Game 11 Live Blog: Boston Bruins Vs. Philadelphia Flyers

Here are five thoughts from the second period with the Boston Bruins and Philadelphia Flyers locked in a scoreless tie after the opening 40 minutes at the Wells Fargo Center.

• A combined 24 shots on net for both the Bruins and Flyers through two periods. There have been some quality chances for either side, but it feels like the open ice has been pretty tough to come by for both teams at this point. It’s a much different feel than the game on Wednesday and I suppose it makes sense given that both teams have clearly made adjustments off that first meeting.

• Great penalty shot save by Tuukka Rask where it looked like he baited Joel Farabee into going five hole and then closed it shot before the shot even made it to him. Rask was been excellent in this game on the few really good chances that the Flyers have had to this point.

• Zero shots on net for David Krejci, Nick Ritchie or Anders Bjork as the second line right now for the Bruins. They just aren’t getting any puck possession, not generating any quality chances 5-on-5 and really have nothing going on right now. Bjork flashed a little at the start of the second period using his speed while up on that line for the first time, but right now they are generating very little offense.

• Weak sauce by JVR to blast Chris Wagner from behind with a hit and then act like he’d been mortally wounded when Wagner cuffed him in the back of the head. Wagner goes off for roughing and the Flyers will get a fresh sheet for the third period on the power play as a result of it.

• Very quiet night for Gritty. I’m pretty disappointed.

Here are five thoughts from the first period with the Boston Bruins and Philadelphia Flyers locked in a scoreless tie after the opening 20 minutes at the Wells Fargo Center.

• Impressive fight by Connor Clifton after he threw a big shoulder at Nicolas Aube-Kubel and then the scrappy Flyers forward looked to drop the gloves with him. Clifton fed Aube-Kubel about three straight punches to the face at the start of the bout and really took all the starch out of the aggrieved Flyers forward. Who knew Cliffy Hockey the college guy could throw the fists like that?

Connor Clifton drops the gloves with Nicolas Aube-Kubel. pic.twitter.com/eyN1MExwJ4

— Conor Ryan (@ConorRyan_93) February 6, 2021

• Excellent penalty kill work for the Bruins when they had a score of Bruins players (Chris Wagner, Brandon Carlo, Charlie McAvoy and Clifton) in the box and had to kill off both a 4-on-3 and a 5-on-3 power play in the middle of the first period with two of their better penalty killers in the box. The Bruins entered the night second in the NHL killing 88.9 percent of the penalties called on them this season and that number looks like it’s just going to keep going up after this game.

• Good, physical period of hockey for both teams with nastiness, some good saves and a lot of familiarity to Bruins/Flyers tilts in the past. The Bruins had only five shots on net while mostly killing off penalties in the first period and there was just a combined 12 shots on net for the B’s and the Flyers. So there’s probably a little more offense that both teams can gin up in the final 40 minutes of tonight’s game.

• Just two shots on net for the Perfection Line in the first period, so the Flyers are doing a better job bottling up Boston’s best offensive players in the second game of this two-game series. Part of that was obviously the B’s being shorthanded for much of the period, so we’ll see how that plays out the rest of the game. Perhaps the Flyers actually had more in mind than simply hoping that Pastrnak was “going to have an off night” as their big strategy change?

• Brandon Carlo had two penalties in the first period after getting beaten on plays by Jake Voracek and Travis Konecny, and that’s indicative of a Boston Bruins team that needs to move their feet and skate more than they did in the first period.