster -- who had four regulation goals, two assists and a shootout game-winner in his his previous three games -- converted his attempt on a slick move to his backhand. The Phantoms also got a goal from Fitzgerald in the second round.



Unfortunately, Zane McIntyre (27 saves on 28 shots in regulation and OT) was unable to stop either Graeme Clarke or Nolan Foote after the Foerster and Fitzgerald shootout goals. In round three, Wade Allison missed his chance and then Fabian Zetterlund secured the bonus point for Binghamton.

Allison narrowly missed the net on a couple of scoring chances during the game and was stopped on another by Senn. The 23-year-old rookie power forward also made a couple of risky plays where'd have been better off getting the puck in deep. On one, he overhandled in the neutral zone and lost the puck. On another, he made one move too many looking to find a lane in the offensive zone.

The Phantoms remained without rookie defenseman Egor Zamula (lower body injury).
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