FROM JOE HAGGERTY
The Bruins very nearly had a great opening period where they scored a power play goal and had been out-shooting the Flyers by a 10-5 margin with two minutes to go in the period. Then they buckled in the final minute of play, allowed a bad goal and lost all of the momentum headed into the second period. It’s the same kind of self-inflicted wound kind of goals that the B’s have been giving up lately and will really become a problem if they don’t nip it in the bud here in the second half of the season. Then the Bruins went out and got outshot 17-7 in the second period, but still somehow got out of it with a one goal lead intact that was eventually, perhaps inevitably erased in the third period.
Two shots on net apiece for both David Pastrnak and Torey Krug in the first period as they also combined for the goal on the power play toward the start of the first period. It is uncanny how Pastrnak just doesn’t miss from that one-timer spot at the face-off dot and that’s where he finished the cross-ice pass from Krug. It really shouldn’t be much of a surprise to see Pastrnak winning the shooting accuracy contest at NHL All-Star weekend given how much he works on his shot, and it’s why he’s now got 30 goals after scoring his second of the night in the second period. Pastrnak becomes the fastest Bruins player to reach 30 goals since Hall of Fame Bruins President Cam Neely did it during his brilliant career back in 1993-94. Pretty great for Pastrnak that the first was a textbook one-timer score on the PP and the second one was a dirty goal around the front of the net after a Patrice Bergeron point shot was deflected.
No real offensive presence from Brad Marchand in the first game back from the bye week break, and now he has zero shots on net after two periods tonight. The Bruins need more out of No. 63 in these games. That is an understament-and-a-half. He did make a pretty nice play on the power play goal in the first period to earn himself a secondary assist, but the Bruins need more than just that from one of their top offensive performers.
The Bruins have now lost three games in a row and five of their last six games including losses to the Flyers twice and a defeat at the hands of the Rangers in the final game going into the bye week. They are making mistakes at the wrong times, not getting enough offense from anybody beyond their top line and their top power play and all of a sudden their goaltending has fallen back to Earth as well. It’s pretty amazing when you couple that with the fact that the Bruins are fully healthy for the first time all season, and they should be playing their best brand of hockey right now. Clearly they are not.
Once again Danton Heinen had a chance to put things away for the Bruins at the end of the third period when David Krejci set him up wide open in the slot. Heinen had time, space and a lot of net to shoot at with Carter Hart quickly moving side-to-side, but the puck rolled right off Heinen’s stick without him even getting a shot on net. That left the B’s and Flyers tied at the end of regulation, and led to the overtime loss for the Black and Gold. Heinen has two goals in his last 20 games and continues to be a player that looks like he has lost a ton of confidence in his offense this season.
HIGHLIGHTS
Bruins open the scoring with a Pastrnak goal
Flyers tie things up
Bruins go ahead on Pasta's 30th goal
Rask blanks Scott Laughton on the penalty shot
Flyers tie it up with ten minutes to go
Flyers win it in OT
BRUINS RECORD: 27-17-7
Boston Bruins
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