Postgame Report: Boston Bruins vs Philadelphia Flyers- September 23rd, 2019 (Preseason)

The Bruins kicked off the home portion of their preseason schedule with a 4-3 OT win over the Flyers tonight. It was a quick game with not many whistles, and overall, when you consider the fact that its the preseason and these guys aren’t used to playing together and/or won’t play in the NHL this season, it was a pretty good game. Yes, there were a lot of mistakes made, but that’s to be expected in the preseason, especially from the young guys. The most important things are that the veterans looked pretty good and like they were getting ready to play real games, and the young guns got some time with and against NHL players, which will certainly help their development. So, with those things in mind, tonight’s game was pretty good overall, and it always helps when it ends in a win! Here’s a period-by-period breakdown of what happened.

First Period: The Bruins got off to a strong start. They got the first power play of the game fairly early on, as goaltender Brian Elliot shot the puck over the glass, so James van Riemsdyk was sent to serve the two-minute delay-of-game penalty. 1:39 later, Carsen Twarynski was sent to the box for high-sticking Charlie Coyle, so the Bruins had 21 seconds of a 5-on-3. Not only did the Bruins not score during their nearly four-minute span of power-play time, but because some things never change, they gave up several odd-man rushes and a near breakaway. Thankfully, Tuukka Rask stood tall and covered for the team’s mistakes, so the game remained scoreless. Unfortunately for the Bruins, David Krejci got tangled up in front of the net about five minutes into the game, and he retreated to the dressing room. The teams then went back and forth for a little bit, with Boston controlling the play a little more than Philly. Jakub Lauko then showed off his incredible speed, did a nice self-pass off the boards, and buried his first of the preseason in the top corner from a bad angle 9:32 into the period! Shortly after, Frederic sent Marchand on a breakaway, but unfortunately, Elliot was able to make the save. Not too long after that, Travis Konecny tied it up for Philly with 7:16 to go in the period. Not a great look for the Bruins defense, and there wasn’t much Rask was going to do because of that. The period then continued pretty uneventfully, and the teams headed back into their respective dressing rooms tied at one. Shots were 10-7 in favor of the Bruins in the first period.

Second Period: The second period began with a bang, as just 1:03 in, Marchand and Pastrnak executed a beautiful two-on-one, with Marchand first passing it to Pastrnak and then “Pasta” doing a nice fake shot before sliding it over to Marchand, who buried it. I must say, I really missed plays like that! Not much notable happened for a little bit after that, until the Bruins released a statement saying Krejci would not return to the game due to a lower-body injury. That was not good news, but thankfully we found out after the game that they were just being careful and didn’t want to risk further injury, as it often is during the preseason, and they didn’t think it was too serious, but they’ll know more tomorrow. Let’s hope that it is in fact nothing serious, and Krejci is good to go soon. But anyways, about midway through the period tempers started to flare, and big scrums broke out around the nets after a few of the whistles. But, nothing more came of them, and play continued. The period seemed to fly by, as there were very few whistles, and shortly before the end of it, Rask made a great save to preserve the Bruins lead by stacking his pads. The period then ended, with Philly holding a 17-14 shot advantage.

Third Period: Dan Vladar took over for Rask in net to start the third period, as Rask decided that two periods was a good enough workload for him and he didn’t want to risk injury anymore when it wasn’t necessary. The period started pretty uneventfully, but with 15:18 remaining in the period, Twarynski scored off a huge cluster in front of the Boston net to tie the game. Shortly thereafter, Kuraly got sent to the box on a clear holding call, and then Trent Frederic scored a goal in his own net with 13:12 remaining in the period. That was fun to watch (not). It was credited to Connor Bunnaman, and Philly took the lead for the first time in the game. The teams then went back and forth without a whistle for nearly six minutes until Vladar covered it, but unfortunately, the Bruins also went that whole span (plus a little more) without a shot on goal, which is not ideal when you’re trailing in a game. The teams then continued their back and forth play, and just as we were starting to wonder when Cassidy would pull Vladar, Wagner tied the game with a nice deke out front and off a great feed from Kuraly with 1:45 left in the period! The period then ended uneventfully, and the teams prepared for OT, with Philly holding a heavy shot advantage, 31-20.

Overtime: The Bruins started OT with the questionable trio of Wagner, Kuraly, and Clifton, but Cassidy must’ve had some reasoning for it, and no harm ended up coming of it. The first minute or so passed pretty uneventfully until Vladar made a great save off a Philly breakaway to keep the game alive! Shortly after that, the Bruins headed to the power-play as Kevin Hayes got called for what was clearly interference with 3:48 left in OT. The Bruins got a few great chances and had good puck movement, which created a lot of chaos in front of the net, during which Jake DeBrusk managed to push the puck past Elliot for the game-winning goal! The play was reviewed to see if the whistle was blown before the puck crossed the line, but they ruled it had not and so the Bruins won the game 4-3!

As I said, this was far from a perfect game from the Bruins, but considering the circumstances involved with preseason hockey, it was a pretty good game overall. The veterans got some touches and got to work on their timing a little bit, and the young guns got some experience playing with and against NHL players, and in some cases, continue to push for a roster spot. That’s what the preseason is really all about, as in the end while it’s obviously great to win, it doesn’t really count for anything. The Bruins are back in action on Wednesday night when they take on the New Jersey Devils at 7:00 pm ET at the TD Garden, and the game will be broadcast on NESNplus.