By: Chad Jones | Follow me on Twitter/X @ShutUpChadJones
On Saturday night, the Boston Bruins beat the Philadelphia Flyers 4-3 in their third preseason game. Bruins Head Coach Marco Sturm has been victorious in two of his three preseason contests, both of which have come on the road.
First Period
After Jeffrey Truchon went to the penalty box for goaltender interference near the halfway point of the period, the Flyers went to work on the man advantage. Philadelphia was icing multiple solidified skaters and had talent on the power play. Travis Sanheim potted a five-on-four goal past Michael DiPietro after a slick back-door feed from Christian Dvorak.
As the opening period was winding down, it looked like Boston would be heading into intermission down a goal. But with only a few ticks left on the clock, Alex Bump lost the puck deep in Philadelphia’s zone. Johnny Beecher hopped on the loose change and slid the puck underneath Samuel Ersson’s five-hole to knot the game at one aside with less than a second left in the frame.
Second Period
After not generating much on their first power play, Travis Konecny’s back-to-back penalties early in the frame allowed the Bruins to find their stride on the man advantage. Dalton Bancroft recovered the puck after having his first attempt blocked. He then promptly ripped one home on the power play to give the Bruins their first lead of the night. Hampus Lindholm, playing in his first game since shattering his kneecap last November, picked up an assist on the goal along with Mason Lohrei.
The Flyers would respond with two goals in the middle frame. Nikita Grebenkin crashed the blue paint and batted the puck out of the air to tie the game with an impressive score. Speaking of impressive, Matvei Michkov put his skillset on display by drawing Boston’s penalty killers’ attention before finding Trevor Zegras near the goal line. The former Boston University Terrier ripped the puck into the back of the net to propel Philadelphia back in front.
But the Bruins would again answer the bell. Frederic Brunet beautifully laid an outlet pass right on the tape of Georgii Merkulov, who turned on the afterburners entering Philadelphia’s zone. Merkulov found Bancroft streaking down the right wing. The winger then promptly sniped home his second goal of the contest to tie the game with a little over four minutes left in the period.
Third Period
After no goals were scored for the first 13 minutes of the frame, Jeffrey Viel put together one heck of an individual effort to put the Bruins ahead in the final frame. Viel chipped the puck past Helge Grans and then scooted past the Flyers defenseman. The winger then buried a wrist shot to reclaim the lead for the Bruins.
Boston again went onto the penalty kill with just over three minutes left in the contest after Riley Duran was called for goaltender interference. The Flyers pulled their goaltender to produce a six-on-four but failed to score.
Philadelphia kept the pressure on during the six-on-five when the penalty expired, but Boston stood firm to secure the victory. Despite allowing three goals in the first two periods, DiPietro kept the Flyers off the scoreboard for the final 20 minutes.
It was a solid 60-minute effort from Boston. The Bruins were victorious despite the Flyers dressing many of their top skaters. Boston and Philadelphia will battle again Monday night at TD Garden.
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