Flyers not hot enough to burn Boston
Posted: Sunday, March 30, 2014, 3:30 PM
St. Louis? Check.
Chicago? Dallas? Check both. Pittsburgh? Check twice.
Over the last three weeks, the Flyers have marched through some of the NHL's top teams - virtually all but assuring themselves a spot in the Stanley Cup playoffs after a one year hiatus.
One of their biggest remaining hurdles was a size-up against the President's Trophy-sniffing Boston Bruins, who have earned at least one point in 16 consecutive games.
And, well, the Flyers don't have the Bruins figured out quite yet.
After a promising start in which they held two separate leads, the Flyers squandered a key third period power play and dropped a 4-3 decision in the shootout to the Bruins at Wells Fargo Center on Sunday afternoon.
Boston (52-17-6) is one of only three teams the Flyers have not beaten in the NHL this season - along with Carolina and Tampa Bay.
A suddenly red hot Vinny Lecavalier, with three goals in his last two games since moving to the Flyers' fourth line on Friday night, earned the Flyers a point by scoring with 25.7 seconds left in regulation.
The Flyers appeared to have the Bruins on the ropes in overtime - outshooting Boston by an 8-1 margin. They finished with a season-high 52 shots on goal, forcing Tuukka Rask to make a career-high 49 saves.
Reilly Smith won it for Boston in the fifth round of the shootout. Steve Mason gave the Flyers every opportunity to win it, stopping Brad Marchand, Jarome Iginla and David Krejci in succession in the shootout.
The Flyers are now 3-6 on the shootout this season; Boston improved to 3-4.
There are two positives here: the Flyers will have another crack at all three teams - Boston (April 5), Tampa Bay (April 10) and Carolina (April 13) - in the final week of the season; and the Flyers played like a team much closer to the Bruins' championship caliber than their last meeting on Jan. 25.
On this day, it appeared the Flyers would fail to register their 12th third period comeback win of the season partly because of a botched, 5-on-3 power play in the opening minutes of the period.
Zdeno Chara shot the puck over the glass to join Dougie Hamilton in the box, handing the Flyers a mouth-watering 1:47 with an extra two men on the ice.
The Flyers, who have won quite a few games because of their 5-on-4 play this season, struggled with an extra two men. They got off just one shot, with Boston blocking another two.
The Flyers are now 2-for-14 in 10:50 of 5-on-3 time this season - good for just 23rd in the NHL. Non-playoff teams like Nashville (5-for-9), New Jersey (4-for-9), Ottawa (4-for-5), and the Islanders (6-for-14) have considerably better numbers with the two-man advantage.
Lecavalier, who has added spunk to the Flyers' fourth line, lifted his teammates off the hook with his last-second goal.
With the point, the Flyers temporarily used one of their two games in-hand over the Rangers to slide into second place in the Metropolitan division. The Rangers play in Edmonton tonight.
Slap shots
Vinny Lecavalier picked up his 400th career goal in the first period, making him the 90th player in NHL history to hit that mark and the 8th active player to do so ... Andrej Meszaros scored against the Flyers in his first game against them since being traded on March 3. Meszaros now has 2 goals and 3 assists in 9 games for Boston ... The Flyers finished with 48 shots on goal, their highest output of the season. They outshot the Bruins, 48-30, including overtime.
T | @DNFlyers
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