Marchand's 5 Points Lead Bruins To 6-3 Win Over Flyers
By The Sports Xchange | Box Score
BOSTON -- Brad Marchand collected five points to lead the Boston Bruins scored past the Philadelphia Flyers with a 6-3 victory on Saturday afternoon at TD Garden.
Marchand had two goals and three assists, and Patrice Bergeron's second-period goal held up as the winner as the Bruins evened their home record at 10-10-0 and pulled ahead of the Flyers in points as the two teams begin to look like potential entrants in the race for final Eastern Conference playoff spots.
Marchand scored an early unassisted goal, set up goals by Torey Krug, Bergeron and Zdeno Chara, and added an empty-netter in scoring five points for the second time this season. He collected five points in Boston's season-opening win over Columbus, making him the first Bruin to score five twice in a season since Jason Allison in 1997-98.
Tuukka Rask, making a return to the Boston net after being forced out of Thursday's game with an injury, made 21 saves in the win. Philadelphia's Michal Neuvirth turned aside 33 of the 38 shots the Bruins pumped on his net.
Pierre-Edouard Bellemare put the Flyers on the board just 2:05 into the game, tipping an Ivan Provorov shot from the point past Rask.
Provorov figured into the second goal of the game as well, but not in the way he might have hoped. The Philly defenseman drew a tripping penalty on Bruins forward David Pastrnak, but during the power play, Marchand picked Sean Couturier's pocket at the blue line and raced at Neuvirth's net.
Provorov was the last man back but couldn't wrangle Marchand, who flubbed a backhand attempt only to see the puck slither through Neuvirth for the tying goal at the 7:48 mark of the first.
Two minutes into the second period, David Krejci gave the Bruins a lead they never relinquished. Austin Czarnik gathered a failed Philadelphia clearing attempt and sent it to the center for a hard wrister over Neuvirth's glove shoulder and a 2-1 lead. It was Krejci's 500th career point.
Exactly four minutes later, defenseman Krug started and finished a 3-on-2 rush, tipping in a feed from Marchand to make it 3-1 with his third goal in as many games, a career first.
Brayden Schenn scored his 15th of the year for the Flyers, jamming a shot home just five seconds into a power play to cut the Boston lead to one with 8:16 gone in the second.
Twelve seconds later, Bruin defenseman Kevan Miller raced Flyer right winger Jakub Voracek for a puck deep in the Boston zone. Miller arrived first, and Voracek stapled him into the end boards.
Miller hit the ice immediately and required a trainer's assistance to get to the Bruin bench and down the tunnel for treatment. He did not return to the game, and Voracek picked up a five-minute major for boarding.
Four and a half minutes into Voracek's major penalty, Krug caught a slow-moving clearing attempt in the Philadelphia zone and filtered the puck down to Marchand, who found Bergeron for a turn-and-fire shot that deflected off of Andrew MacDonald's stick and over Neuvirth's shoulder for a 4-2 lead with 6:56 to go in the second.
Just over two minutes later, Pastrnak found Chara cross-ice for a one-timer that the big Bruin captain blasted past Neuvirth for a 5-2 advantage.
Wayne Simmonds found a late answer for the Flyers in the second period, after drawing a penalty to Pastrnak for holding. The Flyers were given a 5-on-3 advantage after Chara cleared a puck over the boards, and Simmonds converted with 3.2 seconds left in the middle period to cut the deficit to 5-3.
Marchand scored his second goal and fifth point of the game after making a steal at the Philadelphia blue line and burying an empty-netter with 54 seconds to go.
NOTES: Boston C David Krejci scored his 500th career point in the game, moving past Adam Oates to 14th on the franchise's all-time list. ... Flyer D Mark Streit, out since Nov. 14 because of a shoulder injury, returned to the lineup after missing 13 games. D Shayne Gostisbehere was a healthy scratch. ... Saturday's game was Bruins LW Brad Marchand's 500th in his NHL career, and LW Pierre-Edouard Bellemare's 200th as a Flyer. ... G Michal Neuvirth got the start for the Flyers after being called in to Relieve Steve Mason in a win over Vancouver on Thursday. It marks the first back-to-back games for Neuvirth since his return from a knee injury sustained in mid-November.