By: Ryan Bosworth | Follow me on Twitter/X @RyanJBosworth
The Boston Bruins were back on Causeway Street for their final game of a three-game homestand, hosting the Philadelphia Flyers in a Saturday matinee before heading out west for a four-game road trip.
The Bruins (3-2-0) came into today’s game off a 6-1 win over the Utah Mammoth. Philadelphia (0-2-2) came into today’s game still looking for their first win of the season.
Heading into Thursday’s game against Utah, head coach Marco Sturm threw all of his lines into the blender, and gave the lineup a major shakeup, which clearly paid dividends. Today’s game would feature the same roster, with Jeremy Swayman between the pipes. Here’s how today’s game went down:
Strong Start
Today’s start was undoubtedly the Bruins’ best start of the season. They were absolutely hemming the Flyers from puck drop. It took them almost 14 minutes to break the deadlock, but they were able to do it, thanks to the combination of Pavel Zacha and David Pastrnak.
Beyond opening the scoring, the Bruins were playing to all of their strengths, playing simple, smart hockey. They kept the Flyers to the outside, limited their shots on Swayman, played the body and didn’t allow them to generate any offensive zone momentum. The Bruins did get a little sloppy toward the end, but it really wasn’t drastic and they reeled it in to finish the frame strong.
Building Blocks
The Bruins were definitely build on the momentum they built in the first. While this period wasn’t quite as strong as the first period, they definitely didn’t take their foot off the gas, which tends to be an issue for this team. The Bruins saw a power play opportunity, and it was definitely the part of the period where they struggled the most — they just couldn’t generate anything like they’d been doing when it’s five-on-five.
Mason Lohrei scored the lone goal of the period, putting the Bruins up two — continuing his really strong start to the young season. With some newfound breathing room as the period trickled down, the Bruins were in a really good spot to keep the Flyers winless through their first six games of the season.
Explosive Finish
A theme that hasn’t been too uncommon for the Bruins this season is their offense really taking off in the final frame, and we saw that theme again today. The Bruins came into the final frame with a lead of just 2-1. Less than two minutes in, Marat Khusnutdinov would add a third and you could definitely sense the Bruins got a tad comfortable with their lead, as Philadelphia’s Porter Martone would add a goal of his own to chop Boston’s lead to two.
With a lead of just 3-1, Boston needed to add insurance, and they did just that, as they’d score two more to make it a score of 5-1 thanks to Casey Mittelstadt and Fraser Minten. The score of 5-1 would prove to be the final, and the Bruins put themselves in a good position as they head out on their west coast road trip, with a record of 4-2-0.
What makes it even more impressive is they were able do this in the absence of their number one defenseman in Charlie McAvoy. McAvoy’s suspension is officially over, and he’ll return to the ice on Tuesday’s game against the San Jose Sharks out west.
Highlights
- Mason Lohrei (2-2-4) scores his second goal of the year
- J.J. Peterka scores his 200th career point
- Jeremy Swayman stays undefeated on the season
- Pavel Zacha and Marat Khusnutdinov each scored their first goal of the season
- Fraser Minten registered three points in today’s game (1-2-3), his 9th-career multi-point game
- The Bruins have 14 different goal scorers through their first six games, most in the league.
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