By: Liz Rizzo | Follow me on Twitter @pastagrl88
It may be cold out but the TD Garden was hot tonight as the Bruins served their fans a hearty helping of pasta, winning their second back-to-back game. David Pastrnak nabbed his 11th career hat trick giving the edge to the B’s as they defeated the Flyers 3-2. Bruins’ Phil Esposito, Cam Neely, and Johnny Bucyk have more hat tricks in Bruins history.
GAME RECAP
The boys in Black and Gold wasted no time as Pastrnak opened up the scoring at 1:51 to make it 1-0 early in the first period as he whipped the puck past Carter Hart. Erik Haula and Taylor Hall were credited with the assists.
The Flyer’s Nick Seeler was called for holding against Anton Blidh giving the B’s their first power play of the night. A minute into the man-advantage David Pastrnak once again scored, giving Boston a 2-0 lead.
Within moments, the Bruins were back on the power play as Ivan Provorov was called for hi-sticking against Charlie Coyle. No goal during the power play. A scrum broke out with a little over four minutes left to the period that saw Pastrnak head off in the penalty box for interference giving the Flyers their first man-advantage of the night. The Bruins were able to kill the penalty as they lead Philly 2-0 at the end of the period.
SCORE END OF FIRST: BOS-2, PHI-0
SHOTS ON GOAL: BOS-12, PHI-6
A chippy start to the second as the Flyer’s Zach MacEwan and Boston Tyler Lewington chucked some knucks. Both players skated off the ice for fighting. Unfortunately, Boston’s Tomas Nosek would be called for interference (much to the chagrin of fans).
The Flyers took advantage and scored their first goal of the night via Cam Atkinson. Both teams were down a man as Pastrnak and Max Willman went to the penalty box for roughing. No goal for either team during the four-on-four action. Philly’s Joel Farabee would tie the game at two apiece, however, the celebrations were short-lived.
Soon after the goal, Justin Braun would be sent to the box for tripping against Craig Smith. The Bruins’ power play quickly turned to a five-on-three man advantage as Max Willman was once again was called for hooking against David Pastrnak. Hats were thrown as number 88 scored his third goal of the night, giving the B’s a 3-2 lead to close out the second.
SCORE END OF SECOND: BOS-3, PHI-2
SHOTS ON GOAL: BOS-17, PHI-9
Despite the Bruins bombarding and swarming Philly’s net, Carter Hart kept up on his skates making it a close game. The Flyers were thisclose to tying the game as the puck rang off the post. Philly continued to put pressure on Rask as they looked to score their third goal. They would get on the five-on-three man-advantage as both Coyle and Carlo were sent to the box (about a minute apart).
Boston was able to kill both power plays as time was ticking away. With three and half minutes left to the period, Philly would have the extra skater on as they pulled Hart out of the net. The Flyers left no stone unturned however were unable to send this game into overtime. The Bruins’ hot streak continues with tonight’s 3-2 win.
END OF GAME SCORE: BOS-3, PHI-2
TOTAL SHOTS ON GOAL: BOS-36, PHI-27
With tonight’s game, the Bruins have now won the last seven out of eight games. The Flyers have lost the last five out of six games. Both David Pastrnak and Brad Marchand had back-to-back hat tricks in back-to-back games. The last time that happened was in 1982 when Barry Pederson himself posted back-to-back hat tricks in back-to-back games on Dec 4 and 5th.
In his first game since off-season hip surgery, goaltender Tuukka Rask made 25 saves on 27 shots. The Bruins are now 21-11-2 and are not far behind the Toronto Maple Leafs for third in the Atlantic Division.
NEXT GAME: Saturday, January 15th against Nashville Predators, with puck drop after 1:00 pm, TD Garden
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