PHILADELPHIA – The B’s hit the road for their third preseason game Monday night to take on the Philadelphia Flyers.
The Flyers started the game off with high energy, while the B's struggled to stay out of the penalty box. The Bruins committed three of their five total penalties in the first 20 minutes. Jeremy Swayman had a very hot start in his first preseason appearance, stopping all four challenging shots from the Flyers’ aggressive power play.
"I thought he was terrific," coach Jim Montgomery said when asked about Swayman's performance. "I thought he gave us a chance early on...we got up 1-0 because he was so sharp early."
With six minutes to go in the first, the B’s got a go at the power play, giving Morgan Geekie his first goal in a Bruins uniform and the only B’s goal of the game.
It was a strong sequence with Matt Poitras finding Charlie Coyle, who backhanded it over to Geekie who finished it off with ease. Poitras, who continues to impress in training camp, showed grit winning the puck off the boards to create the scoring chance and keep the conversation going about his possible spot on the roster.
“I thought Poitras did an excellent job tonight,” said Montgomery. “Shows a lot of poise with the puck, makes plays and is someone that built our team game tonight out there and made a lot of smart hockey plays.”
The second period is where things started to go poorly for the Bruins, with the Flyers scoring two quick ones in the first 5 minutes of period.
“We just weren't sharp,” said Montgomery. “I didn't think we won enough battles, and I didn't think our puck support was quick enough offensively or defensively to get back on offense…and in turn we just didn't generate a lot of opportunity in the offensive zone because very rarely did we have the puck there.”
The Bruins are back at it Tuesday night vs. the Capitals at TD Garden for their final home preseason contest.
