B\u2019s prospect James Hagens<\/a> in last June\u2019s draft, scored his first NHL goal at 2:31 of overtime to lift the surging Flyers.<\/p>\nThe B\u2019s tied the game early in the third period but then played a Keystone Cop-style overtime. After Mark Kastelic won the opening faceoff, first David Pastrnak turned over the puck and then Pavel Zacha coughed it up. Korpisalo saved his teammates there, but he had little chance on the game-winner.<\/p>\n
First, Pastrnak took a penalty after losing the puck high in the offensive zone. Then on the ensuing faceoff, Charlie McAvoy took a high-sticking penalty to give the Flyers a 5-on-3. At that point, it was only a matter of time and Martone took the honors, burying a shot from the low slot.<\/p>\n
It wasn\u2019t just that the B\u2019s didn\u2019t score much, they didn\u2019t generate many chances, either. They only had 19 shots on net. It makes you wonder if B\u2019s management is mulling any help from Providence, perhaps Hagens, especially after watching Martone beat them with a two-point game. One way or another, they need more offense.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think right now we\u2019re looking for quality shots instead of quantity,\u201d said Zacha, the B\u2019s lone goal-scorer. \u201cSometimes when it\u2019s not going our way, we have to switch our mindset to going to the net and shooting more pucks. We talk about it but we just don\u2019t do it in the games yet. If we want to make the playoffs, we have to do that, have more shots, more tips.\u201d<\/p>\n
The three-game losing streak has not been too damaging, at least not yet. On Sunday, the Senators beat Carolina, whom the B\u2019s play on Tuesday, to jump into the second wild-card spot, five points behind the first wild card B\u2019s with a game in hand. The B\u2019s are still six points above the cut line and the ninth-place Islanders, who were leapfrogged by the Flyers for third place in the Metropolitan Division. But the B\u2019s need to get their game in order.<\/p>\n
Sturm made some alterations going into the game. Korpisalo got the start on the second half of the back-to-back while Mason Lohrei, who had missed the previous four games with an upper-body injury, subbed back in for Jordan Harris. Sturm also put together the line of Morgan Geekie, Elias Lindholm and Pastrnak, a grouping that was good at the end of last season but has never gotten going when together this season. The move was partially done in mind as a way to help Geekie, who entered the game with a 15-game goal less streak, break out of his slump. The struggle continued, however, though the trio did have some chances.<\/p>\n
\u201c(Geekie) is a heck of a shooter and a goal-scorer and we need to get him going. I think we had some really good looks today as a line and unfortunately it didn\u2019t go in,\u201d Pastrnak said.<\/p>\n
All four of the players involved in the changes were on the ice for the Flyers\u2019 first goal, which came on their first shot of the game.<\/p>\n
Hampus Lindholm made an ill-advised pinch down low, producing a 2-on-1 going the other way for Philly. Martone, who signed his pro entry level contract at the end of his Michigan State season, made a nifty touch pass to spring Christian Dvorak for a 2-on-1. Lohrei was the lone defender back and he took away the pass but Dvorak beat Korpisalo over the glove at 4:19.<\/p>\n
The B\u2019s loaded-up line did have some chances in the first period. Geekie had two point blank attempts that wouldn\u2019t go and Pastrnak had a good chance in tight but Flyers goalie Daniel Vladar, who stole the last meeting between the two teams on Feb. 28, made a good poke check.<\/p>\n
But offensively, the B\u2019s were mostly one-and-done in the first. They had three shots on net, giving them a total of six in two periods dating back to the third period of Saturday\u2019s loss in Tampa.<\/p>\n
The B\u2019s showed a little more life at the start of the second after they killed off a McAvoy penalty, earned with a straight right cross to the kisser of Sean Couturier at the end of the first.<\/p>\n
Again it was the top line that created the pressure but Vladar turned away good chances from Geekie and Pastrnak, while Korpisalo stoned Carl Grundstrom on a breakaway after a Geekie neutral zone turnover. The struggling Geekie then took a tripping penalty but the B\u2019s killed that one off, too.<\/p>\n
Geekie took another, more inventive penalty when McAvoy broke his stick on a shot attempt and, as the Flyers headed out on a dangerous rush, Geekie threw his stick onto the ice for McAvoy. That\u2019s a no-no. But the B\u2019s killed that off, too.<\/p>\n
\u201cI meant to just pass it to him and then fumbled it. It was my fault completely. But I didn\u2019t mean to throw it, I just tried to reach it over and hand it,\u201d said Geekie, adding he was aware of the rule.<\/p>\n
It looked like the B\u2019s were going to get their first PP when Matvei Michkov fired the puck on net on a clear delayed offside. He was tagged with an unsportsmalike call, but Pastrnak was called for a roughing when he went over to address the transgression.<\/p>\n
The B\u2019s did earn their first PP with 35 seconds left in the second when Grundstrom interfered with McAvoy, thanks to McAvoy churning his legs along the boards.<\/p>\n
On the advantage, the B\u2019s tied it 35 seconds into the third. A Pastrnak one-timer broke through Vladar\u2019s glove and trickled just wide. But Casey Mittelstadt was there and made a nifty two-foot backhand pass to Pavel Zacha, who had an easy goal for his 29th.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s the way it stayed into the extra session, thanks in large part to a handful of a Grade-A saves by Korpisalo down the stretch and brutal non-call on a clear Hampus Lindholm trip. But they finally ran out of lives in OT.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Bruins have surprised most observers this year by scoring far more than expected. They went into Sunday\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":545455,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5099],"tags":[154,95,5132,530,5,4,56],"class_list":{"0":"post-545454","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-boston-bruins","8":"tag-boston","9":"tag-boston-bruins","10":"tag-bostonbruins","11":"tag-bruins","12":"tag-hockey","13":"tag-nhl","14":"tag-philadelphia-flyers"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116363396570252338","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/545454","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=545454"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/545454\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/545455"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=545454"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=545454"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=545454"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}