Mittelstadt, Minten help Bruins stay hot, defeat slumping Flyers

BOSTON -- Casey Mittelstadt and Fraser Minten each had a goal and two assists, and the Boston Bruins defeated the Philadelphia Flyers 6-3 at TD Garden on Thursday.

“I thought we were moving the puck well, and even the last couple of games we’ve been getting chances, but they haven’t gone (in),” Mittelstadt said. “You get one and you start feeling good and go from there. Our whole line was clicking tonight.”

Viktor Arvidsson, Pavel Zacha, Tanner Jeannot and Marat Khusnutdinov also scored for the Bruins (32-20-3), who are 10-1-1 in their past 12 games. Jeremy Swayman made 33 saves.

“It’s very impressive with the way we’ve played in January,” Boston coach Marco Sturm said. “It’s a tough month, it always has been. It’s a grind after Christmas, so to come back (after the break) and play the way we have is really good. Very consistent, very structured. Our best players were our best players, David (Pastrnak) was outstanding, and our goalies were back to business. A lot of good things happened, especially at home. We feel very comfortable at home. It was a good month.”

Boston's next game will be against the Tampa Bay Lightning in the 2026 Navy Federal Credit Union Stadium Series at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa on Sunday.

“Now it’s about taking it on the road,” Mittelstadt said. “It’s going to be a blast. Outdoor hockey, you can’t beat it. It’s what I do for All-Star break every year. I’m very excited. It’s going to be a blast.”

Travis Konecny had a goal and an assist, and Nikita Grebenkin and Matvei Michkov scored for the Flyers (24-20-9), who have lost three in a row, including 5-3 at the Columbus Blue Jackets on Wednesday, and 10 of their past 12 (2-8-2).

“It’s not gone our way, but we should still be confident,” Philadelphia defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen said. “We’ve showed it early in the year, we’ve showed it in some games here and there that we can be a good team against anyone we play against. We’ve just got to figure it out and stop the bleeding.”

Samuel Ersson allowed five goals on 20 shots before leaving the game after the second period with a lower-body injury. Dan Vladar stopped all six shots he faced in the third.

“He was kind of hurt a little bit,” coach Rick Tocchet said. “I didn’t want to put [Vladar] in, but we had no choice.”

Arvidsson gave the Bruins a 1-0 lead at 9:49 of the first period. He received a pass from Mittelstadt and scored five-hole on a one-timer from the right circle.

Zacha quickly extended the lead to 2-0 at 10:30. Morgan Geekie threaded a centering pass through two Flyers defenders to a cutting Zacha, who lifted a shot over Ersson's glove from the low slot.

However, Zacha left the game with an upper-body injury at 13:05 of the second period and did not return. Sturm did not have an update after the game.

The Flyers thought they cut the lead at 12:03 of the first, but Christian Dvorak’s goal was overturned after the Bruins successfully challenged for goaltender interference.

Minten then made it 3-0 at 2:27 of the second period. Mittelstadt made a nifty move to avoid a defender in the neutral zone before sending a backhand pass to Minten, who skated in from the blue line and beat Ersson five-hole with a wrist shot from low in the left circle.

“It’s definitely building,” Minten said of his confidence. “I’m finding space where I can hold onto pucks and make some plays. It’s a tight area for 10 guys, but once you figure out where there are some soft spots, you can build [confidence] and I’m just trying to do that.”

Konecny responded 49 seconds later to make it 3-1 at 3:16. Sean Kuraly turned the puck over into the middle of the ice, where Konecny was all alone to receive it and beat Swayman glove side with a wrist shot.

“He’s been playing good lately and making a huge impact for us,” Flyers captain Sean Couturier said. “It’s time for other guys, including me, to start producing offensively. It’s been a tough stretch personally, and I’ve got to find a way to help the team in that area.”

Mittelstadt pushed the lead to 4-1 at 16:12. Ersson got across to rob Andrew Peeke's backdoor tap-in with his left pad, but Mittelstadt was in position to collect the rebound and score with his backhand.

Jeannot made it 5-1 at 18:40 when he redirected Peeke’s slap shot from the right point.

Grebenkin cut it to 5-2 just 25 seconds later. Swayman stopped Konecny twice on a breakaway, but Grebenkin skated into the rebound and scored on the third opportunity.

“He had some good opportunities,” Tocchet said of Grebenkin. “He had some good legs for us.”

Khusnutdinov scored an empty-net goal at 16:30 of the third period to make it 6-2 before Michkov scored a power-play goal at 18:19 for the 6-3 final.

“Right now, we’re just trying to find a way to get back on track,” Couturier said. “No one is going to be sorry for us, so it’s on us to get going, to be better and to find ways to get wins. We’ve got to get back to the basics and focus on ourselves.”

NOTES: Bruins forward Matthew Poitras played 11:28 in his season debut after he was recalled from Providence of the American Hockey League earlier in the day. ... Pastrnak was plus-3 but had his eight-game point streak end.