Flyers Lose Fifth Straight in Late Loss to Bruins

The Philadelphia Flyers continue their March slump as they fell to the Boston Bruins 3-2 in late, heartbreaking fashion.

By Dan Heaning, Sports Talk Philly staff writer 

The Philadelphia Flyers stock is plummeting after a stretch that made them the hottest team in hockey. That stock continues to fall after the Orange and Black fell in late, heartbreaking fashion to the Boston Bruins by a 3-2 score.

With the score tied two apiece, the Bruins had the Flyers hemmed in their own zone. After playing the puck out to Zdeno Chara, David Pastrnak took several whacks at the Alex Lyon rebound, but the puck was deposited into the net by Brad Marchand, who once again was a pest all game.

The goal was scored with 22 seconds left in the third period which left head coach Dave Hakstol little to no choice to challenge it for offsides. The entry was deemed to be onside and the Flyers were doomed for their fifth straight loss.

The late tally comes with some controversy as an Andrew MacDonald icing could have been waved off as Chara attempted to play the puck but missed. However, the Flyers won the ensuing faceoff and cleared the zone leaving the icing as more of an excuse than anything else.

Despite the loss, Lyon played well in his first game action in just over two weeks as he stopped 24 of 27 shots and kept the tired Flyers in the game during a third period that was controlled by Boston.

Down 2-1 in the second stanza, the Flyers tied things up with their first shorthanded goal in quite some time. Jori Lehtera forced a turnover from Marchand with Radko Gudas recovering the puck and immediately finding Valtteri Filppula. Filppula rushed up the ice with Lehtera catching up from behind. Filppula saucer passed the puck to Lehtera who nearly lost the puck, regained control, shifted to the forehand and beat Tuukka Rask through the five-hole.

While that would be considered a soft goal by Rask, the Boston netminder was stellar for most of the game as he stopped 31 shots including some howitzers from Claude Giroux and Ivan Provorov.

The Bruins came out of the first period with a lead despite the Flyers outshooting them by a 16-9 margin and after allowing the first goal.

Towards the end of the period, Wayne Simmonds was tripped up by Tommy Wingels and play continued. Immediately afterward, Chara found Brian Gionta past the Flyers defense and the Bruins forward deked Lyon and backhanded into the net for a 2-1.

While some cry foul on that play, the first Bruins goal was a result of a careless turnover. After Philadelphia forced a Bruins turnover, Nolan Patrick attempted to skate the puck out of his own zone. Patrick had the puck taken from him by Matt Grzelcyk and the Bruins went back on the attack.

After missing a cross-ice feed, Pastrnak attempt to jam the puck past Lyon. Upon being stopped, Pastrnak performed a wraparound to score on the other side. He was denied, but Riley Nash jammed the rebound through and the puck deflected off Pastrnak's stick into the net for a tie game.

Early in the game, the Flyers went on the power play after Simmonds took a stick up high and was spitting blood from the bench. During the ensuing power play, Patrick's between-the-legs feed found an open Jake Voracek to give Philadelphia the first goal of the game.

Fortunately for the Flyers, the New Jersey Devils fell 3-2 in their game against the Winnipeg Jets so they didn't lose any ground in their playoff positioning to their Turnpike rivals. However, the Columbus Blue Jackets beat the Colorado Avalanche and are only four points back of Philadelphia now.

The Flyers will return to action on Saturday for a 1 p.m. matinee with those same Winnipeg Jets from the Wells Fargo Center. The game can be watched on NBC Sports Philadelphia with radio coverage on 97.5 The Fanatic.

Box Score

  1 2 3 T
Flyers 1 1 0
Bruins 2 0 1 3

Scoring Summary

1st Period

  • PHI -  Jake Voracek (16, 1:38) from Nolan Patrick (12) and Claude Giroux (57)
  • BOS – David Pastrnak (24, 9:14) from Brad Marchand (39) and Kevan Miller (11)
  • BOS – Brian Gionta (1, 19:34) from Zdeno Chara (14) and Tommy Wingels (7)

2nd Period

  • PHI -  Jori Lehtera (3, 7:21) from Valtteri Filppula (20) and Radko Gudas (9)

3rd Period

  • BOS – David Pastrnak (24, 9:14) from Brad Marchand (39) and Kevan Miller (11)

Game Statistics

  Flyers Bruins
Shots 33 27
Power Plays 1/5 0/3
Hits 22 32
Faceoff % 63% 37%
Giveaways 9 11
Takeaways 10 7
Blocked Shots 8 15
Penalty Minutes 6 10
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