Behind a listless offense, Flyers find their win streak end in loss to Bruins

The calendar turned to November and with it went the Flyers winning steak.

The Flyers were handed a 3-0 loss by the Bruins on Saturday at the Wells Fargo Center, less than a week after topping the Bruins 2-0 in Boston to kickstart a two-game win streak.

They struggled to find their offense against a desperate Boston team that is eighth in the Atlantic Division and had lost five of six, including getting blown out 8-2 by the Carolina Hurricanes on Thursday.

“Given their last couple of games, we knew they were going to come out hard,” forward Owen Tippett said. “I think, in pushes, we kind of established how we want to play but I don’t think we got inside them enough.”

With 13 minutes, and 12 seconds left in the first period, Sam Ersson made a toe save on a shot that knocked his right skate blade off. After waving at the referees, who stopped play, assistant equipment manager John Peters replaced it, and play continued.

But something wasn’t right with Ersson and when the broadcast returned from a commercial break at 12:24, they showed the goalie shaking his head at the direction of the bench. Ersson then skated over and spoke with head athletic trainer Tommy Alva, and referee Peter MacDougall seemed involved in the conversation.

Ersson appeared to be pointing to his left leg as Aleksei Kolosov stretched on the ice behind him. The Swedish netminder left the game and did not return after saving all eight shots. Postgame, the Flyers revealed Ersson suffered what they’re calling a lower-body injury. Coach John Tortorella said he had not spoken to the training staff before he addressed the media.

Kolosov came on in relief for the first time in his NHL career. He had not played since making his NHL debut on Oct. 27 in a 4-3 loss to the Montreal Canadiens.

“I feel a lot better,” Kolosov said through Slava Kuznetsov, a team consultant. “Was more understanding of the game so feel a lot better today in the game.” Kolosov added he felt better “dealing with the game style, traffic in front of the net, and all aspects of the game.”

The 22-year-old goal made a nice save on Pavel Zacha for his first save of the game before showing off his athletic abilities by sliding over to protect the left post on any rebound attempts. But with 6:32 left in the opening frame, he couldn’t slide and squeeze the pads quick enough as Matthew Poitras collected a Hampus Lindholm point shot that went wide.

“That’s a tough situation to come into any time,” Tippett said. “Obviously, you’re coming in cold, and he made some big saves for us. So, like I said, it’s a hard situation for him to come in but I think he handled it well and did good.”

In the second period, Bruins forward Brad Marchand skated down the left wing with defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen on him. After he correctly released him because he was going behind the net — and scoring from back, there is a low percentage — Marchand skated around and fed the just-of-the-bench Justin Brazeau for the one-timer.

Kolosov finished with 20 saves on 22 shots and saw his overall goals-against average drop to 3.29 and his save percentage rise to .870. Marchand would add an empty-netter with 3:39 left in the game.

“I thought that the first part of the first period, they had an early power play and they rev it up a little bit. I thought Erss was outstanding,” Tortorella said. “I thought it was a good period by us in the second period, trying to develop a little bit more offense.

“I thought we played hard in front of Koly, and I don’t think there’s going to be a problem there at all [of the team playing hard for him]. He’s got some personality to his game. He fights.”

The Flyers have struggled to put up shots this season. Entering the game, they averaged the third-fewest in the NHL at 26.2 per game. They didn’t even come close to that in this one, finishing with 20 and had another eight miss the net, and 19 blocked. Typically the ones doing the blocking are the Flyers, who ate just 19 pucks. Conversely, the Bruins had 31 shots on goal.

“Yeah, I think right now we’re struggling to really create some sustained offense,” forward Sean Couturier said. “We’re getting chances, but a lot of one and dones. We’ve got to find a way to get another gear in our game.”

Natural Stat Trick had the Flyers down for seven shot attempts in the first period at five-on-five, with just one more on the power play. It probably didn’t help that Travis Konecny was tagged for a weak tripping penalty in the first minute of the game while Matvei Michkov was being interfered with.

“There’s no question offensively, we’re still not there,” Tortorella said. “We’ve done such a good job in the middle of the ice in front of our goalie, I think we’ve defended very well there. I still don’t think where we’re there offensively, in the offensive zone. [In the] First half of the game, we very rarely had a third guy high in the offensive zone with the two [defensemen]. Once we started doing that, we ended up with some opportunities.”

In the third period, Morgan Frost had the best chance by the Flyers when Tippett dipped around the Bruins’ defense and fed the centerman all alone at the right post. Frost got the shot off quickly but Joonas Korpisalo made a spectacular glove save.

“You look at the shot totals up after the game, and we’re not getting as many as we’d like to,” Frost said. “But at the same time, it feels like every game we have a fair amount of Grade A chances and just not going in for us right now. Yeah, it’s frustrating for everyone.”

Not that the blame is laid a the feet of Michkov — who was just named by the NHL as the Rookie of the Month for October — but he did not get a point for the fourth straight game. Tortorella said the 19-year-old phenom likes to play the weak side where the ice is open but has struggled, for example, with supporting his teammates in the offensive-zone corner when they are outnumbered.

“He wants to carry a team. He wants to be the guy, and that’s what we love about him,” Tortorella said. “But, as I said the other [day], he’s finding out what the National Hockey League is.

“There’s going to be some struggles there with him as he enters the first year in the league, but he made some good plays today. He made some nice plays that developed into some offense. It just not has transformed into goals.”

The Flyers memorialized Hockey Hall of Fame reporter Jay Greenberg in the Gene Hart Press Box. Before the game, press row was named after the late, great long-time Flyers reporter. Greenberg died in August 2021 due to complications from West Nile Virus. He was 71.

“Jay was a sensational reporter,” former Flyers reporter Sam Carchidi said at the press conference. “He was someone who cultivated sources, whether they were players, coaches, front office, executives, even equipment managers. He did that almost better than anyone. He was someone who truly loved hockey, and he respected the sport to the nth degree.”

The Ferguson Memorial Award winner in 2013, given to members of the hockey-writing profession whose words have brought honor to journalism and to hockey, Greenberg was a celebrated author on several Flyers books and spent five decades as a sports journalist, including time with the Philadelphia Daily News.

“Dad loved writing, the art, the craft of it, putting just the right words together, telling a compelling story,” Greenberg’s daughter Liz said. “When asked what team he was rooting for, he professed his journalistic integrity. ... He declared that what he rooted for was short games and good stories. To be clear, the short game aspect was not because he wanted to leave early, oh no, this was to allow himself enough time to write his article or column just the way he wanted it, while still meeting his late-night deadlines.

“That meant he frequently was the last person to leave the press box. So it seems very fitting that today, with this honor, he’ll be forever in the press box in memory and spirit.”

The Flyers had 30 hits in the game to Bruins 22. ... The referees did not call a blatant chokehold by Lindholm on Garnet Hathway in the first period, right in front of a referee who was yelling to let him go. ... The Flyers played with the same lineup for the third straight game, including starting the game with the same lines. ... Defenseman Egor Zamula, forward Nick Deslauriers, and goalie Ivan Fedotov were the healthy scratches.

The Flyers practice on Monday before starting a three-game road trip through the Southeast with a match-up against former teammate Sean Walker and the Hurricanes on Tuesday (7 p.m., NBCSP).