Bruins-Flyers Notes: Tuukka Rask's Breakaway Save In OT Sets Stage For Winning Goal

BOSTON — Bruins goaltender Tuukka Rask has bailed out his teammates after defensive breakdowns and mental mistakes all season, and he did it again Saturday afternoon at TD Garden.

Philadelphia Flyers leading scorer Jakub Voracek had a breakaway in overtime with a chance to secure two much-needed points for his team in the playoff race, but Rask stopped him with an excellent save. Shortly before that breakaway, Rask made a good save on a 3-on-1 scoring chance the Flyers created.

“You know, of all guys to get a breakaway there, that’s the last guy you wanted to see, and Tuukka made a huge save on net,” Bruins head coach Claude Julien said. “You could see a sigh of relief on the bench, and sometimes you get those breaks and you go down the other end and you end up scoring a goal.”

Rask’s save gave the Bruins more time to win the game, and Marchand made sure that happened with a goal at the 3:52 mark of the overtime period.

— Marchand scored the winning goal in overtime and the equalizer with 14.1 seconds remaining in regulation. The last Bruins player to do that was Rick Middleton, who actually was in attendance Saturday.

— Boston went 3-0-0 against Philadelphia to sweep the season series in back-to-back campaigns for the first time since 1970-71 and 1971-72.

— Patrice Bergeron was matched up against the Flyers’ top line of Michael Raffl-Claude Giroux-Wayne Simmonds. The reigning Selke Trophy winner kept them all scoreless during 5-on-5 play, while also driving puck possession with a plus-4 shot attempt differential at even strength.

— Dougie Hamilton tallied two assists and now has three helpers in his last two games. He leads all Bruins defensemen with 37 points this season.

— Special teams played a large role in the outcome of Saturday’s game.

Boston scored two power-play goals for just the second time since Nov. 6. The penalty kill continued to struggle and gave up another goal. The B’s have allowed a power-play goal in seven of the last nine games.

— The Bruins have 18 games left in the regular season, and 17 of them are against Eastern Conference opponents. The only Western Conference matchup is against the Anaheim Ducks on March 26.

— Max Talbot picked up the primary assist on Marchand’s game-winning goal for his first point with the Bruins.

“He’s a phenomenal player, he really fits in with this team really well,” Marchand said of Talbot. “He brings so much energy to the table, he plays very physical and he makes a lot of really good plays.

“You saw on the winning goal there, the nice little sauce pass he made. He made a really nice play to (Gregory Campbell) in first period where Soupy drew a penalty. He brings a lot of great attributes that this team needs, and like I said, he fits in well.”

— Ryan Spooner tallied an assist on Marchand’s game-tying goal in the third period to extend his point streak to four games. He has one goal and three assists in that span.

— The Bruins have scored first in seven straight games. They are 4-2-1 in that span.

— Flyers goalie Steve Mason 1-9-5 on the road after Saturday’s loss.

— The Flyers haven’t won in Boston since opening night of the 2011-12 season.