August 02, 2020

3 reasons the Flyers beat the Bruins in their first seeding game

By Evan Macy
PhillyVoice Staff

For the first time in the storied history of the NHL, the puck dropped for a "seeding" round robin game as the Flyers took to the ice in Toronto literally with nothing to lose.

And lose they certainly did not, as they cruised to a dominating 4-1 win over the Bruins that equalled the hype after the regular season was forced to "pause" with the Flyers the hottest team in the league.

The Flyers, coming into action sitting in fourth in the east, can only improve their spot in the upcoming 16-team Stanley Cup playoff bracket, and will get to test their mettle against the Capitals and Lightning in the coming days.

In theory, with re-seeding occurring after each round, three wins could put the Flyers in the top slot in the conference — an advantage almost as big as home ice would have been.

But let's not get ahead of ourselves. We have a big win against Boston to break down first. Here are three reasons why they prevailed Sunday afternoon:

How hard should we go?

The format of the three-game round robin had many wondering how hard each of the teams would go before the puck dropped. After all, the games have zero elimination implications and are theoretically just an extension of the team's warming up for the playoffs.

Would the Bruins hold back? Would the Flyers be playing harder with more to gain?

Turnovers, sloppy play and lack of awareness, particularly in their own end early showed the rust that came from four-plus months without competitive hockey. In addition, the sheer speed of Boston made the Flyers look overmatched at times.

The game was pretty boring to be frank, until the Flyers started to buzz a bit in the second period, mustering the first goal of the game on a gorgeous back-hander from Michael Raffl (who left the game with an injury in the third). The flip found nylon but needed a perfect needle threading pass from Travis Sanheim to set it up:

Signed, sealed, delivered.

Raffl gets one past Halak to put the Flyers up 1-0! pic.twitter.com/yjXYtQfIpo
— NBC Sports Philadelphia (@NBCSPhilly) August 2, 2020

Nate Thompson kept the rally going later in the second period, rifling a slap shot just over Jaroslav Halak to add a little breathing room with a 2-0 Philly advantage midway through the game.

Ｂｕｚｚｉｎｇ. #AnytimeAnywhere | #PHIvsBOS pic.twitter.com/4s8J9BV2ab
— Philadelphia Flyers (@NHLFlyers) August 2, 2020

If there were doubts in the early going they were clearly addressed in the second period, as the Flyers showed they came to win, not just tune up.

Defense first

The Flyers' defense shined in the first qualifying game, as an early penalty kill set the tone for what would be a deliberate effort from the unit to keep the high powered Boston offense at bay.

The Flyers relied on Carter Hart, who was so good he may as well have been a brick wall as he stopped shot after shot and looked totally healthy, aware and in the zone throughout the afternoon. In all, the 21-year-old saved 34 of 35 shots he faced and made it look easy.

Up 2-0, Philly looked like the aggressor with the Bruins seeming timid, with another key penalty kill clinching momentum for the Flyers. The Bruins switched that momentum for... well... 11 seconds after a wraparound goal by Chris Wagner made it 2-1 very briefly (thanks in part to an unlucky bounce off a skate). That is until defenseman Phil Meyers nabbed a takeaway in the neutral zone and did this:

PHIL! PHIL! PHIL! PHIL! PHIL!

What a shot from Myers to make it 3-1, Flyers. pic.twitter.com/MsYABrjH0t
— NBC Sports Philadelphia (@NBCSPhilly) August 2, 2020

The Philly PK remained perfect 3-0 short-handed, and the regular teams 'D' got some very good reps against a desperate Bruins squad in the last few minutes, as they pulled their goalie with more than three minutes to play and peppered shots at Hart.

Shoooot!

The Flyers had their first real opportunity to score late in the first, and despite controlling the puck and a Claude Giroux carom off the post behind Halak the team didn't muster a single shot on goal during the man advantage — and fired just six in the entire first frame.

Maybe they were missing the fans a bit?

Per sources: For the first time in Flyers history, no one yelled "shoot" from the crowd during our power play.
— Philadelphia Flyers (@NHLFlyers) July 28, 2020

Over their 69 regular season games, Philly averaged more than 30 shots on goal per game while allowing the fewest number in the NHL (28.6 per game). As the "feeling out" first period ended the Flyers started to look more like themselves, scoring three times in the second and dominating the period on both sides of the puck.

In the third it was more of the same, as a Scott Laughton breakaway put Philadelphia up by three as they cruised to the 'W.'