After wiping out one-goal deficits twice, the Bruins couldn’t do it a third time. For the second time in as many Saturdays, Boston and Philadelphia played a wild third period, but this time the Flyers came out on top.
The home team scored with 1:29 left to break a tie and give Philly a 3-2 win as Boston started its six-game road trip on a down note on Saturday at Wells Fargo Center.
The Bruins (41-16-15) will play back-to-back games in Florida beginning with Tuesday’s showdown with the Panthers.
After a scoreless first and mostly quiet second period, Travis Konecny scored a power-play goal with 1:45 left before the second intermission to give the Flyers a 1-0 lead.
Justin Brazeau continued his recent hot streak, solving Samuel Ersson with 9:41 left to tie the game. Brazeau faked a shot on his forehand and then deftly switched to backhand and he came across the net front to tuck the puck behind the goalie to make it 1-1.
After Travis Konecny put the Flyers back ahead with 4:44 left, the Bruins answered less than a minute later. Morgan Geekie threaded a perfect pass to Danton Heinen, who beat Ersson with 3:48 left to re-tie the game at 2-2.
Linus Ullmark made 26 saves including two on breakaways against Scott Laughton and Owen Tippett, but Tyson Foerster beat him high on the glove side with 1:19 left to provide the difference.
Here are 3 Takeaways from the Bruins’ second straight loss:
The Rangers could jump the Bruins — The Rangers could jump the Bruins for the most points in the Eastern Conference and the NHL on Saturday night. Boston’s failure to get any points against the Flyers left them stuck on 97 points in 72 games.
The Rangers (96 points in 70 games) will host the Panthers (94 in 69) later on Saturday night. The Canucks (96 in 70) host Calagray late on Saturday too.
Both teams’ captains played — Flyers captain Sean Couturier was back in the lineup after being a controversial healthy scratch earlier in the week. Brad Marchand was dressed for Boston after Jim Montgomery left the door open for him to sit out after he missed Friday’s practice.
The Bruins dodged a bullet with Marchand in the first period when he was on the receiving end of a knee-to-knee pass. While those can often produce injures, Marchand stayed in the game and played 18:04.
Mason Lohrei returns — Rookie defenseman Mason Lohrei had an assist in his return to the lineup, but perhaps more importantly he had no giveaways and two hits in 16:21.