The Flyers two losses since the trade deadline have followed a familiar theme. A scoring barrage took any chance of a victory and gaining valuable points away.
For two periods on Saturday, the Flyers delivered a quality road performance and were locked in a 2-2 tie. Then another three-goal outburst by the opposition essentially put the game out of reach.
The Flyers best effort to erase the deficit came up short, as they dropped a wild 6-5 decision to the Boston Bruins on Saturday night.
The Flyers used a rush in transition to get on the board first. At 4:18, Garnet Hathaway set up Ryan Poehling on a two-on-one to make it 1-0 Flyers on Poehling’s ninth of the season.
The Flyers maintained the one-goal lead until the final five minutes of the period. Travis Konecny nearly made it 2-0 on a breakaway, but was stopped twice by Jeremy Swayman. On the ensuing rush, Morgan Geekie fired a shot past Felix Sandstrom to make it 1-1 on his 16th of the season at 15:51.
Through 20 minutes, shots were 8-5 Flyers.
The Bruins came out firing in the second, but Sandstrom was up to the task, keeping the game locked at one. Just seconds after a power play, the Flyers took the lead back.
Joel Farabee deflected a Cam York shot for his 20th goal of the season, making it a 2-1 game at 12:01.
The Bruins tied the game back up with 4:38 left in the period on a power play. A breakdown off a face-off allowed Brad Marchand to be wide open in front of the net. He made a pass to a wide open Charlie Coyle, who buried it for his 22nd goal of the season.
Through two periods, shots are 20-18 Boston.
It took just 1:08 for the Bruins to take the lead. It was Coyle getting his second goal of the game, weaving through the Flyers defense and going upstairs on Sandstrom.
Just under three minutes later, the Bruins extended the lead off another breakdown. John Beecher stayed with the play in front of the net, putting home his own rebound to make it 4-2. Just 19 seconds later, Jake DeBrusk made a move around Sandstrom to tuck home his 17th goal of the season and make it 5-2.
The Flyers cut the lead to two with 5:48 to play as Nick Deslauriers finished on a wraparound for his first goal of the season. Just 62 seconds later, Morgan Frost scored a beautiful between-the-legs goal to cut the lead to one and give the Flyers life.
Just as the Flyers were pressing for the game-tying goal, a counter-rush the other way resulted in another goal as Danton Heinen beat Sandstrom to make it 6-4 with 2:59 to play.
The Flyers didn’t go quietly, as Farabee scored his second goal of the game to cut the lead back to one with 2:04 to play.
That was as close as the Flyers would get, falling in regulation for the third time in the last four games.
Sandstrom made 24 saves on 30 shots in the loss. Swayman made 24 saves on 29 shots in the win.
In addition to Farabee’s two-goal game, Owen Tippett had three assists and York had two assists. Coyle had two goals, DeBrusk had a goal and an assist, Marchand and Hampus Lindholm had two assists.
The Flyers return to the ice on Tuesday night at home against the Toronto Maple Leafs at 7 p.m.
Box Score
| 1 | 2 | 3 | T | |
| Flyers | 1 | 1 | 3 | 5 |
| Bruins | 1 | 1 | 4 | 6 |
Scoring Summary
1st Period
- PHI Ryan Poehling (9) (Garnet Hathaway, Egor Zamula) 4:18
- BOS Morgan Geekie (16) (Jake DeBrusk, Parker Wotherspoon) 15:51
2nd Period
- PHI Joel Farabee (20) (Cam York, Owen Tippett) 12:01
- BOS Charlie Coyle (22) PP (Brad Marchand, Pavel Zacha) 15:22
3rd Period
- BOS Coyle (23) (David Pastrnak, Hampus Lindholm) 1:08
- BOS John Beecher (6) (Andrew Peeke, Jesper Boqvist) 3:45
- BOS DeBrusk (17) (Marchand, Lindholm) 4:04
- PHI Nick Deslauriers (1) (Unassisted) 14:12
- PHI Morgan Frost (11) (Tippett, York) 15:14
- BOS Danton Heinen (13) (Trent Frederic) 17:01
- PHI Farabee (21) (Tippett, Travis Konecny) 17:56
Game Statistics
| Flyers | Bruins | |
| Shots | 29 | 30 |
| Power Play | 0/3 | 1/2 |
| Hits | 35 | 36 |
| Faceoff % | 50% | 50% |
| Giveaways | 9 | 11 |
| Takeaways | 5 | 3 |
| Blocked Shots | 16 | 22 |
| Penalty Minutes | 8 | 10 |
