Bruins survive another close call, beat Flyers 6-5

The Bruins simply refuse to make it easy on themselves.

And Saturday night at TD Garden, for 40 minutes, Jim Montgomery's found themselves unable to establish any sort of separation between themselves and the Flyers.

In every sense of the word, too.

A calling card of a John Tortorella-coached club, the Flyers were on the Bruins any time they were within inches of the puck. They chipped, checked, and chirped on every shift, and even in between the whistles. It was also enough for the Flyers to earn two leads on the Bruins, at 1-0 and again at 2-1.

But led by three goals in under three minutes in the opening five minutes of the third period, the Bruins' offensive talents seemingly decided to put this game away. Until they let the Flyers make this a one-goal game on two separate occasions, once at 5-4 and again at 6-5 in the final five minutes of the third period, in what finished as a 6-5, skin-of-their-teeth victory for the Bruins.

"We gotta learn [that] you gotta close out games," Montgomery said after the victory. "You can't just think it's over. The other teams are desperate and it's like a playoff game. There's gonna be those momentum and emotional swings. We gotta be a little better and a little bit more mature to close out those games."

Back on home ice after a one-game trek up to Montreal on Thursday, the Bruins began this game in an 0-1 hole when an ill-timed pinch from Charlie McAvoy and David Pastrnak turnover combined to help give the Flyers a 2-on-1 look towards Bruins netminder Jeremy Swayman.

With Matt Grzelcyk as Boston's last line of defense, Grzelcyk failed to take away the pass from Garnet Hathaway nor the shot from Ryan Poehling, and it was Poehling who beat a sprawled Swayman for his ninth goal of the season. The goal, which came at the 4:18 mark of the game, came on just the second Philly shot of the evening.

But Swayman and the Bruins were quick to respond.

Beginning with a big-time, timely save from Swayman on a partial breakaway, the Bruins stormed the other way, where Morgan Geekie clapped home an absolute bomb for the Black and Gold's first goal of the evening.

The goal was Geekie's sixth in his last nine games, and continues what's been a strong few months for the value-add middle-six forward beginning just after Thanksgiving.

Down 2-1, it was a Charlie Coyle power-play finish at the net front that knotted these teams up at 2-2 through two periods of play, and it was Coyle who kicked things off with a third-period strike at the 1:08 mark to give the B's their first lead.

Then came a Johnny Beecher strike just 2:37 later, while Jake DeBrusk found the back of the net a mere 19 seconds later to put the Bruins up by three in the blink of an eye.

But Philly countered with a three-goal push of their own, with three goals in 3:44, which would've been enough to tie things up at 5-5 had it not been for a Danton Heinen goal that actually stood as the game-winning goal by the night's end.

Prior to this game, the Bruins held a ceremony honoring first-year James van Riemsdyk for hitting the 1,000-game mark earlier this season. The Bruins presented 'JVR' with a silver stick, as well as a portrait, while the NHL gifted the veteran wing with a Tiffany crystal. The Flyers, one of van Riemsdyk's former teams, also honored the New Jersey native with a memento featuring the lineup card from his first NHL game (which came with the Flyers) and his 1,000th NHL game.

On a lineup front, the Bruins sat defensemen Mason Lohrei and Kevin Shattenkirk for this contest, while forward Jakub Lauko was the Black and Gold's scratch up front.

The Bruins will return to action Tuesday night when they host the Senators at TD Garden. It will be the middle game of a three-game homestand that began with Saturday's head-to-head with the Flyers and concludes with a showdown with the Rangers next Thursday. The B's defeated the Sens in overtime when these teams linked up in Ottawa back on Jan. 25.

(Click here to subscribe to the Sports Hub Underground podcast.)

We're back with a brand-new episode, centered around the Bruins at the trade deadline and the Patriots in free agency.

(0:50) Opening banter on AEW wrestling.

(10:41) Thoughts on the Bruins' two deadline deals.

(42:24) Discussing the trade that did NOT happen with Linus Ullmark, and the Bruins' goalie situation going forward.

(1:00:42) Thoughts on the Patriots in the first few days of free agency.

(1:33:42) The guys draft their "Big 3" seasonal/holiday foods.

Subscribe to the Sports Hub Underground wherever you get your podcasts.

Apple: https://apple.co/3AICTPR

Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3j5ibDR

Google: http://bit.ly/38pPKIG

More options: https://bit.ly/3tSKABs