Bruins vs. Flyers RECAP: Agony. Just Agony. Bruins lose 6-3

First Period:

Things didn’t start great, as Cam Atkinson drew first blood eight minutes into the period in what was going to be a distressing trend of rushes that Jeremy Swayman had trouble with. 1-0 Flyers.

But then, Karson Kuhlman cleaned up the loose puck on a great Frederic chance to even things up! 1-1 tie!

But to finish the idea that the Bruins couldn’t have anything nice, the B’s got put on the PK, and Joel Farabee was able to get around Swayman’s aggressive answer. 2-1 Flyers.

Period over.

Second Period:

Things sure as shit didn’t improve, as Scott Laughton got a fantastic pass from Keith Yandle, the forwards couldn’t get back in time, and the defense couldn’t recover in just a nightmare scenario for that entire line and pairing. 3-1 Flyers.

But then! Charlie McAvoy got off a phenominal pass off to Taylor Hall, who is a Boston Bruin, and boy is that a good thing to say. 3-2 B’s!

And then who but Brad Marchand would get this thing tied up on a net-front scramble. lmao Risto. 3-3 Tie!

Surely this would bring all the momentum into the third where the Bruins would eventually win this one, right?

Third Period, or the final circle of pain:

anyway agony begins:

And it doesn’t get any easier from there:

Right until we go into the end when Sean Couturier put in an ENG.

Bruins lose. 6-3.

Game Notes:

• Not that I’m sure you’re in the mood to hear it, but your TOI leader at all situations was Charlie McAvoy, who logged 23 minutes and change at all situations, and around 21 of those was even strength.
• Before we go anywhere, let’s remember; it’s game 2 of an 82 game season. They’re not all going to look like this, and let’s give credit where it’s due: Cam Atkinson did the thing you’re supposed to in order to win games, the Flyers capitalized on the few opportunities that the Bruins gave them, and honestly managed to keep the slot relatively clean for Martin Jones. Full credit to them for showing up ready to play.
• Further, the Bruins did the thing they were supposed to; they completely controlled the shot share for most of the game and got chances to Jones in tight. Sometimes you will just lose games you have control of because of randomness. It happens.
• Now...WITH ALL THAT BEING SAID...let’s hope like hell it doesn’t become a trend, because one particular player wearing pads and a goalie mask named Jeremy Swayman unquestionably had one of the worst games of his already very young career. Even with some of the very, very, very rough play shown on display by the blueline, he did not have a good game whatsoever. Rebounds aplenty, had a miserable time with shots coming on the rush, the works. Gonna have to work hard on this one.
• Speaking of that Blueline, I can confidently say Mac and Gryz? Working out. Played very well, made plenty of offense. The problem is that the minute those two left the ice, pretty much everything else didn’t. I’m of two minds on the subject as to how to fix that; both Gryz/Mac are good apart, fantastic together, and saddling McAvoy with another player that will inevitably be sheltered due to playing with the best defender on the team feels like a waste of Mac’s talents. On the other hand, the only way to make sure your defensive pairs aren’t a complete trainwreck whenever Mac and Gryz leave the ice is ultimately to hope Carlo rounds back into whatever form he had, or separate Mac and Gryz. It’s a very tough call, but I think keeping Mac-Gryz for special occasions might be the right play.
• Losing Foligno hurts a lot, especially given how much it already feels like the depth of this team is going to be playing really mercurially. Fourth line got a goal from Kuhlman, but otherwise they were pretty “meh” outside of goal one. Real physical though. Line three was uh...well...yeah. Gotta imagine Studnicka or Steen are probably on their way out to Buffalo to fill in.
• Whatever, figure this out on Friday. You got the Sabres to deal with and they’ve decided they’re going to be a handful to whatever bad team they’ve run across so far. Let’s hope Ullmark is ready to go.
• Get well soon Nick and Tuukka
• Anybody who likes these thirds probably thinks beige is an acceptable color. They’re just so dull. That and the striping on the waist/elbow isn’t broken up with looks bad.

Next game is Friday at 7pm on ESPN+ and Hulu. Rev up those totally legal streams and we’ll see you there.