The Boston Bruins suffered their first overtime/shootout loss of the season Tuesday night in a 3-2 shootout defeat to the Philadelphia Flyers at Wells Fargo Center.
Boston played exceptionally in the third period to erase a two-goal deficit and force overtime, and probably deserved two points after dominating most of the game. The B’s held a 47-21 shots on goal advantage and went 35-29 in the faceoff dot.
The loss drops the Bruins to 12-10-1, while the Flyers improve to 11-10-3.
Here’s a recap of Bruins-Flyers.
TROUBLE ON THE BLUE LINE
The Bruins announced before the game that defenseman John-Michael Liles is out indefinitely after being diagnosed with a concussion. The injury was suffered Sunday against the Tampa Bay Lightning.
Making matters worse for the B’s is captain and top defenseman Zdeno Chara is battling a lower body injury. He did not play Tuesday night and has missed four straight games. This leaves Boston without two of its top six defensemen.
STRIKING FIRST
The Flyers opened the scoring with a Michael Del Zotto blast from the point at 13:56 of the first period. It snapped a 10-minute drought during which the Flyers registered zero shots on goal.
Austin Czarnik took a penalty soon after the goal, putting the Bruins on the penalty kill. Philly capitalized on the opportunity as Claude Giroux ended a nine-game goalless drought with his fifth tally of the season, giving the Flyers a 2-0 edge. Giroux now leads the league with 12 power-play points.
The Bruins had killed 16 straight penalties before that.
BRUINS BOUNCE BACK
The Bruins erased a 2-0 deficit with goals from David Krejci and Brad Marchand just 78 seconds apart in the third period.
Marchand’s tally came during 4-on-4 play after Andrew MacDonald (tripping) and David Pastrnak (embellishment) went to the penalty box. Marchand had scored only one goal in his last 11 games entering Tuesday night.
TUUKKA SAYS NO
Bruins goalie Tuukka Rask stopped Jakub Voracek on a penalty shot attempt in the third period just 39 seconds after Boston tied the score 2-2.
SHOOTOUT WOES
The Bruins scored once in the shootout on a pretty goal by Marchand, but it wasn’t enough as the Flyers won in Round 9 when Shayne Gostisbehere’s shot caught Rask’s glove and fluttered into the net. It resulted in Boston’s first shootout loss of the season (all of the other 29 NHL teams had an overtime/shootout loss prior to Tuesday night).
UP NEXT
The Bruins return home for a Thursday night matchup with the Carolina Hurricanes at 7 p.m. ET.
Thumbnail photo via Bruce Fedyck/USA TODAY Sports Images
