The Bruins got points from 11 different skaters on Saturday afternoon, extending Philly’s season-opening misery with a 5-1 win at TD Garden.
Fraser Minten led the way for the B’s, with the youngster recording a goal and two assists.
Casey Mittelstadt, Pavel Zacha, Marat Khusnutdinov, and Mason Lohrei recorded the other Bruin goals.
Jeremy Swayman didn’t have a ton to do in this one, as he made just 14 saves in the win.
In spite of outshooting the Flyers 22-8 through two periods, the B’s kind of let Philly
hang around at just 2-0 down; however, they outscored the Flyers 3-1 in the third period to salt this one away.
The loss extended the Flyers’ season-opening losing streak to six games, giving Rick Tocchet one of the hotter seats in the hockey world at the moment.
Zacha’s goal, his first of the season, kind of epitomized Philly’s start to the season: the play only came about because Owen Tippett knocked the puck back into his own zone, directly to David Pastrnak.
Zacha’s shot somehow trickled past Dan Vladar, and it was 1-0 Bruins early in the first.
The score would remain the same until the final three minutes of the second period, when Lohrei cashed in on a well-executed 4-on-2 rush to make it 2-0 Bruins.
Khusnutdinov beat Tyson Foerster to the net two minutes into the third period and cashed in on a great Minten pass to make it 3-0 Bruins.
Porter Martone got one back for Philly five minutes later, as the B’s gave the young forward too much space on the power play, and he didn’t miss. 3-1 Bruins.
However, Mittelstadt would reestablish the three-goal lead just three minutes later, tucking home a great pass from Elias Lindholm to make it 4-1 Bruins.
After an afternoon spent dishing the puck out, Minten got a goal of his own late in the third, speeding past multiple Flyers before getting a bit of a fortuitous bounce to beat Vladar five-hole and make it 5-1 Bruins.
And that was it!
Bruins win, 5-1.
Game notes
- By my count, Minten has had three three-point games as a Bruin, and two of them have been against the Flyers. Along with today’s effort, Minten had a 1G-2A game against Philly on January 29; his other three-pointer was a 2G-1A outing in the B’s 10-2 blowout win over the Rangers on January 10.
- On a day when the scoring was spread around, the only other Bruin with a multi-point day was JJ Peterka. The forward was credited with primary assists on both Lohrei’s and Minten’s goals.
- Speaking of the Minten goal, that one will not be going on the Noel Acciari Highlight Reel. The former Bruin got caught getting back on defense in the neutral zone, and he barely got a sight of Minten as he sped past. Adios.
- James Hagens, who ended up with an assist on the goal as well, made a great play at his own blue line prior to Mittelstadt’s goal. He was able to cleanly corral an outlet pass with his skate, then immediately turn the puck up ice and hit a teammate in stride. That started the clean zone entry, and the rest was history.
- Unfortunately, the B’s did not, in fact, maintain power play momentum from the Utah game in this one, going 0-for-2 on the afternoon.
- If you’re a Flyers fan, this game probably epitomizes your season thus far. The Flyers turn it over at the blue line and Zacha’s shot somehow trickles in, a blocked shot leads to a 4-on-2 the other way, Minten’s shot ends up banking five-hole and in instead of getting stuck, etc. One of those stretches for Philly, I guess.
- Minten actually ended his afternoon shortly after his goal, as he was given 2-and-10 for tangling with Martone after a hit on Hampus Lindholm that Minten didn’t like. I’m not sure he was actively angling for the Gordie Howe Hat Trick, but he came pretty close.
The B’s will now make their annual sojourn out to California, as they’ll play the Sharks, Ducks, and Kings on Tuesday, Friday, and Saturday, respectively.
Enjoy the rest of your weekend!
