Struggling Bruins blanked by the Flyers, 2-0

The Philadelphia Flyers arrived the Garden on Tuesday having allowed 4.44 goals per game in their first nine games and in last place in the Metropolitan Division at 2-6-1. Easy pickings for the Bruins?

Yeah, right. In 2024-25, noting comes easily for the B’s.

The B’s went 0-for-4 on the power play, including a lengthy 5-on-3, and fought the puck all night on the way to their second shutout loss of the young season, this one a 2-0 loss to the visitors from Philadelphia.

Tyson Foerster scored in the second period and, thanks to the Flyers’ 28 blocked shots, that held up until Joel Farabee scored an empty-netter.

Despite going into the third period down a goal, the B’s managed just three shots on net in the third period and, on the power plays, they landed just two shots on Sam Ersson, who posted the 24-save clean sheet.

Right now, the B’s are not playing instinctively in the offensive zone.

“If you move the puck quick enough and you’re thinking shot-first, they’re not going to be in shot lanes. They’re one less player, especially on the 5-on-3 when they’re two less players,” said coach Jim Montgomery, lamenting the power-play woes. “We’re not making plays, we’re not doing enough to generate high danger scoring chances. Whether that’s a will to go to those areas or not the right game plan, we’re all culpable for not coming out with a victory tonight.”

The loss wasted a good performance by Joonas Korpisalo (17 saves).

“He gave us an opportunity to win,” said Montgomery. “He didn’t face many shots, but there were some high quality shots. I could think of at last three great saves that gave us the opportunity before it went 1-0.”

As the questions mount about this team and its ability to score on a regular basis, one has to wonder if a cure exists. Veteran sparkplug Tyler Johnson is still with the team is expected to sign at some point, but this feels doesn’t feel like a one-man fix.

Elias Lindholm, paired with one of the world’s premier goal scorers in David Pastrnak, is pointless in seven games and has not demonstrated he has much chemistry with the superstar. Considering management invested seven years and $54.25 million to be Pastrnak’s dish man throughout their primes, that’s a problem.

Meanwhile, Brad Marchand, Charlie Coyle, Trent Frederic and Pavel Zacha all have just one goal. All of those players will have to step forward soon or this season will get away from them.

“On every team, the star players have to carry the weight, the load offensively. Those are the players that are out on the power play and right now the offense isn’t materializing for us,” said Montgomery.

Going into the game, it felt like the B’s might have a chance to start stringing some wins together after an emotional overtime win over Toronto on Saturday. Nope.

“Sometimes you get a little overconfident. You have to respect every team, every night,” said Marchand. “We had opportunities tonight, especially in the first two periods. After the second, it could have easily been a tie game. But we let it get away from us a little bit and you have to continue to build on the right things. We got away from playing hard at the net in the third and they did a really good job of collapsing. They protected their net front very well, but we needed to be better in that area.”

The first period was scoreless, thanks to several excellent saves by both netminders. Young defenseman Mason Lohrei was experiencing brutal malfunctions with the puck early on that would eventually lead to his benching for a couple of shifts later in the first.

But when he and partner Charlie McAvoy could not clear the puck early on, Korpisalo bailed them out. On a bad Bruin early shift, Bobby Brink had half the net at which to shoot but Korpisalo, playing his first game since Oct. 16, made a terrific toe save.

The B’s had a great chance to take the lead when Marchand was crosschecked and then Pastrnak was hooked 23 seconds later, giving the B’s a 5-on-3 for 1:37. But the B’s got bupkus out of it as the Flyers somehow managed to take away their shooting lanes for the extended two-man advantage. They also needed Korpisalo to come up with a big stop on the Flyers’ shorthanded bid after the first penalty was up, getting over to his left to thwart Garnet Hathaway on a 2-on-1.

The B’s, who held an 11-7 shot advantage, had their best chance when Andrew Peeke took the puck deep and fed Elias Lindholm for what looked like a tap-in, but Ersson somehow made it all the way over to thwart the centeman. Peeke also hit a post later in the period.

The Flyers got all the offense they needed at 5:32 of the second. The B’s lost puck battles at both blue line and eventually, Emil Andrae fed Tyson Foerster in the high slot and he was able to beat Korpisalo under the pads with a hard wrister for the 1-0 Flyer lead.

The B’s then promptly gave the Flyers a power play but they were able to kill it off.

Morgan Geekie, who also has been struggling offensively (just one assist), gave the B’s another power play chance when he buried a Flyer in the offensive zone and Morgan Frost retaliated with a high stick. But the B’s, hesitantly playing on the perimeter, didn’t get the puck to the net until Justin Brazeau’s tip was gobbled up by Ersson as the PP was ending.

The Flyers had 17 blocked shots through the first 20 minutes, plus more thwarted passes that was frustrating the Bruins. The B’s had a 10-6 shot advantage in the second but they headed into the third period down a goal.

The difficulties of getting pucks to the net would only get worse in the third and the B’s, unable to fight through the Flyers, got the result they deserved. Now, with their record standing at 4-5-1, it’s back to the drawing board yet again. Through 10 games, it’s already a far too familiar position for them to be in.