Recap: Bruins fall apart, lose to the Flyers in a shootout, 6-5

This one won’t go on Philippe Myers’ highlight reel, but it sure will go on Anders Bjork’s. A great effort from #10 makes it 1-0 Bruins in the first.

The Bruins’ top PP unit didn’t get it done, but the second group took care of business. Danton Heinen made a great pass and it was a tap-in for David Krejci. 2-0 Bruins

Kevin Hayes, who is from the greatest place on Planet Earth, cuts the Bruins’ lead in half with a laser on the PP to make it 2-1 Bruins late in the first.

Shortly after the Bruins killed the remainder of a Patrice Bergeron double minor, Brad Marchand found David Pastrnak, and Carter Hart found the puck in the back of his own net. 3-1 Bruins

About 30 seconds after the Pastrnak goal, a toss on net eludes Jaroslav Halak, and the puck finds its way to Travis Sanheim, who doesn’t miss. 3-2 Bruins

Charlie Coyle has some beautiful finish off of a fantastic pass from Danton Heinen, and it’s 4-2 Bruins.

A few minutes later, David Krejci capitalizes on some good forechecking and gets his second of the game to make it 5-2 Bruins.

Annnnnnnnnnnnd then the wheels fell off. It all started with this hilariously bad goal allowed by Jaroslav Halak to cut it to 5-3 Bruins.

The Flyers benefit from a wacky series of bounces, ending with a goal that gets credited to Connor Bunnaman, the first of his NHL career. 5-4 Bruins

The Bruins retained their lead for the first half of the third period, but Travis Sanheim cleaned up a loose puck (with someone terrifically bad defense by the Bruins) to make it 5-5 with under 10 minutes to go.

The teams traded chances in OT, and went scoreless in the shootout until Travis Konecny scored in the 5th round and then...well, then this happened.

Why yes, that’s Brad Marchand knicking but overskating the puck, ending his shootout attempt. It’s the most Bruins end to a shootout we’ve ever seen!

Flyers win, 6-5.

Game notes

• The shootout foibles will get the press, but there’s no excuse for the Bruins losing this game. You’re up 5-2, everything is comfortable, and the Flyers aren’t very good. A bad goal lets them up off the mat, and then the team defense just fell apart on multiple levels. Ugly.
• Speaking of bad goals, Halak wasn’t very good tonight, continuing a trend over the last few games. He certainly isn’t why they lost, but that 3rd Flyers goal can’t happen. That one gave Philly life. Halak had a stretch like this last season too, but he eventually settled down. Here’s to hoping that’s what happens again.
• The defense on Sanheim’s tying goal was hilarious. Brandon Carlo got stuck behind the net, Matt Grzelcyk was defending the invisible man near the post, and Sanheim was just all by himself. Good times.
• As is usually the case, the Bruins looked good in the OT, but Patrice Bergeron looked off. He was a step or two behind the entire time he was on the ice, and made some uncharacteristically bad plays. Hey, everyone’s entitled to an off night.
• Danton Heinen had himself a good night offensively. His passes on the first Krejci goal and on the Coyle goal were about as primary as primary assists can be: perfect passes that made things easy for the finisher.
• Anders Bjork is another guy who had a strong night. He didn’t fill up the scoresheet, but was noticeable in a good way.
• Marchand...what can you say? He’s been piling up assists, but that shootout fumble is inexcusable. He’s scored just 2 goals since December 1. 17 assists since then obviously ease some of that burden, but he’s probably gripping the stick a little tightly at this point. The shootout thing was just a weird glitch, but here’s to hoping he’s able to snap the skid soon.
• After a game like this, it’s probably a good thing the Bruins are playing tomorrow night. Sure, they’ll be tired, but it’ll give them a chance to put this one in the rearview mirror quickly.

See ya tomorrow!