*Photo from Stanley Cup of Chowder*
The Boston Bruins were stuck in the mud. They had always been strong defensively, but they didn't have any 5 on 5 goals scored entering game number 4 of the season, resulting in some close losses. Until the 3rd period. Jack Studnicka scored his first NHL goal, the Bruins broke their 5 on 5 drought, and they beat the Philadelphia Flyers 5-4 in a shootout in their home opener at TD Garden. Tuukka Rask stopped 22 shots for the Bruins in the win.
The Flyers started the scoring 6:17 into the second period, when Claude Giroux scored a power play goal to make it 1-0 Flyers. James Van Riemsdyk lengthened the Flyers lead at 17:51, making it a 2-0 game. In the 3rd, Studnicka scored just 57 seconds in to cut the Flyers lead in half. Just 1:09 later, Charlie Coyle snapped one to the back of the net to quickly tie things at 2-2. Travis Sanheim responded at 7:13 to give the Flyers the lead back, but Nick Ritchie's power play goal and Brandon Carlo's missile from the top gave Boston a 4-3 lead. Van Riemsdyk then scored again to tie things at 4. In the shootout, Jake Debrusk was the only one on either side to score, giving Boston a 5-4 win.
Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy talked about the sudden emergence of the offense after the game, saying that "I think it was more about us stepping up where we need to be offensively and I think the guys accepted the challenge between periods. It would have been nice to hear the fans after the third period, it was an exciting period to watch and got us back in the game and eventually the 2 points. But we do have some experience with that in the bubble last year, we've got to create our own energy."
Rask made some stellar stops in overtime for the Bruins, which helped to force the shootout, robbing both Jakub Voracek and Kevin Hayes with impressive saves. Rask said of those saves that "The first one, Voracek I saw was all by himself in front of the net. Their D-man shot a floater in there. He made a good play and tried to tip it in my five-hole and the rebound was laying there. I just tried to get extended as much as possible and it kind of hit my glove. The second one, you see that develop. The guy was kind of slowing down on the wing and Hayesie was driving the net wide and made a good play. I just happened to extend my leg."
These two teams meet again on Saturday, where Carter Hart is expected to start for the Flyers, while Cassidy announced that Jaroslav Halak will go for the Bruins.
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