Flyers one step closer to playoffs with big OT win over Bruins

Giroux scored his second goal with 1:21 left in overtime and the Flyers recovered for a 4-3 victory over Boston on Sunday to inch closer to returning to the playoffs after a year absence. One period after going off on Conacher, Rask calmly made up for Hedman’s goal with game-saving stops on Nikita Kucherov point blank to the right of the crease and Ryan McDonagh, who blasted a shot from the high slot. A shift to the wing paired with dazzling chemistry with Sean Couturier has revitalized Giroux’s offensive game. The duo has combined for an impressive 4.8 goals per 60 minutes, and while duplicating the same success next season could be hard, Giroux stands to have another strong showing in 2018-19.

The Bruins were playing their third game in less than four nights.

Two days after a physical battle for first place with the Tampa Bay Lighting, which the Bruins won 4-2 to take temporary possession of the top spot, Boston sent the struggling Panthers to their third straight loss and moved back into first. “It was tough at the beginning just kind of getting used to having the puck on that opposite side, but definitely I’ll get more comfortable the more opportunity I get there”. With most of the net wide open, Pastrnak fired the puck for what seemed to be an easy go-ahead goal. The team has been forced to kill penalties just 5.7 minutes per game over their last 10 outings. An attempted pass to Wayne Simmonds would be intercepted and skated the other way. Then Andrew MacDonald’s clear hit Lehtera and stayed in. Petr Mrazek finished the game against the Avs and stopped all 17 shots he faced.

The Flyers had their behinds saved by the captain in overtime, because if that was the reason for a point lost, it wouldn’t be sitting well with anybody. The puck hits Jori Lehtera’s skate and nearly goes out before the stick of Marchand saves it.

“He just made a flawless play, ‘” said Holden, who was acquired from the New York Rangers in late February. With the lead now up to two goals, the Flyers needed to not fall into the same style of play that caused so many games to slip away from their grasp. There was certainly none bigger than his glove save on David Pastrnak in the first period. “He’s been a special player that can create so much for everyone, not just for himself”.

But those who’d rather focus on the one bad goal on a night the Bruins were able to afford because they scored four times against the Lightning, are too quick to dismiss the hard saves that Rask makes look easy because of his superior positional play.

Speaking of the Devils, they can distance themselves further from the idle Florida Panthers, who have taken a nosedive recently and sit five points back of New Jersey with a game in-hand.

Asked if he thought Krejci even knew he was there, Holden said, “Some guys, I’d say no”. Chances are the Flyers and Bruins will not cross paths in the first round of the playoffs, but it would certainly be an exciting series. “When the 82 games are over, we’ll see where we are, who we got, and we’ll go from there”.

Patrick scored at 5:31 of the third for a 3-1 Flyers lead, once again regaining a two-goal lead.

The Flyers have been average on offense as they come into this game ranked 14th in the league in scoring at 2.97 gpg, while also ranking 17th in shots taken (32.1 spg) and 17th in power play conversions, converting on 20.0% of their chances.

The Jets were 6-2 losers to the Blackhawks as emergency goaltender Scott Foster played the final 14 minutes after being pressed into service. The Flyers have gone 19-19 here at home and they have averaged 2.95 gpg and have allowed 2.92 gpg in those games.