After dropping their first two preseason contests, the Philadelphia Flyers remained resilient in the face of adversity and defeated the Boston Bruins, 4-3 in a shootout.
Joel Farabee got the Flyers on the board first and Ryan Poehling scored another goal to put the Flyers ahead 2-1 after twenty minutes. The Bruins scored three consecutive goals after that until Bobby Brink tied the game up in the third period, and he and Morgan Frost would score in the shootout to help win the game.
Cal Petersen made 16 saves in relief of Samuel Ersson to pick up his first victory of the preseason.
FIRST PERIOD
The Flyers, icing a more NHL-caliber lineup than we’ve seen in the last two games, came out of the gate with plenty of pressure.
Philadelphia racked up seven of the game’s first eight shots on goal before Joel Farabee stole the puck in the neutral zone, skated in and fired a shot high over the glove the Linus Ullmark.
Boston was able to respond in short order, however, as David Pastrňák scored on the power play less than five minutes later after a Nicolas Deslauriers slashing penalty.
The Bruins would take a hooking penalty from Pastrňák with 4:30 remaining in the opening frame, and Ryan Poehling cashed in late on the power play to put the Flyers back on top.
The Flyers maintained plenty of possession and zone time with the puck with the man advantage, and Poehling once again scored – his second goal in two games – to cap off an impressive first twenty minutes.
Philadelphia would head into the first intermission up 2-1 and ahead in the shots battle 12-5.
SECOND PERIOD
The second period began more evenly, and with more chippiness as well.
Both teams would end up with coincidental roughing minors by Jakub Lauko and Louie Belpedio just over seven minutes into the period after a scrum in front of Samuel Ersson’s net.
While on the 4-on-4, Joel Farabee turned the puck over on a pass attempt and of course, it was David Pastrňák who stole it and skated in for the breakaway goal on Ersson at 7:40 of the middle frame.
After the coincidental penalties were finished, Lauko and Belpedio dropped the gloves, with the Flyers defender earning the decisive victory.
Cal Petersen also entered the game in place of Ersson in goal before the fight.
Helge Grans, one of the players acquired in the Ivan Provorov trade, was whistled for interference just before the halfway mark of the period. Luckily, the Flyers were able to kill off the penalty, but Owen Tippett’s tripping minor just over a minute after Grans’ infraction put Boston on a power play that they wouldn’t mess up on this time.
Danton Heinen received a slick feed from Kevin Shattenkirk and snuck a wrist shot through the wickets of Cal Petersen with exactly five minutes left in the second period to put the Bruins on top, 3-2.
Boston’s stellar second period showing lifted them to a 3-2 lead after forty minutes. The Bruins outshot the Flyers 12-6 in the period to close the overall gap to a slim 18-17 edge for Philadelphia.
THIRD PERIOD
The Flyers received a very early power play as Linus Ullmark upended Elliot Desnoyers and was called for interference just 40 seconds in.
Philadelphia couldn’t capitalize, but they kept their foot on the gas and they evened the score thanks to a bullet by Bobby Brink.
The Bruins came very close to taking back the lead multiple times, including a Danton Heinen one-timer that Cal Petersen made a miraculous stop on to keep things tied.
Petersen’s save would keep the game knotted up at 3, and the Flyers would try to secure their first preseason win in overtime.
OVERTIME
As usual with 3-on-3 overtime, both teams had plenty of scoring opportunities. Boston maintained early possession of the puck and kept the Flyers busy in their zone, but the visitors were able to survive.
Philadelphia had a grade-A chance to win when Owen Tippett was awarded a penalty shot, but Linus Ullmark stuck with him all the way on the attempt.
Ullmark and Petersen played incredibly well to keep their adversaries from winning, and we’d end up going to a shootout.
SHOOTOUT
After the initial save by Petersen on Matthew Poitras, Bobby Brink roofed home a filthy backhander to give the Flyers a 1-0 lead in the shootout.
Petersen staved off double-goal scorer David Pastrňák on the next attempt to give Morgan Frost a chance to seal the deal, and he did not disappoint.
The Philadelphia Flyers won their first preseason contest of the year, 4-3, in a shootout no less. Cal Petersen’s 16 saves and Bobby Brink’s tying and shootout goals were huge for the Flyers’ success tonight, Ryan Poehling stayed hot another goal in consecutive games, and Joel Farabee found his scoring touch again.
UP NEXT
The Flyers will host the New Jersey Devils tomorrow night in the first of three preseason matchups at Wells Fargo Center before the regular season begins.
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