As with any sport involving a clock, momentum can shift over the course of an entire game. For the Flyers, it shifted three times.
They seemed to have momentum following Zac Rinaldo's five-minute major for charging gave them a lengthy power play to start the second period. After five minutes, the Flyers had no shots and had allowed a shorthanded goal to boot. Momentum was in Boston's favor.
Then with 12 minutes left in the third, Steve Mason took momentum back. His save on David Pastrnak kept the deficit at two. Moments later, Claude Giroux and Wayne Simmonds had scored to tie the game.
The comeback was complete and would lead to two points as Giroux added his second goal on an overtime power play.
The Flyers could have hung their heads through two periods, looking at the fact that down by two with 20 minutes to play was just too insurmountable. Instead, they turned in a strong period to erase the deficit, another early statement for the character this team could possess.
It was an ugly game otherwise, but the reward for an admirable finish was two points the Flyers will gladly take.
"Not a lot of things went right [in the second period.] We didn't have a very good period," head coach Dave Hakstol said. "The guys went in the room, they regrouped and they came out with a real good mentality. I think that's most important."
Mason's save seemed to be the turning point. With time starting to run out on the Flyers, Mason saved what appeared to be a sure goal and that started up the Flyers comeback.
"It was a big moment," Mason said. "At the same time, those are things I expect from myself and the team expects from the goaltender. It turns out that in tonight's game it kickstarted things."
"We kind of had a little breather after that and said maybe that's the turning point," Giroux said. "I think the whole period after that the whole team started playing with second effort. That's the kind of team we want to be. We want to work hard."
Adversity is often times always an obstacle. The Flyers had to overcome it in many ways. They dealt with losing two players to injuries. They had to overcome the two-goal deficit in the third. At one point, Hakstol even switched up the top line, just for a moment, replacing Jake Voracek with Simmonds.
On the next shift, Voracek was reunited with the top line, and they scored.
"A lot of things happened during the game," Giroux said. "When you miss players and they leave, the lines get a little mixed up. It starts with the coaches and all of the players to make sure we're aware on the bench. Everybody was pretty dialed in tonight."
Another one of those moments was the hit by Rinaldo that took Sean Couturier out of the game. Rinaldo was given a major penalty for charging and a game misconduct. A discipline hearing will follow.
"I'm not going to comment on it," Giroux said. "I just hope Coots is okay."
"I'm not even going to comment on that hit at all," Hakstol said. "There's no place for it. That's all I have to say."
For a team that struggled to get the energy back in Tuesday's game, they certainly brought it in the third period and found a way to get the second point. The first 40 minutes weren't much of a statement for the Flyers, but the comeback says a lot about the character of this team, even for a game that didn't show the Flyers best side.
"It's never easy going into an opposing building in the third period being down," Mason said. "That's the way we want to play, how we played in the third period. I think the guys showed a lot of character there."
Kevin Durso is managing editor for Flyerdelphia. Follow him on Twitter @Kevin_Durso.
