Bruins Hold Off Flyers Furious Rally

(Photo: Kate Frese)

By Kevin Durso, Sports Talk Philly editor 

From the start, it was a disaster. The Flyers sluggishly played through preseason game No. 6 on the schedule, turning in a brutal first period. Even the team's newly-announced mascot couldn't stay on his feet in his first on-ice appearance.

The Bruins sent a team comprised of mainly minor-league players and dominated most of the game. The Flyers found themselves behind 4-0 early in the third period as a result.

A frantic rally nearly erased it all. The Flyers scored three times in 2:44 to cut the lead to one with 8:43 remaining in regulation. They could not get any closer though, as the Bruins held on for a 4-3 win over the Flyers at Wells Fargo Center on Monday night.

The Flyers came out slow and sluggish to start the period in a game against a Bruins lineup filled with AHL-level players. That didn't stop the Bruins from outplaying the Flyers in the opening period and taking a lead.

At 4:15, the Bruins opened the scored. Andrew MacDonald turned the puck over in the Flyers zone and then Claude Giroux failed to clear moments later. That allowed the Bruins to get the puck on net and Peter Cehlarik to knock a rebound past Brian Elliott for the game's first goal.

Just over five minutes later, the Bruins struck again as Brandon Carlo released a shot through a screen that clipped Elliott's shoulder and went in. 

After 20 minutes, the Bruins had outshot the Flyers, 13-8.

The Flyers started to push back in the second period, opening up a 13-1 shots advantage in the period at one point. The Flyers finally got an opportunity with a power play midway through the period and nearly cut the lead to one twice, once on a post before the penalty call and again on a deflection from in close by Giroux.

The Bruins were sent the other way with a chance off of the Flyers chance by Giroux and Chris Wagner was ahead of the field on a breakaway. He went to the backhand to beat Elliott to make it 3-0 Bruins with a shorthanded goal.

The Flyers outshot the Bruins, 18-8, in the second period. 

The Bruins padded the lead early in the third. Phil Myers threw a blind pass into the slot and Lee Stempniak stepped up for a one-timer that beat Elliott to make it 4-0.

The Flyers finally got on the board, shorthanded no less. A two-on-one was finished off by Dale Weise off a feed from Michael Raffl at 8:43 of the third.

Just over two minutes later, the Flyers capitalized on a power play. A quick tic-tac-toe passing play was finished off by Giroux for his first goal of the preseason.

Just 42 seconds after that, the Flyers struck again as Giroux set up Travis Konecny for a goal to cut the lead to one.

The Flyers had a couple of chances in the closing moments, but could not establish the pressure they had earlier in the period as the Bruins held on for the win.

Elliott made 24 saves on 28 shots in the defeat. Dan Vladar stopped 34 of 37 shots by the Flyers.

Box Score

Scoring Summary

1st Period

• BOS Peter Cehlarik (1) (Lee Stempniak, Matt Grzelcyk) 4:15
• BOS Brandon Carlo (1) (Stempniak, Cehlarik) 9:31

2nd Period

• BOS Chris Wagner (1) SH (Jeremy Lauzon) 12:37

3rd Period

• BOS Stempniak (1) (Unassisted) 2:05
• PHI Dale Weise (2) SH (Michael Raffl) 8:43
• PHI Claude Giroux (1) PP (James van Riemsdyk, Jake Voracek) 10:45
• PHI Travis Konecny (2) (Giroux, Robert Hagg) 11:27

Game Statistics