First period

The Bruins actually had a very strong period; the Flyers had no real interest in testing Korpisalo, and so they slowly built up opportunities over the period, before ultimately Matthew Poitras managed to find the back of the net via a backhander to Aleksei Kolosov from a wide shot by Hampus Lindholm! 1-0 Bruins!

There is no more scoring and we move on.

2nd Period:

The second period for the Bruins was… pretty much the same? Hey. They actually kept the pressure up well through the middle frame and hit the paydirt for the The second time when Brad Marchand toured the Flyers zone, and got a chance through Justin Brazeau, who scooped the ball in to put the B’s up 2-0!

Great shift for Marchy, great goal for Brazeau, just great work all around.

The period ended without further goals and we move on to the final frame.

3rd Period:

Okay, so the Bruins ended this game with a win, that’s not a spoiler, but as the period entered its final minutes, Ex-Bruin Garnet Hathaway decided he’d had enough of the Flyers playing like shit, and decided to taking it out on his former team; starting with a cross-check on Charlie McAvoy, who then linked up with Mark Kastelic standing up for his defender, which resulted in even more penalties, and a match that looked like it was going to be two penalties suddenly came to a standstill with both sides conceding just a boatload of minors.

Luckily, Brad Marchand and David Pastrnak got the last laugh for the Bruins, once the Flyers pulled their goaltender; Finally, they turned the puck over to Pasta, who sent it to the B captain, who delivered it home from the defensive zone.

Bruins eliminated the Flyers in a 3-0 win!

Game notes

• Your TOI leader was Charlie McAvoy, who recorded 11:37 p.m.
• This is a game of doing the right thing, if they can build on it. The Flyers are bad, there’s a reason you can shut them down like the Bruins did and so completely, but they played the kind of game they can gain from; hammer the net again and again and again about again, and take ample advantage of Philly’s many mistakes. That’s how they won a lot of their games last year (without the goalkeeper, of course) and that’s how they can win this year if they can keep their act up.
• A two-point night for the captain, an empty-netter, a solid feed that comes from strong possession in the offensive zone, as well as solid shooting stats. He desperately needed an evening that made him a tone setter, and this was an effort that more than delivered. You just have to keep it up!
• Matthew Poitras’ opening goal set the tone of an extremely productive evening; he led the team in analytics and played strong on the puck all night. Considering what this team will ask of this kid, that’s an improvement.
• The Lindholms had a good night. Both got an assist, both had a strong presence in terms of possession, no real complaints against those two tonight.
• Pavel Zacha needs some kind of divine intervention to actually achieve a goal. He had decent analytics and was tied in shots on goal with Brazeau, Marchand and Pastrnak… and he can’t get through even one. If you are superstitious, make sure all your rituals have a purpose for him!
• While Brad Marchand’s night was useful, no one in the world needed this game more than Joonas Korpisalo. Korpisalo’s deal and Bruin’s tenure are unfortunately as advertised; even when he put in a reasonably good performance, the team in front of him could not take advantage. Goaltending is a lot of skill as well as a mental game, and so having a shutout, and a convincing one at that, is huge for the man. I really want him to train in Boston, and a game like this is an important step in getting there.

No time like the present to play another game! The Kraken come to town to take on the Bruins. That game is today and the preview is here at 7am!

See you in the game thread!