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Flyers battle all the way back, beat Bruins in shootout thanks to Brad Marchand gaffe

Posted on by Mike Dusak

After a shaky first shift in which the Flyers were flopping all over their own zone like a fish out of water, they settled down a bit trying to match the Bruins’ energy.

But surviving the first shift wasn’t much to hang their hat on as the Flyers would surrender the first goal in bad fashion. Philippe Myers was dragged to the net and watched Anders Bjork slide the puck past Carter Hart to make it 1-0 Bruins less than five minutes in.

Not ideal.

Midway through the first the Flyers weren’t producing much in the Bruins zone, though Travis Konecny tried to jump start the offense with a burst down the wing but forcing a weak shot in on Jaroslav Halak.

Matt Niskanen would follow with a real chance shortly, but his shot hit the iron behind Halak to keep the Flyers off the board after their first flurry in the Bruins’ end.

After failing on a power play of their own earlier in the period, the Bruins wouldn’t waste their chance. David Krejci crashed the net and made it 2-0 Bruins with a little over three minutes left in the first off a nice feed from Danton Heinen.

Making matters worse, Konecny would block a point shot late in the period and leave the ice in a ton of pain but would not miss a shift on an ensuing power play for a high-sticking call that Scott Laughton drew.

Armed with a four-minute power play, Kevin Hayes would get the Flyers within one as he rifled a shot past Halak on the one-timer to make it 2-1. That would be all the scoring for the first 20, with the Flyers carrying 22 seconds left of power play time into the second.

Nothing else was doing on the rest of the power play and the Bruins would respond to Hayes’ goal as David Pastrnak beat Hart to stretch the lead right back to two goals.

But the Flyers were there with a quick answer as Travis Sanheim found a seam and beat Halak to make it 3-2 to erase the Pastrnak marker in quick fashion.

The Flyers wouldn’t be within one for long, though, as Boston charged right back on the rush with Charlie Coyle beating Hart to the glove side to push the lead to 4-2.

Another turnover in their own zone and another puck in their own net as Krejci potted his second of the game with 12 minutes left in the second to make it 5-2 Bruins as the train was firmly off the rails midway through this one for the Orange and Black.

With 6:48 left in the second the Flyers got one back as Sean Couturier slipped one past Halak while being hooked to pull things closer at 5-3 with plenty of time still left.

Don’t call it a comeback but that’s exactly what was brewing last in the second as Connor Bunnaman made it 5-4 with his third of the season after a puck pin-balled in front of Halak. It’s his first NHL goal, and goes down as a pure goal scorers goal.

Doesn’t have to be pretty, just has to count.

Lots of goals in the second period, and the Flyers pulled within one, trailing 5-4 with 20 minutes remaining.

Hunting for an equalizer early in the third Konecny and Hayes worked the two-man game, but Halak was up to the task to deny the chance off TK’s stick with about 15 minutes left.

Lots of icings took up the bulk of the middle of the period, but a scrum broke out with 7:30 left as noted NHL bad boy Joel Farabee looked to be in the middle of things yet again.

The scrum seemed to spark the Flyers, and Travis Sanheim would pot his second of the night to pull the Orange and Black all the way back to tie things at 5-5 with 7:02 left in regulation.

Neither team could solve each other in the final few minutes and overtime would be needed to settle this thing.

The Flyers had two golden chances early in the extra session but were met with outstanding saves from Halak to deny.

Ivan Provorv had a chance to beat the buzzer, but he couldn’t get the puck up high enough as Halak had one more miracle save in him to get the Bruins to the shootout.

In round one of the shootout it would be Hayes to shoot first, but stopped by Halak easily. For Boston it was Pastrnak denied by Hart to answer. Round two started with Claude Giroux somehow not getting one across the line with yet another insane save from Halak. Charlie Coyle would too be denied by the glove as Hart responded. Couturier started off round three with one off the post, unreal. Jake Debrusk couldn’t beat Hart, and we were on to extra shooters.

First up was Farabee, who couldn’t solve the brick wall that was Halak. Krejci couldn’t beat Hart at the other end, despite the two regulation goals. Round five was TK’s turn, and he finally broke Halak with a shot off the pipe and in. Brad Marchand would skate past the puck and that would be all as the Flyers win it by a final of 6-5.

Just hate to see it.

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