PHILADELPHIA, Pa- Hoping to continue their two game winning streak on home ice, the Philadelphia Flyers welcomed the Boston Bruins Saturday afternoon for the second time this season.
Last meeting on the first day of the new season, Bruins took the 2-1 win over the Flyers in Boston.
In between the pipes for the orange and black stood Steve Mason, facing Boston’s Tuukka Rask.
Photo by Lewis Bleiman
Beginning the opening period with a bang, Nick Schultz and Adam McQuaid dropped their gloves just 7 seconds in the game. Receiving a minor penalty for instigation, fighting major and 10 minute misconduct, the Flyers earned the first power play of the game with McQuaid in the box.
Unable to produce on the man-advantage, the game remained scoreless.
Getting their first power play opportunity with Vincent Lecavalier taking a seat, Bruins were unsuccessful.
Photo By Lewis Bleiman
With Mason down in the net, the goaltender receive medical attention and exited the game with 12 minutes left in the period. Ray Emery took Mason’s place in net. What appeared to be an injury to the right knee, the Flyers Organization classified the injury as “lower-body.” Mason will be re-evaluated Sunday.
Sent to the penalty box, Jakub Voracek looked on.
Scoring on the power play and netting his first NHL career goal, David Pastrnak got Boston on the board.
With a minute to go, Andrew MacDonald found himself guilty of holding giving the Bruins the man-advantage once again.
As the buzzer sounded, the Bruins lead the Flyers 1-0 at the end of the first period.
Starting the second period with a minute of power play time remaining, Boston did not find the back of the net.
With a quiet second period, Bruins held onto the lead.
Increasing their lead early in the third period, Pastrnak notched his 2nd NHL career goal and 2nd goal of the afternoon.
Photo By Lewis Bleiman
Guilty of holding, McQuaid took a seat in the sin bin.
Struggling to keep control of the puck, the Flyers turned the puck over in the neutral zone giving the Bruins a chance shorthanded. Beginning the rush towards Emery, Chris Kelly send the puck into the back of the net.
Finding his way back into the penalty box, McQuaid looked on once again.
Taking advantage on the power play opportunity, Flyers Captain Claude Giroux lit the lamp for Philadelphia.
Unable to make the comeback, Flyers dropped to the Bruins 3-1.
“It was a tight game and I thought we competed hard,” said Flyers head coach Craig Berube following Saturday’s loss. “The power plays? One for six, we probably could have generated more on the power play. They did a good job killing. Even earlier on we didn’t create too much. It could have made a difference.”
Despite dropping to Boston, Wayne Simmonds said, “We played a good game. We stayed with it. We were patient with our game. We thought we did some really good things out there.”
Photo by Lewis Bleiman
“Obviously it sucks losing Mason, but I thought that we played a good game. Ray [Emery] came in and did a good job for us.”
Flyers announced Friday, defenseman Nicklas Grossmann is expect to miss three weeks with an upper-body injury. With Grossmann out of the lineup, MacDonald replaced the defenseman on the blue line after being a healthy scratch against the Washington Capitals on Thursday.
The 2015 NHL All Star team roster was released following Saturday’s action. Among the All Stars were Giroux and Voracek. The All Star weekend begins in two weeks.
With the final game of the four game home stand on Monday, the Flyers will face off against the Tampa Bay Lightning on Monday night for the final meeting this season.
Puck drop between the Tampa Bay Lightning and Philadelphia Flyers is set for 7 p.m.
You must be logged in to post a comment.