The Bruins were looking for their first three-game winning streak since mid-February and looking to essentially slam the door shut on the Flyers’ playoff chances, but it didn’t happen.
Jeremy Swayman looked human for the first time in three starts, an injury to Matt Grzelcyk further depleted the banged-up Boston defense, and the Bruins went 0-for-4 on the power play en route to a 3-2 loss to Philadelphia.
Here are three key takeaways from the game:
1. Grzelcyk injury further depletes Bruins’ defense
As if the Bruins weren’t already banged-up enough on defense, they lost de facto No. 1 defenseman Matt Grzelcyk late in the first period Saturday. Grzelcyk finished out his final shift of the period and seemed OK, but he didn’t come back out for the second and was eventually ruled out for the remainder of the game due to an upper-body injury.
It isn’t clear exactly what happened to Grzelcyk, but Bruins highlight extraordinaire @dafoomie found this play that happened with about a minute left in the first, where Grzelcyk appears to take an accidental elbow to the head:
It’s worth noting that Grzelcyk stayed on the ice for the next faceoff and played about 30 seconds more without showing any obvious signs of injury. It’s possible concussion-like symptoms or maybe some sort of swelling popped up afterwards, but obviously that’s just a guess.
Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy said after the game that Grzelcyk was "day-to-day" for now, but that they would know more Sunday.
The injury put the Bruins in a bind for the rest of the game, and could put them in an even bigger one Sunday if Grzelcyk misses more time. Kevan Miller was initially scheduled to get Sunday off as the Bruins manage the load on his knee, so we’ll have to see if that changes at all.
Cassidy said before the game that the injured Charlie McAvoy (upper body) wasn’t expected to be back by Sunday, but that Tuesday was a possibility. Brandon Carlo (upper body) remains week-to-week. The Bruins could very well be without what are basically their top four defensemen in terms of ice time.
The injury also highlights one of the biggest challenges facing general manager Don Sweeney before Monday’s trade deadline, as it’s yet another reminder that the Bruins just cannot stay healthy on defense this season, and probably shouldn’t count on it happening down the line.
2. Second line’s struggles continue
After some promising early results, the David Pastrnak-on-the-second-line experiment has produced diminishing returns of late. The line of Pastrnak with David Krejci and Nick Ritchie had produced zero even-strength points over the last three games entering Saturday, and things didn’t get much better against the Flyers.
The Bruins got out-attempted 7-2 with the second line on the ice in the first period (and 11-5 for the game), and Cassidy briefly moved Pastrnak back to the top line with Patrice Bergeron and Brad Marchand for a couple shifts in the second period, presumably in an attempt to do something to spark Pastrnak’s game.
It certainly wasn’t because the top line was struggling. They did their part by scoring another goal in the first period, with Marchand’s forecheck and Craig Smith’s pass setting up Bergeron. Smith also set up Jake DeBrusk for a goal in the second period and now has 12 points (3 goals, 9 assists) in his last 11 games.
In theory, the second line should be the one getting the bigger boost when Pastrnak gets dropped down, but it’s just not happening right now, and Pastrnak himself deserves a good chunk of the blame. He has made some careless plays with the puck recently -- a trend that continued Saturday, most notably on a mindless neutral zone pass in the third that was easily picked off -- and just isn’t getting inside the defense and to the net enough.
It's worth noting that Pastrnak did draw two Flyers penalties in the third period, including one on a nice rush into the zone, so maybe that's at least something to build off.
3. First cracks in Swayman’s armor
Jeremy Swayman was excellent in his first two NHL starts this week, becoming the talk of the city and earning a third straight start Saturday as a result.
He wasn’t bad by any means Saturday, but he did look human and gave up two goals he probably should’ve done better on -- something that hadn’t happened in the past two games.
On the Flyers’ first goal, Swayman gave up a juicy rebound on a shot from the point that Travis Konecny was able to bury. He didn’t appear to be screened on the initial shot, so he should have been able to control it better instead of having it pop off his chest right into a dangerous area.
On Philly’s go-ahead goal in the third, Swayman was too aggressive coming out to challenge the shooter, Joel Farabee, opening up an easy pass to the doorstep for Sean Couturier, who found himself staring at an open net with Swayman out so far.
Swayman is known for being aggressive when it comes to challenging shooters and cutting down angles, and it certainly worked well in his first two starts, but NHL teams were bound to adjust to it and find ways to use it against him, which the Flyers did.
Swayman doesn’t have to stop being aggressive -- in fact, he shouldn’t -- but obviously there will be a bit of a learning curve in terms of when to do it and when to stay back a little.
It’s also worth noting that the Bruins’ defense deserves plenty of blame on both of those goals, too, as no one picked up either Konecny or Couturier (or Shayne Gostisbehere on the Flyers' second goal, for that matter).
And it’s worth noting that Swayman was playing with a heavy heart Saturday after his coach at the University of Maine, Red Gendron, died unexpectedly on Friday. Cassidy said the Bruins gave Swayman the option to take the day off if he wanted, but that Swayman wanted to play.