Flyers allow 40 or more shots again, fail to close out Bruins in wild shootout loss

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The Flyers relinquished a pair of third-period leads and allowed four goals in the final stanza en route to a 5-4 shootout loss Thursday night to the Bruins.

They earned a point but very well could have had two and a gratifying victory at TD Garden.

Jake DeBrusk was the lone player to score in the skills competition as Boston completed its huge finish.

Jakub Voracek, Travis Konecny and Claude Giroux were denied in the shootout.

The Flyers (3-1-1) had a 2-0 lead entering the third period and held a 3-2 advantage with a little fewer than 13 minutes remaining, but could not hold off the Bruins (2-1-1) in their home opener.

The Flyers had to play the second and third periods of Tuesday night's game with only five defensemen. They had to play the third period and change Thursday night once again with only five defensemen after Mark Friedman was forced to exit in the middle frame.

The first of eight meetings between these two clubs lived up to the billing in the entertainment department.

• Boston was all over the Flyers in the third period, putting up 22 shots. The Flyers had 26 total in the game.

Carter Hart was sharp through the first two periods but the Bruins cracked him for four in the final 20 minutes. The goals were obviously not all on him. Can he be better? Absolutely, but 22 shots in the third period ... that's a lot.

Yes, the Flyers had only five defensemen and were without Sean Couturier, but contending teams will want to close out those games more often than not. It was the fifth game of the Flyers' season and their first on the road. They were shorthanded (Ivan Provorov played 30:46 minutes) and Boston was clearly a determined team having not scored an even strength goal yet through its opening three games.

Still, the Flyers should want that one and not be content with one point. A win Saturday would make Thursday's finish much more bearable.

• The Flyers have been outshot in all five of their games, with four of them by double-digit margins.

They've allowed 40 or more shots in back-to-back games. They've been outshot 187-125 through five games (37.4 allowed per game).

For a team that allowed the NHL's fewest shots per game last season and prides itself on living in the offensive zone, those trends are troubling.

• Despite putting up 35 shots in his first seven games last regular season, James van Riemsdyk started slowly from a production standpoint with no points over that span.

With a new head coach, new system, some fluctuation in his role, it wasn't the smoothest transition in Year 2 of his reunion.

He is off to an excellent start, though, to the 2020-21 season. He scored the game-tying power play goal late in the third period after the Flyers had squandered their two leads in the stanza. His marker to force OT was his second goal on the night as he scored his first in the second period. Van Riemsdyk has three goals and five points through five games. He is undeniably an X-factor. The Flyers went 22-5-0 last season when he recorded at least one point.

Van Riemsdyk has been active in all three zones and has already scored half the number of power plays he netted last season, when he had four.

• Hart made 39 saves on 43 shots. He has been busy in the crease to start this season.

Nick Ritchie and Brandon Carlo scored within two minutes of each other to give Boston the 4-3 lead.

Tuukka Rask, who has played the Flyers well throughout his career, converted 22 stops.

• With his first goal of the season, Travis Sanheim regained the Flyers' lead in the third period after the Flyers coughed it up 2:06 into the final frame.

Boston had Hart under siege out of the third-period chute, quickly erasing the Flyers' 2-0 lead with goals from Jack Studnicka and Charlie Coyle.

Sanheim's goal a little over five minutes later put the Flyers back up but not for long.

• The Flyers' power play started 2 for 2 on the season with two goals in the first period of the opener. 

It then went 1 for its next 11 before Giroux ripped a bullet past Rask to hand the Flyers a 1-0 advantage in the middle stanza. The power play went 2 for 5 for the game.

Update: An official scoring change on Friday credited the goal to Konecny.

Voracek finished with three assists in the game, giving him 701 career points. He was very good and all three of his assists were primary helpers.

• Philippe Myers (fractured rib) and Morgan Frost (dislocated shoulder) are going to miss some time, but Shayne Gostisbehere is no longer out for COVID protocol and nearing a return next week (see story).

Friedman, who entered the lineup in place of Myers, was forced to exit during the second period after he was left bloodied following an awkward play. Friedman and Brad Marchand got tied up and it resulted in the Flyers' defenseman slamming into the ice.

Friedman was unable to return to the game, which was his season debut and the eighth game of his NHL career. Head coach Alain Vigneault said postgame that Friedman is fine and was kept out for precautionary reasons.

• Kevin Hayes, a native of Dorchester, Massachusetts, won't mind playing three games this season at TD Garden. The 28-year-old center was raised in Boston, lives there in the offseason and played four years at Boston College.

Hayes had two assists Thursday night and has seven points through five games.

• The Flyers and Bruins finish their two-game set at TD Garden on Saturday (7 p.m. ET/NBCSP).

The team will then travel home before it heads to Newark, New Jersey, next week for games against the Devils on Tuesday (7 p.m. ET/NBCSP) and Thursday (7 p.m. ET/NBCSP).

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