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If the Bruins could play the rest of their games on Causeway Street, they would be a shoo-in for the playoffs. But that’s not how it works in the NHL and, as long as the B’s have to play road games, it appears they will be challenged to nail down a postseason spot.
The B’s, who are 22-8-1 at TD Garden, dropped a 3-1 decision to an outside-the-bracket Flyers team in Philadelphia on Saturday, dropping their road record to 11-13-4.
Old friend Daniel Vladar was spectacular in making 26 saves, several of which had Morgan Geekie (nine total shots, five on net, two blocked, two misses) muttering to himself.
All the goals were scored in the third period.
The Flyers took the first lead of the game off a fortunate bounce at 3:41 of the third period. A Philly clear-in went off a stanchion in the corner and bounced right in front of the net. Jeremy Swayman tried to poke it out of danger, but could not make contact. Christian Dvorak got to it first and sent a nifty backhander to Travis Konecny for the tap-in.
“It’s unfortunate. It’s just hockey. You want to focus on the next shot, which we did and I thought we responded really well,” Swayman told reporters in Philly. “It hit a stanchion and as soon as I went to swipe it, it hopped over my stick.”
Then a defensive breakdown gave the Flyers a 2-0 lead at 11:55. With David Pastrnak and Fraser Minten both caught over to one side, Henri Jokiharju was battling a Flyer down low and Nikita Zadorov was unable to get out higher. Consequently, Jamie Drysdale was allowed to walk down the middle and beat Swayman over the blocker. After the game, Geekie took the blame for allowing himself to get pulled out of the slot. That one held up as the game-winner.
Coach Marco Sturm wasn’t wild about his team’s desire around the net.
“We had chances. Unfortunately, we didn’t score. If you don’t score… tough bounce and one little mistake and all of a sudden it was a 2-0 game,” Sturm said. “It was very unfortunate. We did a lot of good things. I thought Sway was outstanding today. But at the end of the day, we couldn’t find a way to score. And we didn’t have that mentality, too, to go to the net hard, the tough areas. We played on the outside way too much.”
The B’s got one back at 13:03. Off a faceoff win, Hampus Lindholm sent a pass down low to Charlie McAvoy, who sent a floating redirect that just got over his old Providence roommate Vladar’s pad. That extended McAvoy’s point streak to nine games.
Swayman then kept it a one-goal deficit when he stopped Konecny on a breakaway at 14:26.
But with 52.8 seconds left, Sean Couturier ended it with an empty-netter and the B’s suffered their first loss regulation loss since January 20.
The B’s appeared briefly, to score the first goal of the game early in the third when Lindholm’s shot from the right point got through Vladar but it was immediately waved off for goalie interference on Mikey Eyssimont. The Bruins forward tried to squeeze between Vladar and defenseman Travis Sanheim, bumping the netminder on his way. Sanheim didn’t exactly push Eyssimont into the crease and Sturm elected not to challenge, despite Eyssimont’s protestations of innocence.
“Mikey went through the paint and touched the goalie on his own, so he didn’t really get pushed in. And they called it a non-goal (on the ice), so you have to think about that, too,” Sturm said.
The highlight of the scoreless first period was a heavyweight bout between Tanner Jeannot and Nic Deslauriers. It was Deslauriers who on Jan. 29 delivered the check that most likely concussed Pavel Zacha and cost the Czech a chance at playing in the Olympics. The check was legal but edgy enough to be addressed. Jeannot and Deslauriers were seen chatting at the red line during pre-game warmups.
At 8:33 of the first, the two kept the date they presumably made, locking up at center ice. The Flyer started throwing first but couldn’t quite find the range. Once Jeannot started swinging, he didn’t stop. Deslauriers earned kudos for the cement jaw he showed, but Jeannot bloodied him on the bridge of the nose to take a clear decision.
The game also marked the return to action for Swayman, who last played in a shaky win over Denmark for the USA in the Olympics during qualification play.
Swayman was locked in during the first period when Philly had the early edge in play. The Flyers got the first two power plays of the game and the B’s killed them both. But at the end of the first Flyers PP, Swayman made a terrific blocker save on Bobby Brink from the slot. Philly held a 7-6 shot advantage in shots.
The second period saw Geekie get three glorious chances, all off set-ups from Pastrnak, that would not go for him. The first one came on a power play when he had half the net at which to shoot from the left wing, but he hit the side of the cage. On the second one, he was planted in the slot for the Pastrnak feed but Vladar made a terrific stop. The third was a backdoor play on his strong side but he didn’t get all he wanted on the shot and Vladar made the pad stop. Geekie had five shots on net in the first two periods with nothing to show for it.
“It sucks not to see them go in. It’s just one of those nights. The goalie played well. I couldn’t quite put it in the spot that I wanted to a couple of times. Dave made a couple of great plays. It was one of the nights you (want to) flush it pretty quick and get back on the horse right away,” said Geekie, who leads the B’s with 33 goals.
Swayman also came up with a big save. In a mad scramble in the front, the puck was sitting in the crease. Dvorak crashed and appeared to have a sure goal but Swayman got a glove on it to keep it scoreless.
Deslauriers gave the B’s their second PP chance when he took exception to a McAvoy hit on Owen Tippett and took an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty. The B’s could capitalize on that, nor on a third PP late in the period.
The B’s outshot the Flyers, 15-3, in the second, though the period was a little more territorially even as the B’s had 17 blocks through the first 40 minutes.
Other than the goalie switch, the rest of the lineup remained the same. That meant that defenseman Andrew Peeke was a healthy scratch for the second straight game, which makes one think that B’s are protecting the pending UFA for a possible move by Friday’s deadline. Sturm said that both Peeke and Jordan Harris, the other scratch on the back end, will play again.
“They will play again at one point, all of them. It’s just a matter of when,” said Sturm.
In Providence, highly regarded prospect Dans Locmelis will miss the rest of the season. Mark Divver reported that Locmelis, who played for Latvia in the Olympics, will have to undergo shoulder surgery that will have a six-month recovery time. Locmelis had 15-13-28 totals in 43 games.
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