Marco’s teams sure love the drama, don’t they?
1st Period
Things didn’t start great, as the Bruins gave up a power play to the Flyers, and while they are a team with deep, crushing flaws, there is a lot of very talented players on it. Travis Sanheim being one of them. This is noteworthy primarily because the Bruins apparently missed him as he glided effectively unmarked into the slot and potted home the opening goal. 1-0 Flyers.
Then, Boston slowly tried to claw their way back into the game, putting a number
of achingly long sequences of attempting chance after chance on net, until they finally broke through at the last second with Johnny Beecher taking a puck right away from Alex Bump, and then tucking it neatly behind Sam Ersson! 1-1 Everybody!
As that was the literal last second of the period, we move on to the 2nd!
2nd Period
Things looked like they were gonna stay better as the B’s got an early power play, and Dalton Bancroft got a couple of really nice looks; eventually slamming the puck home on the rebound of his own shot! 2-1 Bruins!
Then things got a little squirrely. The Bruins attempted to leave their own zone and failed, and the Flyers moved the puck down towards the net. Michkov popped the puck up and over DiPietro’s head, and Nikita Grebenkin batted it home to tie the game again. 2-2 Everybody.
Then, the Flyers got another Power Play. Trevor Zegras is on the Flyers.
Don’t do that! 3-2 Flyers.
Mercifully, the Bruins did get things evened up before the end of the period, with Dalton Bancroft and Georgii Merkulov going on a quick break from a stretch pass to power to the net and even things up! 3-3 Everybody!
Great pass by Frederic Brunet on this one. Just caught the Flyers asleep at the wheel.
No further scoring, and we head to the final frame.
3rd Period
The Bruins held their own for a good portion of this period, which frustrated Philly to no end, and it finally paid off as another stretch pass got to Jeffrey Viel, who was able to get it around a Flyers defender, power to the net, get Sam Ersson to flop down, and he would score the game-winner in spectacular fashion!
Bruins win 4-3!
Game Notes
- Your TOI Leader was Henri Jokiharju, who just beat out Hampus Lindholm for this spot by playing 21:43.
- Once again the Bruins struggled out of the gate. The Flyers definitely have a bunch of really fun and interesting talents on their roster, and one could even expect to see half of them out here for Game 1 of the regular season once we get there, and it created a pretty early 1-0 situation. To their credit, Boston absolutely began peppering Sam Ersson with chances; leaving the Flyers effectively under siege for a good portion of the first period, and was finally able to break through before the buzzer. From there, the B’s kind of rode the waves of momentum as they took the lead, lost it again, and then slowly built themselves back up from that point, ending in the Viel go-ahead. It was not pretty at any point, the offense at times looked like an armadillo trying to mate with a rock, but they got it done in the end.
- Have a game there, Dalton Bancroft. Two goals; one on the power play, and one from a Merkulov stretch pass that gave him a quick break. Excellent work by that young man tonight.
- Jeffrey Viel had himself a real chance at redemption and he took it; starting the game with the first penalty of the night that the Flyers scored on, and then got the game winner. Duality of man, I suppose, but his power move to the net was fantastic. Loved that he forced the Flyers D to scramble like that.
- Boy, Hampus Lindholm sure doesn’t seem like he’s been recovering from a major injury; he played a good long game, was the 2nd best player on the team from on-ice impact (and probably the best if we’re taking out players with sheltered deployment), and man he was moving like he was never injured in the first place. That’s a major weight off the shoulders of Bruins’ fans seeing him at what is hopefully 100%. We are going to Need That.
- I told you all that Mikey Eyssimont is a helluva bottom six forward, I went and told you. And now here he is, being a little thing king. Decent little game from him; physical in the right way, kept himself useful all night.
- I wrote the Preseason check in for Mason Lohrei, and again, I swear to god I am trying with him. I can see where his game has strengths! It is just so hard to see them clearly when he’s doing something unimaginably stupid at least once a period; stupid things like throwing his broken stick at a player with the puck! You’re a big boy who can knock people down! Get in the way! You’re lucky DiPietro made that save on a penalty shot or you would be the focal point of this piece! As the B’s defensive depth is pretty thin at the moment, we are increasingly coming up on this no longer being cute!
- I’m not gonna be super harsh on DiPietro, because at this point I think I know where we are on him. He can handle himself for a good portion of the game, he is very swim-y in his crease; trying to keep up with pucks seems to be a real point of concern for him, and he loses the puck a lot more often than he probably should. But you wanna know who he was better than tonight? Sam Ersson, and that’s what mattered; especially in the third period. Decent ending to his night, .889 SV% which is understandable, and a feeling that Providence calls for this young man.
B’s take the rest of the weekend off, and then get right back to it with a game on Monday evening against the Flyers at TD Garden. That game starts at 7pm EST.
We’ll see you there!
