BSJ Game Report: Flyers 4, Bruins 3 - Listless power play, Halak doom Boston against Philly taken at BSJ Headquarters (Bruins)

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BSJ Game Report: Flyers 4, Bruins 3 - Listless power play, Halak doom Boston against Philly

By Conor Ryan

Jan 16, 2019 • 11:35 pm

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Everything you need to know from the Bruins’ 4-3 loss to the Flyers in quickie form, with BSJ insight and analysis:

BOX SCORE

HEADLINES

Bruins didn’t deserve points tonight: Talk about an ugly loss. Boston seemed to be cruising midway through the first period, up 2-0 against a Flyers team sinking near the bottom of the Eastern Conference. And then, it all fell apart. While a brutal showing from Jaroslav Halak made things much, much worse, Boston was doomed in large part thanks to a power play that was borderline unwatchable for most of the night.

While the Bruins managed to cash in just 25 seconds into their first stint on the man advantage, Boston was unable to shift the momentum back in its favor despite logging another nine minutes on the power play, with poor zone entries and an overall lack of execution preventing the Bruins from generating good looks against Philly netminder Carter Hart. Sure, Boston might have outshot the Flyers, 42-19, on the night, but the Bruins absolutely did not deserve the win in this one, especially when the second-ranked power play in the league couldn't take advantage against the 28th-ranked penalty kill.

Jaroslav Halak continuing to struggle: Yes, Halak kept the Bruins afloat at the start of the season thanks to an 8-3-2 record and a .936 save percentage over his first 15 outings with Boston. But it’s hard to ignore the slide that the veteran goalie has been on as the year has progressed. In his last 10 games, Halak is now 5-5-0 with an .896 save percentage. It’s a concerning stretch for Halak — who has seen his save percentage dip every month since closing out October with a .947 save percentage.

THREE UP

David Pastrnak: Torey Krug should get most of the credit for his slick feed on Pastrnak’s power-play goal early in the first period, but the 22-year-old winger will also get props for setting another record in his already impressive NHL career. With that tally, Pastrnak notched his 121st career goal — putting him past Barry Pederson for the most goals by a Bruins player before the age of 23.

Peter Cehlarik: One good way to hold onto your spot in the lineup? Lighting the lamp twice in your first game of the season. As a whole, Cehlarik looked pretty good. Yes, obviously scoring a pair of goals is a pretty great indicator of a good performance, but Cehlarik looked pretty strong all over the ice, especially in the neutral zone and during breakouts. A nice start for a line that really needs to get going.




Brandon Carlo:
What got into Carlo on Wednesday? He may not be your best option in the offensive zone, but Carlo was a man possessed around the Flyers’ net for most of the night — generating four shots on goal and five individual attempts. In addition, the 22-year-old defenseman generated a 65.38 Corsi For Percentage.


THREE DOWN


Jori Lehtera:
Have to think that the NHL Department of Player Safety will take a look at this scary hit on
Ryan Donato
. Lehtera, who has only just returned to the Flyers after dealing with drug offenses in his native Finland, was handed a five-minute major and game misconduct for his hit on Donato, who thankfully returned to game action at the start of the third period.




Power Play:
Boston managed to cash in on its first chance on the power play, but it quickly went downhill after that first period. Whether it be a five-minute major in the final minutes of the second period or a pair of other penalties in the third period, Boston had tons of chances to claw back in this one. When Boston’s power play is misfiring like this, it’s awfully tough for this crew to mount any sort of comeback. 


Jaroslav Halak:
Halak’s slide continued on Wednesday, with the B’s netminder surrendering four goals off of just 18 shots in the loss. A redirect goal by
Sean Couturier might have been a tough break for Halak, but both
Oskar Lindblom
 
and Couturier’s eventual game-winner were stops that Halak needed to make.


PLAY OF THE GAME


What a great feed from Krug on the power play to set up Pastrnak for his 27th goal of the season. No way Hart was going to stop this one.




LOOKING AHEAD


The Bruins will be right back at it on Thursday, with the B’s returning to TD Garden for a matchup against the Blues. The second leg of the back-to-back slate will have a start time of 7 p.m.

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