BSJ Game Report: Flyers 4, Bruins 1 - Krug injured, mixed bag in preseason finale

Everything you need to know from the Bruins’ 4-1 preseason loss to the Flyers in quickie form, with BSJ insight and analysis:

BOX SCORE

HEADLINES

Torey Krug injured: An injury to a regular is not ideal, especially in the final game of the preseason. The veteran B’s defenseman skated to the dressing room late in the first period and the team later announced that he would not return due to a lower-body injury.

“I was told during the first intermission that he wasn’t coming back. Lower-body injury, and I haven’t seen him since,” Bruce Cassidy said of Krug, who just made his preseason debut in Wednesday’s game after recovering from a broken ankle. “I was just watching the highlights of the third period ― lowlights is probably the better term ― so I have no idea. I assume if there’s something there we’ll be updated tomorrow.”

Lines shuffled: Cassidy said the team was still looking for the best fits at some positions in the lineup during his pre-game media availability. We saw one of those part of the way through the second period when Ryan Donato moved up a line and onto the right wing with Jake DeBrusk and David Krejci, while Danton Heinen slid down with Sean Kuraly and Anders Bjork.

“Part of that was by design,” Cassidy said. “At some point, we’ve talked about who was the best fit there. I thought Danton was having a tough time so we tried Ryan there and put Danton on his forehand. Sometimes that frees you up to be a little stronger on the puck. Didn’t work out that way, but we figured we’d look at that.”

Krug’s injury added an extra wrinkle on the back end. Urho Vaakanainen and John Moore were a regular pair, while Vaakanainen also saw time on the power play.

THREE UP

Fourth line: There is long-time chemistry in the pairing of center Noel Acciari and right winger Chris Wagner, but Joakim Nordstrom looked to fit seamlessly on their fourth line as he added two hits and a blocked shot in his third game action of the preseason.

Nordstrom made several plays in the game that will surely help his chances of sticking in the lineup come Wednesday, including a backhanded pass from behind the goal line that led to Wagner charging into the low slot. The Walpole native Wagner elevated the puck, but Flyers goaltender Brian Elliott used his blocker to send it aside for one of his 26 saves. (Fourteen of them came in the second period as the B’s had a 14-3 shot advantage but could not find the back of the net.)

“I got all of it and put it where I wanted to,” Wagner said of that golden chance, which was one of his two shots on goal. Acciari had five to lead the team. “I got it up decently high, but I was real surprised. I think it hit his finger.”

Wagner, who was making his B’s debut at the Garden, sees the line’s chemistry tonight as a good base for when the games count for real next week.

“We’ll see what Butchie (Cassidy) decides, but I thought we played well,” he said. “This game I don’t think we got rewarded and had a miscue at the end (on Philadelphia’s third goal), but overall I thought we had a pretty good game as a line. It’s something to build off for the regular season.”

Bjork returns: Cassidy wanted his lineup for tonight’s game to be as close to ready for the regular season as possible, but one of the moving parts was the health of Bjork. The Notre Dame product was able to make his preseason debut and looked game-ready in doing so, despite not recording a shot on goal in 16:17 of ice time.

“I think when you don’t play a game for seven or eight months, you’re going to be a little rusty, so definitely felt it a bit,” said Bjork, who benefited from adding some extra weight in the offseason. “In the corners and just on battles, I felt a little bit stronger, especially upper-body wise. I think that helped me in a couple battles. Even though my legs weren’t completely there tonight, I think that helped me win a few battles that I wouldn’t have won last year.”

As several players coming back from injuries or China have said, it was a bit hard to adjust to the game speed at the start. But he looked ready, felt ready, and established some chemistry with Kuraly, who’s looking to be the likely third-line center for the opener.

“I think, obviously, I was in a weird situation (being injured during training camp), so who knows what will happen? But that is the goal,” Bjork said of playing in the first of 82 games on Wednesday night. “I think (the chemistry with Kuraly) was good. I think he brings a ton of speed to whatever line he’s on, so I was trying to use my speed as well. I think he’s an easy guy to play with for sure, you know what he’s going to do; he makes the right play, plays hard, too.”

Vaakanainen: It’s been hard not to talk about the depth this team has to start the season on defense, and it will now be tested if Krug is out for any period of time. The B’s also have Matt Grzelcyk ― whom Cassidy expects back on the ice from a lower-body injury of his own in time for Monday’s practice ― to fit into the open left-hand spot, but the team’s top draftee from 2017 did not look out of place in any of his four games.

“He’s been fine, real composed. He’s been doing a good job for us,” Cassidy said. “Throw him in an NHL game when things ramp up a little bit and it’ll be a different animal, but he’s been really good from what we’ve been able to evaluate.”

THREE DOWN

“Respect for the game”: Cassidy chalked some of Wednesday night’s miscues up to bad ice and some players readjusting to game speed in returns from injury or China, but those excuses aren’t valid after this one.

There were several total defensive lapses and miscues that led to goals, and that’s the area Cassidy sees the most need for work before the regular season begins.

For one, it was not the best of nights for sophomore defenseman Charlie McAvoy, who was a minus-3, took a minor penalty, and was credited with giveaway. Jori Lehtera straight up out-muscled and beat the Boston University product to a loose puck before feeding Michael Raffl in a lonely slot for a shorthanded goal that turned out to be the winner 6:48 into the third.

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“Puck management, details, stopping and starting on pucks. You allow your veteran guys to play through some of that and you hope their habits will come back to them,” Cassidy said. “We have, I think, some second-year players … who need to be reminded that 80-100 games under your belt is a good building block, but as Zee (Zdeno Chara) pointed out, you want to continue to establish yourself as a true NHLer. And I think our guys need to be reminded of why they were successful last year. I think a few of them have gotten away from that, to be honest.”

Trent Frederic and the youngsters: The second-year pro out of Wisconsin had a golden chance to impress in the preseason finale as he was paired with top-liners Brad Marchand and David Pastrnak with Patrice Bergeron still out of the lineup due to back spasms.

It’s fair to say his game left a lot to be desired, as did that of several other B’s youngsters. Cassidy didn’t seem all that pleased with Donato or Heinen as they auditioned for the second-line right wing slot, although the former Harvard star did score the B’s lone goal on a tipped David Pastrnak shot on a power play 5:10 into the third period.

Frederic was 2-6 in the faceoff circle before winning all three draws he took in the third period, which is one reason it’s likely some personnel decisions could still be up for grabs up until the proverbial final horn, as Cassidy expected early in training camp.

“We’ll tinker,” the coach said, when asked if Frederic could stick in the top center slot.

Tuukka Rask: The B’s goaltender made some huge saves when the Flyers pressed, especially after taking a 2-1 lead in the third period. He finished the night with 20 saves on 24 shots in what was a pretty busy game as far as net-front traffic was concerned.

But he might like to have more than one goal back. Rask was beat through the five-hole after Mikhail Vorobyev fed Taylor Leier for a one-timed opening goal at the 5:21 mark, while Wayne Simmonds followed up his own rebound and found the same spot on the third Philly goal.

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It's hard to fault the goalie on a night where defensive lapses were much more the story, but it could have been a different game. It's now time to get back to work before Wednesday.

“It’s always a work in progress, but nothing really changed,” Rask said of the defensive effort after his third game action of the preseason. “We want to cut plays quickly and move the puck as quick as we can and not really get stuck in our end too much. It’s going to be a work in progress but we know what we need to be successful.”

UP NEXT

Now, it’s for real. The Bruins open the regular season with back-to-back road games beginning Wednesday night against the defending Stanley Cup champion Washington Capitals. The game begins at 7:30 p.m. on NBC Sports Network.