Postgame 5: Second Period Surge Lifts Philly over Boston

In the penultimate game of the 2023 preseason schedule, the Flyers defeated the Boston Bruins, 3-1, on Monday evening at Wells Fargo Center. Cam Atkinson, Travis Konecny and Joel Farabee scored for the Flyers. Morgan Frost had a pair of assists and won 81.8 percent of his faceoffs.

A Boston power play goal by Morgan Geekie (1st goal of the preseason) from point blank range gave Boston a 1-0 lead at 14:50 of the first period. The assists went to Charlie Coyle and Matt Poitras. 

Special teams made the difference on the scoreboard in the first period. Boston scoring on their lone power play while the Flyers went 0-for-3. The Bruins also blocked eight Flyers' shot attempts in the first period. 

The Flyers responded fast in the second period. Atkinson (1st goal of the preseason) grabbed a puck near the net and put it home on the backhand to tie the game early in the second period. Owen Tippett and Frost got the assists at 1:10. At the end of his shift, Frost's forechecking work and a slick move led to a tricky shot release by Travis Konecny (1st) goal of the preseason built a 2-1 lead at 2:08.

The Flyers opened a 3-1 lead at the 16:00 mark of the second period. A Ronnie Attard snap shot with traffic in front found the back of the net after being tipped home by Farabee (2nd). The assists went to  Attard and Bobby Brink.

The Flyers closed out the game with a solid third period.The Bruins were held to just three shots on goal.

Samuel Ersson went the distance in net for the Flyers. He stopped 13 of 14 shots. Jeremy Swayman was in goal for the Bruins, denying 22 of 25 shots.

FLYERS STARTING LINEUP

Joel Farabee - Sean Couturier - Travis Konecny
Owen Tippett - Morgan Frost - Cam Atkinson
Scott Laughton - Noah Cates - Tyson Foerster
Wade Allison - Ryan Poehling - Bobby Brink

Cam York - Rasmus Ristolainen
Egor Zamula - Travis Sanheim
Adam Ginning - Ronnie Attard

Samuel Ersson
[Cal Petersen]

POSTGAME 5

1.  The Flyers established a quick territorial advantage in the first period, including a pair of power play opportunities with lengthy attack zone zone time. There were scoring chances for Travis Sanheim going to the net off a nice pass from Bobby Brink and a power play scoring .Philly had five of the game's first six shots on goal.

2. The Bruins started to assert themselves as the first period moved along, and started to spend more time on the attack. A Sean Coututier hooking penalty at 14:10 was converted into Geekie's power play goal. The Flyers went back to the power play with 2:58 left in the period as Zamula was hooked by Poitras on a zone exit. Philly was once again unable to capitalize, going to 0-for-3 on the power play. First period shots on goal were 6-5 in the Flyers' favor but  4-1 Bruins after Philly's quick start.

3.There was an undeniable dose of puck-luck involved on both plays bouncing just right for the Flyers on their two early second period goals but it was the self-made variety after initial good plays and with a pair of good finishes.

4. Brink moved up to Couturier's line at the start of the second period. He also slotted up on the first power play unit, swapping spots with Tyson Foerster. How much of it was planned going in and how much was an in-game adjustment is uncertain.

On Philly's fourth power play of the game, they had some bad puck luck on a puck Noah Cates couldn't get to settle.Second period shots were 9-5 in the Flyers' favor. Through two periods, the two teams had an even 50-50 split in faceoffs. The Bruins blocked six additional Flyers shots in the middle frame (14 in all through that point). Of course, what mattered most were the three pucks the Flyers put in the cash register to take a 3-1 lead to the third period.

5. The Flyers had three of the first four shots in goal in the third period. At 4:22, Cates was called for a holding the stick penalty. Through 16 minutes, shots for the third period were 8-2 Flyers as Boston's B-squad couldn't muster a push.