Bruins right wing David Pastrnak (88) celebrates with teammates after scoring a goal against the Flyers in the first period of Saturday's game in Philadelphia.
Bruins right wing David Pastrnak (88) celebrates with teammates after scoring a goal against the Flyers in the first period of Saturday's game in Philadelphia.
The Boston Bruins sailed into the bye week/All-Star break with every right to feel pretty good about themselves.
Once thought to be a team that would have to battle for a wild card spot after many significant defections, the Bruins went into the break guaranteed of being at least tied for the top spot in the NHL. And after a concerning four-game losing streak going into the Christmas hiatus, coach Jim Montgomery has gotten the team back on track, going 12-2-3 between that break and this upcoming one. At 31-9-9, they’re the only team in the league with single-digit regulation losses.
The Bruins on Saturday finished off this latest segment of the season with a 6-2 thumping of the scuffling Philadelphia Flyers at Wells Fargo Center, led by Philly-loving David Pastrnak. The B’s superstar notched his 32nd and 33rd goals and added an assist, while Linus Ullmark looked the best he has since returning from his lower-body injury, making 34 stops.
At first, the Bruins had a hard time getting out of their own zone and it looked like it might be a long day playing their last game before the bye week without Jake DeBrusk, Matt Poitras and Derek Forbort, all out with undisclosed injuries.
But in a blink, they scored four goals in 4:14 to take a 4-0 lead going into the first break.
Philly is a special place for Pastrnak. It’s where he scored his first NHL goal and also a hat trick last season that gave him 60 goals.
Going into the game, he had 24-15-39 totals in 28 career games against the Flyers.
His first goal required a snipe. Without numbers in the B’s favor, Pastrnak simply took a Pavel Zacha feed high in the zone and, from the top of the right circle, he used Travis Sanheim as a screen and snapped a shot between his legs that beat goalie Sam Ersson to the far top corner at 14:09.
The B’s then went to work on the forecheck and Zacha found a pinching Charlie McAvoy for an easy back-door goal.
They weren’t done. Danton Heinen put the B’s up 3-0 when Brandon Carlo’s shot was first deflected out high by a Flyer and then Heinen in front of the net.
Pastrnak added another one, this time on another strong forecheck. He came out from behind the net to get a loose puck and fired an shot that broke through Ersson.
Ersson finished the period but coach John Tortorella switched him out for Cal Peterson to start the second.
If he was hoping that it would serve as a wakeup call, Tortorella was disappointed.
Just 1:15 into the second period, the B’s top line of Pastrnak, Zacha and James van Riemsdyk again had a dominant shift. This time, Pastrnak made a tough angle pass from the side of the net to van Riemsdyk out front and the former Flyer popped it into the wide open net.
The B’s went on a bit of a cruise control at that point, content to chip it out and chew clock. But the Flyers finally got on the board at 15:23 on a nice curl-and-drag shot to cut the B’s lead to four, but Ullmark (27 saves through two periods) didn’t let them get any closer.
After the B’s couldn’t quite put it away after given back-to-back power plays in the third, Foerster made made it interesting at 11:24, but Charlie Coyle finished the Flyers off with his 18th of the year.
