The B’s showed up for a matinee game in a huge way as they took the Flyers to the wood shed in a 3-0 shutout win!
First Period
The Bruins actually had a really strong period; the Flyers didn’t have any real interest in testing Korpisalo, and thus they slowly built chances over the course of the period, before finally Matthew Poitras managed to find the back of the net from a backhander on Aleksei Kolosov from a Hampus Lindholm wide shot! 1-0 Bruins!
No further scoring, and we continue on.
2nd Period:
The second period for the Bruins was…much the same? Huh. They actually kept the pressure up well through the middle frame, and hit paydirt for the second time as Brad Marchand went on a tour of the Flyers’ zone, and got a chance through to Justin Brazeau, who hammered it home to put the B’s up 2-0!
Helluva shift for Marchy, helluva goal for Brazeau, just great work all around.
The period ended without any further scoring, and on to the final frame we go.
3rd Period:
Okay, so the Bruins finished this game out with a win, that’s not a spoiler, but as the period entered it’s final minutes, Ex-Bruin Garnet Hathaway decided that he’d had enough of the Flyers playing like ass, and decided to take it out on his former team; starting with a cross-check on Charlie McAvoy, which then dovetailed into Mark Kastelic sticking up for his defender, which made yet further penalties, and a game that was looking to be 2 penalties a-side suddenly ballooned into both sides getting just a boatload of minors.
Thankfully, Brad Marchand and David Pastrnak got the last laugh for the Bruins, as once the Flyers pulled their goalie; they ended up turning the puck over to Pasta, who sent it out to the B’s captain, who delivered it home from the defensive zone.
Bruins shut out the Flyers in a 3-0 WIN!
Game Notes
- Your TOI leader was Charlie McAvoy, who logged 23:37.
- Now this is a get-right game, if they can build on it. The Flyers are bad, there’s a reason you can shut them down like the Bruins did and so completely, but they played the kind of game they can win at; hammer the net over and over and over and over again, and take ample advantage of Philly’s multiple mistakes. It’s how they won a lot of their games last year (away from the goaltender, of course) and it’s how they can win this year if they can keep their act together.
- A two-point night for the captain, an empty netter, a solid feed coming off of strong possession in the offensive zone, as well as solid shooting metrics. He’s badly needed a night that establishes him as a tone-setter, and this was an effort that more than lived up to it. Just have to keep that up!
- Matthew Poitras’ opening goal set the tone of an extremely productive night; he lead the team in analytics, and played strong on the puck all night. Given what this team will be asking of this kid, that’s improvement.
- The Lindholms had a good night. Both got an assist, both were strong presences in terms of possession, no real gripes against those two tonight.
- Pavel Zacha needs some sort of divine intervention to actually get a goal. He’s had decent analytics and was tied in shots on goal with Brazeau, Marchand, and Pastrnak…and he cannot get one through. If you’re a superstitious sort, set all your rituals towards a goal for him!
- While Brad Marchand’s night was helpful, nobody on earth needed this game more than Joonas Korpisalo. Korpisalo’s deal and Bruins tenure has been unfortunately as advertised; even when he was putting up halfway decent performances, the team in front of him couldn’t take advantage. Goaltending is both a lot of skill as well as a mental game, and so having a shutout, and a pretty convincing one at that, is gigantic for the guy. I really do want him to work out in Boston, and a game like this is an important step towards getting there.
No time like the present to have another game! The Kraken come to town to face the Bruins. That game is today, and it’s preview is here at 7am!
See you in the game thread!