Flyers Lineup
Forward lines
James van Riemsdyk – Sean Couturier – Travis Konecny
Connor Bunnaman – Kevin Hayes – Oskar Lindblom
Carsen Twarynski – Scott Laughton – Chris Stewart
Andy Andreoff – German Rubtsov – Nicolas Aube-Kubel
Defense pairings
Shayne Gostisbehere – Justin Braun
Travis Sanheim – Philippe Myers
Samuel Morin – Mark Friedman
Goaltenders
Brian Elliott – Carter Hart
Scratches
Injuries
Kurtis Gabriel (lower body), Nolan Patrick (lower body), Tyler Pitlick (lower body), Andy Welinski (lower body), Morgan Frost (lower body)
Game Report
The Flyers began their next preseason road trip with a visit to TD Garden and the Boston Bruins. With a hefty mix of seasoned vets and young talent vying for a roster spot against a largely NHL-heavy Bruins team, the game at the makings of being a competitive tilt.
But with the Flyers kicking things off with back-to-back penalties, it put the Bruins on the offensive pretty quickly. Luckily, the Philadelphia penalty kill has been – and continues to be – perfect so far in preseason and they escaped no worse for wear.
Boston struck first on the scoreboard with Jakub Lauko beating two defensemen, banking the puck to himself off the boards and going in hard to Brian Elliott‘s short side. The puck sailed past Elliott probably a bit more easily than it should have, given how much time he had to see the play develop.
Travis Konecny didn’t allow that 1-0 lead to last for long, however, when he potted his first goal in exhibition play about three minutes later. James van Riemsdyk put the puck on Konecny’s tape from behind the net and TK immediately pulled the trigger to beat Tuuka Rask.
Not long into the middle frame, Brad Marchand and David Pastrnak executed a perfect tic-tac-toe play to regain the Boston lead. The pair were two-on-one with Philippe Myers who took the wrong man, and Marchand put the puck in the back of Elliott’s net.
Rask came out in the third period to give Dan Vladar some crease time. Carsen Twarynski didn’t waste the opportunity to continue making a case for earning a roster spot when he batted in another puck from mid-air, this time with heavy traffic in the blue paint.
Two minutes later, on a Flyers power play, Connor Bunnaman went hard to the net, fell to the ice below the goal line and batted the puck back toward the crease where it bounced off a defender’s stick and into the Boston net. It was a heads-up play for a young skater also looking to make the cut.
But with just under two minutes left in regulation, the Bruins managed to score one more goal and tie the game, sending the teams to overtime. Kevin Hayes got called for holding early in the extra minutes and, on the ensuing power play, Jake Debrusk and company drove the net hard and put the puck on Elliott. The Flyers’ goaltender thought he had frozen the puck, but it trickled through his pads and over the goal line before the play was whistled dead.
Expect more roster cuts to come after this game and before the team visits MSG on Thursday night to take on the Rangers.
Plus / Minus
▲ Carsen Twarynski, Connor Bunnaman, Travis Konecny, Nicolas Aube-Kubel
▼ Philippe Myers, Brian Elliott
|