Postgame 5: Too Much Pasta

Closeouts have been a problem for the Philadelphia Flyers through the first 11 games of the regular season and, for the second time, it came back to bite them against the Boston Bruins. A series of late-game Flyers penalties proved fatal as Boston scored three straight power play goals; forcing overtime and then defeating the Flyers, 4-3

One of the deadliest snipers in the NHL, David Pastrnak netted a hat trick (his third, fourth and fifth goals of the season) in regulation -- the first coming at the 12-second mark of the first period and the third 19:45 of the third -- and then assisted on a 4-on-3 overtime power play goal by Patrice Bergeron (6th). Kevin Hayes (6th), Jakub Voracek (3rd) and Joel Farabee (6th) scored in regulation for the Flyers.
Carter Hart deserved a much better fate on this night, as he was very sharp but had no chance to stop any of the four goals he allowed on 35 shots. Tuuka Rask earned the win with 22 saves on 25 shots.
TURNING POINT
Until the latter part of the 3rd period, the turning point was Hart's save on Sean Kuraly's breakaway bid for a shorthanded goal that would have given Boston a two goal lead in the second period.Shortly thereafter, Hayes tied the game at 1-1 and the Flyers went on to build a 3-1 lead in the third period before it all slipped away. As it worked out, the turning point was the Flyers' inability to kill penalties on Nicolas-Aube Kubel (closing hand on the puck), Kevin Hayes (offensive zone hooking) and Scott Laughton (interference in the final seven-plus seconds of regulation).
MELTZER'S TAKE
1) The first 12 minutes or so of the first period were atrocious for the Flyers: Philly started with the Connor Bunnaman line against the Patrice Bergeron line. It took 12 seconds for the Bruins to score as Pastrnak beat Shayne Gostisbehere off the rush and shoveled the puck at the net, which bounced off Ivan Provorov and into the net. The assists went to Charlie Coyle and Patrice Bergeron.
Things didn't get much better for most of the first half of the period:The Flyers were guilty of poor passing, feet not moving, questionable puck decisions by the defense, and turnovers galore (officially 10 on seven Flyers giveaways and three Bruins takeaways). Philly had only one shot attempt and no shots on goal through the first 6:20 (one shot and three attempts through 10:30).
Nicolas Aube-Kubel landed a couple crushing hits, Hart made some tough saves and Travis Sanheim made a good one-on-one defensive play on Pastrnak. That was about it through much of the stanza.
2) The Flyers play picked up significantly over the latter half of the opening period (shots on goal ended up at 8-8), including a good scoring chance for Oskar Lindblom from about 10 feet.. On the whole, it was the exact opposite of the type of start the Flyers wanted but the late Philly push made the team metrics look less lopsided (45% Corsi, and a 3-2 Flyers edge in high-danger chances).
3) Both teams had their chances in an evenly played second period, both by the eye test and the underlying numbers (an exact 50-50 split in shot attempts at 5-on-5, three Grade-A scoring chances for Boston, two for Philadelphia).
4) The Flyers mid-second period power play produced early pressure and a scoring chance. Late in the advantage, Hayes got stripped of the puck and Hart denied Sean Kuraly on a breakaway.
At 15:29, an extended cycle by the Hayes line eventually hit paydirt. On a precision passing sequence, Phil Myers passed to Sanheim. With Giroux rotating toward the net, a lane was opened for Sanheim to pass to Hayes, who finished the chance (off Rask's glove) from the right slot.

5) After the Flyers killed a carryover James van Riemsdyk penalty in the opening seconds of the third period. Bergeron didn't miss the far side by much on a chance from the right circle. JVR did a good job to pressure a turnover. With the puck bouncing around, a lucky bounce off Sanheim's stick went right to Voracek, who had lots of room to bury the puck at 1:03. The assists were credited to Sanheim and Nolan Patrick.

Hart denied Kuraly a second time; this time near the right post. at the other end, Rask robbed JVR. But there was no stopping what happened at 8:41 as van Riemsdyk started a 2-on-1. Laughton passed across to Farabee, who buried a one-timer from the right slot that no goalie was going to stop.

An Aube-Kubel penalty for closing his hand on the puck proved costly as precision puck movement created a prime chance for Pastrnak, whom made no mistake at 12:05. With Rask pulled for an extra attacker on another Bruins power play, Oskar Lindblom blocked a shot but the bouncing puck went to Pastrnak, who finished off the hat trick. After Laughton took an interference penalty at 19:52, it took 31 seconds of 4-on-3 time in OT for Pastrnak to get the puck to the net and Bergeron to score from the doorstep.
The Aube-Kubel and Laughton penalties were too blatant not to call. The Hayes penalty was rather marginal.