Needing to turn around the bad luck from an earlier preseason overtime loss, the Philadelphia Flyers solved Jeremy Swayman in the extra period.
Last time, Martin Jones secured the Philadelphia Flyers’ first preseason victory of 2021-2022. Tonight, Carter Hart has the opportunity to earn his first win of the preseason against the visiting Boston Bruins.
Previously, the Bruins defeated the Flyers, 4-2. They presented a veteran-heavy lineup, replicating a version for opening night. When regulation time expired, Boston won a game that they should have.
Tonight, the shoe is on the other foot.
It’s Philadelphia who has the more veteran-savvy lineup. They could give the Bruins their preseason receipt. Alain Vigneault wants to get Hart into a groove entering the season. He’ll have a formidable opponent starting across the ice in Jeremy Swayman. Tonight could feature two starting goaltenders in 2021-2022, instead of only Hart.
First Period
Of any Philadelphia Flyers forward on the ice, Oskar Lindblom impressed the most. His passing vision, especially in transition, will blend beautifully with Derick Brassard and Cam Atkinson. It was on display tonight, showing glimpses of the 2019-2020 Lindblom we were all beginning to know.
The Boston Bruins spotlight of the first period belongs to Jeremy Swayman. He’s playing like a goaltender who should be the starter of his franchise. Twice, Nicolas Aube-Kubel got in close, alone, and Swayman denied the scoring chance. His teammates aren’t doing him any favors, placing the Flyers onto the powerplay twice.
Morgan Frost nearly found Cam Atkinson on a high percentage scoring play. Unfortunately, the sequence didn’t connect.
Transition passing and puck possession were critical in the first period for Philadelphia. Keith Yandle has successfully shared the puck with just about every Flyers skater. He’s showing why Alain Vigneault trusts him to quarterback the powerplay unit. Tic-tac passing with Jackson Cates provided Philadelphia with rapidly rotating shooting lanes. Though the period finished scoreless, that’s progress within the approach to the powerplay from a season ago.
Second Period
Jeremy Swayman made scoring a complicated process. The Philadelphia Flyers had four powerplay opportunities through two periods, scoring once. Meanwhile, the Boston Bruins are perfect with a man-advantage. Once again, the Flyers penalty kill hasn’t found the mark in the preseason.
Both teams changed their shooting philosophy, using traffic to disguise the flight of the puck. The mood changed a little bit when Ryan Ellis was penalized for roughing. An arguable call. After all, Ellis was the one on the ice, not Connor Clifton.
Jack Studnicka has been the talk of a few Bruins preseason performances thus far. He etched his place first on the scoreboard, beating Hart after the puck took a goofy bounce off the post. Hart was just out of position, which is an unlucky break.
Persistence paid off for Keith Yandle and Sean Couturier on the powerplay. Yandle continues to impress with his decisive passing, cruising the puck to Couturier for the one-timer equalizer.
Somewhere between the competitive, tight scoring affair, Elliot Desnoyers went toe-to-toe with John Moore, popping the fans at the Wells Fargo Center. We headed into the final frame, 1-1.
Third Period
After cracking each other’s armor in the second period, Carter Hart and Jeremy Swayman return to their stubborn ways. It’s a duel that Swayman got the better of a season ago. Both are very similar, and it’ll be interesting to see their career trajectory within the NHL.
Both penalty kill units prevailed in the third. Swayman turned into a brick wall against Joel Farabee before Hart returned the favor, robbing Chris Wagner at the crease. If you’re looking for an increase in shots taken by the Philadelphia Flyers, the lineup didn’t disappoint. Through regulation, the Flyers outshot the Boston Bruins, 34-25.
This duel heads into overtime, deadlocked 1-1.
Overtime
Earlier in the preseason, the Philadelphia Flyers fell to the New York Islanders in overtime. Heading into this extra frame, the Flyers needed to reverse that energy.
They did that when Travis Konecny fed the puck across the ice to Ivan Provorov. Provorov drilled the one-timer past Jeremy Swayman, securing the game-winner. Philadelphia wins in overtime, 2-1.
Up Next
Tomorrow, the Philadelphia Flyers hope to avenge their preseason overtime against the New York Islanders. The puck drops at 7pm, and you can watch all the action on NBC Sports Philadelphia.
Photo Credit: Alex McIntyre
