The Philadelphia Flyers will look to snap a four-game losing streak when they host the Boston Bruins on Saturday afternoon.
Following three straight losses at home, the Flyers came out flat and were blanked 3-0 on the road against the Detroit Red Wings on Thursday.
“We’re struggling to make plays,” Philadelphia coach John Tortorella said. “We doubled them in shot attempts — I think we had 75 attempts — but we’re just not developing much offense.”
Goaltender Samuel Ersson made 14 saves. He continues to start since Carter Hart has been granted an indefinite leave of absence for personal reasons.
Ersson kept the Flyers in the game, but their offense was unable to get going.
There was a lack of execution and too many turnovers.
“Right now, we’re not getting the bounces,” Ersson said. “That’s the way it goes sometimes. We’ve got to fight through this and climb out of this situation.”
The Flyers had won five in a row before this four-game losing streak.
Joel Farabee had his seven-game points streak end and Cam Atkinson’s stalled at six.
“It’s a good time for everyone to kind of look in the mirror, step back and realize what’s made us successful as a team,” Atkinson said. “It clearly wasn’t our best tonight. We have to get back to getting dirty, playing with some arrogance and getting to the dirty areas to score some goals.”
Owen Tippett is expected to remain sidelined as he’s currently on the injured list with a lower-body injury.
The hot Bruins will arrive in Philadelphia having won six of seven.
The Bruins defeated the Ottawa Senators 3-2 in overtime Thursday.
Brad Marchand scored the game-winner 1:48 into overtime for the team’s 30th victory. The Bruins’ captain has scored five goals in the last four games.
Marchand’s goal was the 396th of his career and moved him past Hall of Famer Ray Bourque into fifth place on the franchise’s all-time list.
“It’s special,” Marchand said of the milestone. “I try not to think too much about it, but it’s special. I never thought my career would come this far and some of the things that have gone on would have happened. I’ve been extremely fortunate and very lucky to be part of a group that’s had a lot of success and a lot of phenomenal guys to learn from.”
While Marchand received the accolades, goaltender Jeremy Swayman more than anchored the Bruins with 35 saves, several in spectacular fashion.
“He was terrific,” Boston coach Jim Montgomery said of Swayman. “You could tell he was really on top of his game by how well he moved the puck north for us. Sometimes he was our best breakout defenseman.”
The Bruins have found answers all season when they’ve trailed or the opponent has tied the game late.
This was no different.
“We’re really proud of ourselves with our response,” Swayman said. “We don’t want to lose two in a row and giving up a goal late didn’t faze us as you could tell. It’s just next shift, next guy up and that was the way we ran tonight.”
–Field Level Media
