The Bruins couldn't extend or hold onto a 2-1 third-period lead and ultimately lost to the Flyers, 3-2, in overtime Monday at TD Garden on the first night of a back-to-back against Philadelphia.
Here are three key takeaways from the game:
1. Bruins let two points slip away
For the sixth consecutive game, the Bruins surrendered the first goal of the game. While not ideal, they once again found a way to respond — this time, it was Karson Kuhlman evening the score with a hard, accurate wrist shot over the left shoulder of Brian Elliott.
Following an early power-play goal by Patrice Bergeron to begin the second period, it seemed as though Boston had the struggling Flyers on the ropes.
Despite having numerous opportunities to extend their 2-1 lead, the Bruins let Philly stick around and relied heavily on Dan Vladar to preserve the lead.
Unfortunately, Boston was unable to kill off Jeremy Lauzon’s second penalty of the game, and Sean Couturier tied the game just under seven minutes into the third period.
While both teams traded chances in overtime, the game ended when Travis Sanheim blocked a low percentage one-timer from Patrice Bergeron and took advantage of Bergeron falling backwards to skate in all alone and beat Vladar for the win.
With the Bruins directly ahead of the Flyers in the standings, and leading them in the third period, this was an absolute missed opportunity for the black and gold to gain separation.
2. Vladar gave his team a chance
Without the services of Tuukka Rask and Jaroslav Halak, the Bruins’ net is Dan Vladar’s for the time being. Monday night, he was very solid in an overtime loss to the Flyers, and gave his team every opportunity to earn two points.
Vladar played with composure, moved well laterally, fought through screens, and battled hard during rebound attempts.
Vladar was very strong in the second period where he made 13 saves, including an impressive sequence of stops on Claude Giroux and Travis Konecny that each could have easily found the back of the net.
After a Flyers’ power-play goal eventually forced overtime, Vladar was once again stellar — notably robbing Sanheim all alone in front of the net by stretching his right pad against the post.
Ironically, Sanheim would get a second breakaway later in the frame and this time score the game-winner, but nonetheless, Vladar gave his team a chance to win.
3. Tough night for the Bruins' 2015 Draft class
While it’s unwise to dwell on “what could have been” in regard to the Bruins’ 2015 first-round draft selections, it’s impossible to ignore hypotheticals during the rare event of Jakub Zboril, Jake DeBrusk and Zach Senyshyn all playing in the same game.
Six years removed from being selected 13, 14 and 15 in the draft, only DeBrusk has made a name for himself in the NHL, and it's regressing with each passing game.
Meanwhile, Zboril and Senyshyn have only played 48 combined NHL games.
Monday night against the Flyers offered one of the first times the three dressed in the same game for Boston and none of them came close to impacting the game in a positive way. Zboril ranked fifth among the six defensemen in time on ice, while DeBrusk and Senyshyn were sixth and 12th respectively among the 12 forwards — the three players combined for zero points and just two shots on goal.
While it may seem unfair to judge them off of one game, this one game — six years after their draft — perfectly depicts how badly the Bruins missed in the assessment of these “first-rounders”.