Recap: Bruins edged out by Flyers, 3-2, in overtime

The Boston Bruins couldn’t hold a 2-1 lead and fell 3-2 to the Philadelphia Flyers in overtime tonight at TD Garden.

The Bruins held onto the lead for about 26 minutes. But just after the five minute mark in the final frame, Jeremy Lauzon’s second holding penalty of the night led to the power-play goal that ultimately tied the game and allowed the Flyers to come back.

“We took a lead into the third and then we took a bad penalty,” Bruce Cassidy said. “Same guys, similar type penalties. We’re going to have to do a better job with his one-on-one’s and we’re going to have to do a better job identifying what you can get away with. That’s been an issue.”

The Flyers opened the scoring at 10:15 of the first period. Daniel Vladar made the initial save on a shot from the point which Jake DeBrusk redirected toward him, but Jakub Voracek picked up the loose puck and sent it to Travis Konecny in the slot, where he had a wide-open net because Vladar couldn’t reset. 1-0 Flyers.

The Bruins tied the game at 17:33 of the first period. Charlie Coyle kept the puck in the zone and found Karson Kuhlman at the top of the right face-off circle, where he sent a wrist shot top-shelf over Brian Elliott’s glove. 1-1.

The Bruins’ defense had better puck movement during the remainder of the period. They used the end boards to set up breakouts and were effective shutting down zone entry at the blue line, even though the Flyers outshot the Bruins 10-7 in the first.

The Bruins took the lead 46 seconds into the second period on the power play. Patrice Bergeron won the face-off back to Matt Grzelcyk, who slid the puck over to David Pastrnak inside the left-wing circle.

Pastrnak found Bergeron in the slot where he got his stick on the pass to put the puck over Elliott’s glove. 2-1 Bruins.

The goal moved Bergeron into the 4^th slot on the Bruins all-time scoring list, with 899 points.

Vladar had a strong period and made crucial saves on the penalty kill to keep the lead. This series of saves was HUGE:

The young goaltender made another nice stop on an attempt by Justin Braun later in the period on a partial breakaway, following a turnover by Charlie McAvoy in the neutral zone.

One part of Vladar’s game that needs work: he does leave big rebound opportunities, which fortunately, the Flyers didn’t capitalize on as much as they could have.

“He’s going to have to work on his technique, but he’s a battler,” Cassidy said. “He’s great for us.”

Shots were 13-11 in favor of the Flyers for the second period.

The Bruins held onto their lead through the first quarter of the third period, but then Lauzon was called for holding which gave the Flyers the man-advantage they needed to tie the game.

The Flyers evened the score at 6:56 of the third period with a power-play goal.

Ivan Provorov backhanded a pass to Sean Couturier, who fired a wrist shot over Vladar’s glove from the top of the left-wing circle. 2-2.

The game couldn’t be decided in regulation and headed to overtime.

Vladar made a diving save on a chance by Travis Sanheim a minute into OT, but Sanheim would win it for the Flyers at 3:08 of overtime, beating Vladar top-shelf stick-side, after previously blocking a shot by Bergeron in his defensive zone. 3-2, Flyers win in OT.

It was a giant two points for the Flyers, but an important point for the Bruins as well in the race for a playoff spot in the East Division.

The Bruins are back in action tomorrow at 7 PM for a road game against the Flyers.