Bruins' solid effort leads to 3-0 win over Flyers

One good game will not be enough to calm the nerves of the Bruin fandom that has seen some consistently shoddy play from its squad through the first month of the season.

But on Saturday in Philadelphia, the B’s looked like a team that was finally sick of getting its butt kicked.

The B’s got goals in all three periods and timely stops from Joonas Korpisalo (20 saves) to come away with a 3-0 win against the Flyers at Wells Fargo Center. The leaders led and the depth players followed. Captain Brad Marchand had an empty-net goal to seal it and a huge assist while Matt Poitras and Justin Brazeau provided all the offense the B’s, who held a 31-20 shot advantage, would need.

The B’s didn’t take a lot of penalties when it mattered, but they killed all three infractions that they took.

All in all, it was a good win.

“It was a big win for us,” Marchand told NESN. “I really liked the way we played, the way that we started. They had a couple of good pushes throughout the game, but we did a good job weathering them where lately we’ve been breaking. We didn’t tonight. Something we can build off. It’s a great opportunity again (Sunday) and we’ve got to follow it up now.”

Indeed, the B’s need to follow it up. The Seattle Kraken will be in town for a 5 p.m. ET evening game Sunday at the Garden.

The inconsistency in the team’s play through the first month of the season has led to rampant speculation about coach Jim Montgomery’s job security. His praise was understandably muted and forward-thinking.

“I loved our effort. I thought our second and third effort was really good,” said Montgomery. “By no means was our structure or our mental play perfect. But our effort overcame some of those lapses we had. I think now players will be a little looser. But now what we’ve got to do is do it two nights in a row.”

The Bruins dominated the first period, outshooting the Flyers 14-5, and taking a 1-0 lead. Even when they made a couple of mistakes that appeared to give Philly the odd scoring chances, the B’s executed defensively to thwart the plays before it ever got to Korpisalo. According to Natural Stat Trick, the B’s had five high-danger chances to none for the Flyers in the opening 20 minutes.

The B’s earned an early power play and, though they did not score on it, they moved the puck well enough to give themselves some momentum that they did not relinquish in the period.

Philly goalie Sam Ersson, who shut out the Bruins at the Garden on Tuesday, had to leave the game at 7:36 with a lower body injury after making eight saves, replaced by Aleksei Kolosov.

The B’s were finally rewarded for their hard work at 13:28. Kolosov turned away a Hampus Lindholm shot but Matt Poitras tracked down the rebound on the left side and, with Morgan Geekie at the top of the crease, his backhander went off Kolosov and in. It was Poitras’ first goal of the season.

Late in the period, the struggling Charlie Coyle, who played his best game of the season while playing 20:03 (team-high among the forwards, including 3:20 in PK time), drew a holding penalty as he tried to motor to the net. On the PP, after Elias Lindholm disrupted a shorthanded 2-on-1 for Philly to create a 2-on-1 for the B’s, Marchand dinged the post.

The B’s could not fully carry over their play from the first to second period, but they did manage to extend the lead.

As one would expect, the Flyers made a bit of a push in the second and the B’s didn’t always handle it well. Pucks that should have have gotten out of the defensive zone never made it over the blue line, creating more offensive zone time for the Flyers.

Philly got its second PP of the day when Poitras turned a puck over in the offensive zone and then had to take a penalty on the backcheck close to the net. But Korpisalo made the saves he had to and, at 11:23, the B’s gave themselves some much needed breathing space, thanks to a terrific play from the captain.

Elias Lindholm gave Marchand a touch pass up the left wing but Rasmus Ristolainen cut off Marchand’s path to the net at the circle. Marchand did not give up on the play. He shielded the puck from the bigger Ristolainen, took it behind the net and hit a changing-on Justin Breazeau, who ripped home a one-timer from the high slot. It was Brazeau’s third of the year.

“Great play by Marchy and a great change by (David Pastrnak), unselfish, changing in the O-zone. Yeah, it was nice,” Brazeau told reporters in Philadelphia. “I knew Marchy had time behind the net and I was just trying to find a soft area for him. Obviously he’s got a ton of skill and can make that play. So I’m just trying to give him a spot so I can get ready for a shot.”

Korpisalo continued to pick up his teammates. On one sequence late in the period, Brandon Carlo fell down, taking Hampus Lindholm with him, and the netminder made his save of the game on an all-alone Morgan Frost at the top of the crease. That allowed the B’s to get to the third period with a 2-0 lead.

In the third, the B’s did a great job off choking off the Philly attack until, with 3:39 left, Marchand scored an empty-netter from his own defensive slot to end it.

There was a dust-up in the final minute, highlighted by Trent Frederic and Travis Konecny exchanging gloved punches. After Konecny got in a good shot with the linesmen in the middle of the fracas, Frederic flung his gloves down and tried to get at Konecny for a proper go, but the linesman guided Konecny off the ice and down the tunnel.

Maybe it’s just as well. The B’s will need to have some fight left for Sunday’s tilt.

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