Flyers blow third period lead, lose in OT to Bruins

PHILADELPHIA – Was difficult to believe when David Pastrnak put home a goal in the first period for the Boston Bruins and the Flyers responded with three straight goals and a 3-1 lead, that Pastrnak would revive the Bruins in the third period for an eventual 4-3 win in extra time.

Kevin Hayes #13 of the Philadelphia Flyers scores against Tuukka Rask #40 of the Boston Bruins

Kevin Hayes, Jakub Voracek and Joel Farabee scored in the middle frame to give the Flyers the 3-1 lead and seeming control of the game.

“We’d like to close out that victory, but it’s part of the game and we just got to adjust,” Farabee said. “We play these guys again [in] two days, so we’ve just got to get ready for that.”

Pastrnak scored at 12:05 and 19:45 of the third period to complete a hat trick to get the game to overtime.

“Recovery was really long, something that I haven’t had in my career, so it’s been a long wait and long [time] itching to get back out there,” Pastrnak said. ” … I probably didn’t [have confidence], but as soon as I stepped on the ice and I felt like I did after the surgery, then I knew I can get my conditioning up and be feeling great.”

In the extra session, Patrice Bergeron picked up his fourth point of the night, after assisting on all three regulation goals, when potted the game-winner in the extra session off his own rebound.

“[We] gave an opportunity to their top players to step on the ice,” Flyers head coach Alain Vigneault said. “They’re elite players and they found a way to make a difference in the game.”

Tuukka Rask made 22 saves in the win.

“I told him in my experiences, sometimes what happens with guys when they miss that much time, or it’s a whole offseason, is you lose your timing a bit, your hands and your timing are a little bit out of sync, but he showed me,” Bruins head coach Bruce Cassidy said. “Usually your legs are there because you’ve been skating lots, but that’s not the issue; it’s the bumping and the grinding and the timing of taking a pass, not getting hit and all that. Obviously he’s on a mission. Good for him. We need it.

“He’s a guy that he’s here and predominately he’s a scorer and you need those guys to win hockey games for you. He’s done that the last few nights. Clearly looks energized, ready to play and we’re thankful for it and grateful.”

Boston improved to 7-1-2 with the come from behind win.

Pastrnak assisted on the winner for his fourth point of the night.The Flyers dropped to 7-2-2.

Carter Hart made 31 saves in the loss.

A shot by the Boston Bruins hits the crossbar as Brad Marchand #63 of the Boston Bruins looks for a rebound

Carter Hart #79 of the Philadelphia Flyers

David Pastrnak #88 of the Boston Bruins shoots the puck against the Philadelphia Flyers Travis Sanheim #6, Travis Konecny #11 and Goalie Carter Hart #79

Oskar Lindblom #23 of the Philadelphia Flyers looks for the puck to rebound off the chest of Goalie Tuukka Rask #40 of the Boston Bruins

Tuukka Rask #40 of the Boston Bruins takes a puck to the chest.

Tuukka Rask #40 of the Boston Bruins makes a pad save in front of his teammates Patrice Bergeron #37 and David Krejci #46 of the Boston Bruins as Philadelphia Flyers Joel Farabee #86 and James van Riemsdyk #25 look for the rebound.