The Boston Bruins blew a 5-2 second period lead, and would fall in a shootout 6-5 to the Philadelphia Flyers at Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Monday night. The loss ends a three game win streak, but does extend to a four game points streak for Boston.
The visiting Bruins were staked to a 2-0 lead when Anders Bjork opened the scoring at 4:15 of the first, and David Krejci scored on the powerplay at 16:49. The Flyers cut it to a goal when Kevin Hayes scored a powerplay marker at 18:22. After Bostons David Pastrnak and Philadelphias Travis Sanheim exchanged goals in the first 1:12 of the second period, Charlie Coyle and Krejci scored back to back goals 2:31 apart at 4:50 and 7:21 to make it 5-2 Bruins. The Flyers stormed back when Sean Couturier and Connor Bunnaman scored 1:34 apart at 13:12 and 14:46 to cut it to 5-4. It was the first career goal for Bunnaman. Sanheim would send the game to overtime when he scored his second goal of the game at 12:58 of the third period.
Both teams had many scoring chances in overtime, with the Bruins and Flyers both having at least two or three odd man rushes each but Boston goalie Jaroslav Halak and Philadelphia goalie Carter Hart kept the pucks out to send it to a shootout. The Flyers Travis Konecny scored off the right post in the fifth round of the shootout for the only goal. Brad Marchand had a chance to send it to the sixth round, but as he built up a head of steam to break in on Hart he nudged the puck but lost it off his stick and the game ended without a chance. The officials met to discuss the play for a brief moment but signaled the game was over, and because Marchand made contact with the puck it is considered a shot attempt.
Halak made 34 saves in the loss for Boston (27-8-12). Bjork and Coyle each had a goal and an assist, Krejci had two goals, and Danton Heinen and Jake Debrusk each had two assists. 42 year old defenseman Zdeno Chara also played in his 1,000th game as a Bruin, all as a captain. Hart made 26 saves in the win for Philadelphia (24-16-6). Couturier had a goal and two assists, and Sanheim had two goals. The Bruins were 1-2 on the powerplay, while the Flyers were 1-3. Boston is at Columbus Tuesday night at 7. The black and gold are just one point behind Washington and St Louis for the best record in the NHL.
