Halak, Bruins Blank Flyers in Boston

By Kevin Durso, Sports Talk Philly editor 

The Flyers did not allow a goal in the first period. It didn't stop the trend of allowing the first goal of the game.

It took 33 minutes for the Bruins to strike, but Zdeno Chara's goal to open the scoring was the only one needed in a 3-0 Flyers loss to the Bruins on Thursday night at TD Garden.

The Flyers got off to a better start, holding the Bruins to seven shots in the first period and limiting chances for most of the period, even surviving a penalty kill. Shots were even, 7-7, after a scoreless first period.

In the second, the Flyers started to generate chances, but Jaroslav Halak came up big. He stopped Claude Giroux on a partial breakaway. He robbed Giroux later in the period on a two-on-one.

With seven minutes remaining in the period, the Bruins finally broke the ice. Andrew MacDonald turned the puck over in the defensive zone. Danton Heinen made one quick pass back to Chara for the blast and he scored through traffic, marking the ninth time in 10 games that the Flyers allowed the first goal.

Just over four minutes later, with the Bruins on a power play, they extended the lead. David Krejci threw a puck toward the net for Jake DeBrusk, who was uncovered right at the top of the crease for an easy redirection past Brian Elliott.

The Flyers had four straight minutes of power play time in the third, but failed to score and generate much of anything. The lack of discipline came into play late, as the Flyers were shorthanded for the final four minutes of the game thanks to a scrum that sent Scott Laughton off for roughing with a 10-minute misconduct and an interference penalty on Oskar Lindblom, serving Laughton's minor, for touching the puck before exiting the penalty box.

Chara scored on the ensuing power play with 22 seconds left by firing from behind his own goal line and into an empty net to cap the scoring.

Elliott stopped 22 of 24 shots in the loss. Halak made 26 saves to post a shutout.

The Flyers were 0-for-3 on the power play, bringing them to 1-for-17 on the man-advantage in their last six games. The Bruins were 2-for-5 on the power play, including Chara's empty-net tally.

The Flyers return home to face the New York Islanders on Saturday afternoon. Game time is at 1 p.m.

Box Score

Scoring Summary

1st Period

• No Scoring

2nd Period

• BOS Zdeno Chara (2) (Danton Heinen) 13:00
• BOS Jake DeBrusk (3) PP (David Krejci, Steve Kampfer) 17:28

3rd Period

• BOS Chara (3) EN-PP (Jaroslav Halak) 19:37

Game Statistics