GOLD STAR: Pretty stellar game from Philly defenseman Travis Sanheim, who capped it all off by wheeling around the top of the offensive zone and picking a top corner on Tuukka Rask for the overtime game-winner. Sanheim finished with a goal and two points, had four shots on net and three blocked shots in 23:53 of ice time while playing strong hockey at both ends of the ice. Couple that with Bruins defenders that weren’t making plays when they tried to get aggressive offensively and you have a pretty good look at everything that’s going right with the Flyers right now and everything that’s going wrong with the Bruins over the last handful of weeks.
BLACK EYE: There is clearly a lot to go around with Zdeno Chara and Charlie McAvoy both making pretty grave errors on a killer first goal allowed at the end of the first period. But Brad Marchand also wasn’t very good despite finishing with an assist and a plus-1 rating in the game. He also didn’t have a shot on net while not even attempting a single shot during the game. Beyond that he then took a tripping penalty in overtime that gave the Flyers a 4-on-3 advantage against the Bruins, and ultimately set up the game-winning goal for Philly. Certainly it wasn’t the worst night ever for No. 63, but he is capable of a whole lot more than he gave on Thursday night.
TURNING POINT: One can go right to the first period where the Bruins were holding a 1-0 lead and were outshooting the Flyers by a 10-5 margin with just two minutes to go in the period. Then Charlie McAvoy decides to jump into the play and misses badly high and wide with a shot that ends up going right back the other way. Claude Giroux gets behind Zdeno Chara and Sean Kuraly trying to cover for McAvoy, and he buries a breakaway shot past Tuukka Rask in the final minute of the first period. The B’s had the game completely in their control and let it slip away with a lot of really sloppy play at a moment in time where they should have been razor-sharp focused. Those are the kinds of plays that lead to losing hockey.
HONORABLE MENTION: Give it up to David Pastrnak, who becomes the first Bruins player to score 30 goals before February since Bruins President and Hall of Famer Cam Neely back in 1993-94. Pastrnak potted No. 29 in the first period when he finished off a cross-ice pass from Torey Krug with one of his trademark one-timers from the face-off circle, and then he camped in front of the net for the second goal on a loose puck after a Patrice Bergeron point shot deflected in front of the net. Pastrnak finished with the two goals and a plus-1 rating in 17:27 of ice time, had a total of 10 shot attempts and threw a couple of hits for good measure in a great all-around game.
BY THE NUMBERS: 4-6 – the Bruins record in the 3-on-3 overtime this season after dropping Thursday night’s game in the extra session.
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QUOTE TO NOTE: “More self-inflicted damage from the back end tonight. [I am] very disappointed.” –Bruins head coach Bruce Cassidy not pulling any punches when throwing some criticism at his back end after the 3-2 OT loss to the Flyers.
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