Flyers lose in Boston 2-1 in OT

Coming off a split series with the New York Islanders, the Philadelphia Flyers came up short against the Boston Bruins, losing 2-1 in overtime.

Flyers Goals: Travis Sanheim (1), assists: Sean Couturier, Ivan Provorov

Bruins Goals: Paul Postma (1), assists: Kenny Agostino, Riley Nash; Kenny Augustino (1), assist: Danton Heinen

A lot of the veterans got their first preseason looks in the game versus the Boston Bruins. We saw the appearance of a few potentially good lines with Oskar Lindblom playing on the first line with Claude Giroux and Jake Voracek and Nolan Patrick centering Wayne Simmonds and Jordan Weal. Here are some of the key takeaways from the game vs. the Bruins:

1. Travis Konecny looked super impressive in his second straight game (he played Wednesday in the split squad game in Brooklyn). It seemed like everywhere the puck was on TK’s shift, he was there. Konecny was on a line with Couturier and Raffl which started the game, and he got a lot of opportunities to make some great offensive and defensive plays including a great steal in the 3rd period. With the obvious aggression and speed that Konecny is showing in the preseason, it’s showing just how good TK could be in his sophomore season.
2. The Flyers power play units did not look good. They had plenty of opportunities since the Bruins were basically just giving them the opportunities. Flyers went 0-5 early with only 1 shot on net against Tuukka Rask. They finished the game going 0-9 on the power play which is absolutely not want the Flyers fans want to see. Granted, it’s the first preseason game for a lot of the people in the power play units. But not being able to get more than a shot on goal in 5 power plays is unacceptable. What I did like about the power play is just who made up the power play units. Provorov filled in on the first unit for Ghost who didn’t play in this game but a surprise was that Lindblom filled in the space that Brayden Schenn used to occupy, at least for the start of the game. Valterri Filppula also saw some 1st power play unit time.
3.  Another impressive game from Travis Sanheim. He scored his first goal of the preseason and of his NHL career and he had some very impressive plays both on offense and defense. But that first goal was a complete laser coming off a great pass from Ivan Provorov. After these last two games, there is no doubt in my mind that Sanheim makes this team.
4. While Sanheim looked impressive, Andrew MacDonald looked the opposite. Flyers fans had many an issue with MacDonald’s play last season and he seemed to on that same path vs the Bruins. He turned over the puck in front of the net where the Bruins were able to get some pretty good shots off.
5. Brian Elliott looked great in net for the first two periods of the game, not letting in a single goal on the 18 shots. I would like to see him one more time before the end of the preseason but from that appearance, I’m a bit more confident in Elliott as the opening night starter in net.