The Boston Bruins lost yet another game despite dominating their opponent in less than one week. After winning five games in a row and seemingly finding their stride, the Bruins have dropped three of four. With the loss to the Flyers, Boston finds itself just three points above the playoff line in the Eastern Conference.
The Bruins were heavy favorites to win last night’s game and beat the Flyers for the second time in the season series. The Bruins were 2-0-1 in their last three meetings in Wells Fargo Center and were 17 points above the Flyers in the standings.
The story of the night was two Bruins from Slovakia. Peter Cehlarik was called up Tuesday from Providence Bruins in the AHL for the first time this season and started alongside David Krejci and Jake DeBrusk. On the other side, netminder Jaroslav Halak started his 25th game of the season.
After an early David Pastrnak power play goal, Cehlarik buried one off a magnificent feed from DeBrusk. It was Cehlarik’s first of the year and extended the Bruin lead.
After an early onslaught by the visiting team, the Flyers got one back from a shot by Oscar Lindblom from outside as he caught Halak on his heels. Midway through the second period, the Sean Couturier scored twice but there wasn’t much Halak could have done better on those two nicely-looking plays from the Flyers. Halak made other three or four huge stops to keep the Bruins in the game, yet the Bruins went into the third down one.
Power plays were the story for the last 25 minutes of the game. Jori Lehtera drilled Ryan Donato from behind and Finnish forward earned a game misconduct penalty and a five-minute major. However, the Bruins could not capitalize on the long man advantage and failed to score on two more third-period power plays.
Couturier completed his hat trick off an odd-man rush, beating Halak for a soft goal. His Slovakian countryman tallied his second of the game, but it was too little too late and the Bruins wound up with a 3-4 loss at the hands of Philly.
It was certainly a tough one to swallow for the Bruins. Against the Washington Capitals, the Bruins had 41 shots on goal versus 22 shots from the Caps and still lost 2-4 at TD Garden last Thursday. Montreal Canadiens came to TD Garden on Monday night and prevailed in overtime although the Bruins outshot the Habs 43-22. Yesterday in Philadelphia, it was quite the same story it appears.
The Bruins outshot the Flyers 41-19 but lost again. Over the three losses, Boston has tallied 125 shots on goal and faced just 63, yet only have one point to show for it. The good news for the Bruins is that they found a solid second line right-winger for the first time in 47 games this season. Cehlarik played maturely and delivered two goals.
Bruce Cassidy gave Cehlarik words of praise after the game. He wants to make sure that Cehlarik will continue to produce, but it seems like Peter Cehlarik is well aware of that. In order to right the ship, the Bruins need to improve between the pipes as they head into their bye week. It’s unthinkable to score at least five goals each night in the NHL on a consistent basis, but it’s unacceptable to lose three games in six days despite outshooting your opponent by almost 20 a game.
