On home ice for the first time this preseason, the Flyers certainly iced the better roster of the two teams on Saturday evening. But the Boston Bruins took advantage of some sloppy play and were able to be the team standing at the end.
The Bruins got the only goal of the third period to break a 3-3 tie in a 4-3 Flyers loss at Xfinity Mobile Arena.
The Flyers opened the scoring at 8:57 of the first period, as Christian Dvorak set up Travis Sanheim for a power-play goal to make it 1-0.
With under one second to play in the period, the Bruins evened things up. Alex Bump lost control of the puck at the side of the net and Johnny Beecher took it away, catching Sam Ersson off guard and tucking it home to make it 1-1.
Through 20 minutes, shots were 10-9 Boston.
The Bruins took the lead at 3:57 of the second with a power-play goal of their own. Dalton Bancroft got his own rebound off a blocked shot and fired it past Ersson to make it 2-1.
The Flyers tied the game back up at 7:12, as Nikita Grebenkin batted in an airborne puck for his first of the preseason.
At 13:04, the Flyers were back in front with another power-play goal. A pretty give-and-go between Matvei Michkov and Trevor Zegras resulted in Zegras’ first goal in a Flyers uniform to make it 3-2.
Grebenkin got a penalty shot just seconds later and hit the post. The Bruins answered back at 15:58 as a defensive breakdown allowed a 2-on-0 rush that Bancroft finished for his second goal of the game.
Through two periods, shots were 19-18 Boston.
The lone goal of the third period was scored with 6:15 to play. Jeffrey Viel breezed past Helge Grans and made a nice move on Ersson for the go-ahead goal.
The Flyers were unable to get the equalizer with a late power play and the goalie pulled, resulting in their third straight loss in the preseason. Their record is now 1-3-0 in four games.
Ersson made 23 saves on 27 shots in the loss. Michael DiPietro made 24 saves on 27 shots in the win.
Zegras and Michkov each had two points for the Flyers.
The preseason continues on Monday night as the Flyers and Bruins meet again in Boston at 7 p.m.
