Bruins breeze past Flyers, 4-1, to hand them their fifth straight loss

BOSTON — The Flyers have boasted one of the best goaltenders in the league to start the season in Carter Hart, who posted a 6-2-3 record and an impressive .929 save percentage through his first 11 games.

But on Thursday night at TD Garden, the Flyers stared down at the opposing net and met their match — Boston Bruins goalie Linus Ullmark.

On the back of Ullmark (22 saves), the Bruins pulled out a 4-1 victory over the floundering Flyers, who saw their losing streak extended to five games. Despite an evenly-matched, scoreless first period, the Bruins emerged the better team in the second and third periods. Boston outshot the Flyers 20-15 over the final 40 minutes of the game.

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After winger Tomas Nosek scored on Hart’s doorstep in the second period, the Bruins jumped to a 2-0 lead seven and a half minutes into the third with winger Jake DeBrusk’s power-play goal. Now, the Flyers have allowed four power-play goals on their last 11 trips to the kill.

The Flyers didn’t totally throw in the towel after going down two goals. Winger Owen Tippett’s wrist shot from the top of the right face-off circle beat Ullmark to pull the Flyers within one with about 10 minutes to play. But just 16 seconds later, the Bruins pushed the game out of the Flyers’ reach when center David Krejčí capitalized on a Flyers defensive breakdown. Krejčí then rounded out the scoring six minutes later with his second of the night on the power play.

“They’re better than we are,” coach John Tortorella said. “But it doesn’t mean we can’t beat them. And to get yourself back into a game, and then have it come back right back around to turn it to 3-1, we don’t give ourselves a chance.”

Additionally, the Flyers’ injuries continue to pile up. They lost leading scorer Travis Konecny in the second period when he exited the ice with an apparent injury to his right hand.

In order to shut down the Bruins and their scoring prowess, it was imperative for the Flyers to check decisively in the neutral and offensive zones. However, the Flyers failed to do that effectively halfway through the second period, leading to the Bruins’ first goal of the night.

Defenseman Hampus Lindholm stickhandled through the neutral zone with ease, hardly shaken by the flailing sticks of wingers Scott Laughton and Konecny. Once he entered the offensive zone, the Bruins passed the puck seamlessly. Winger Nick Foligno carried the puck below the goal line and around the net, teeing up Nosek for an easy goal in the low slot with Hart out of position to put the Bruins up, 1-0.

Prior to the Flyers’ morning skate on Thursday, coach John Tortorella stressed the importance of coming out to a strong start against the Bruins. The Flyers had conceded the first goal in 12 of their 16 games, getting outscored 18-9 in the first period. Tortorella knew that wouldn’t fly against the Bruins and he demanded that his team have some “swagger” in their game from the drop of the puck.

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Although the Flyers weren’t overwhelmingly dominant to start, they didn’t look overmatched against the league’s best team and the period ended without a goal. At five-on-five, the Flyers mustered 15 shot attempts to the Bruins’ 19, with the Bruins generating three high-danger scoring chances to the Flyers’ four. The top three lines each created opportunities, from Zack MacEwen springing Noah Cates for a breakaway to grade-A chances for Morgan Frost and Konecny. However, the Flyers failed to build on that solid start for the remainder of the game.

“I thought we had lots of energy,” Laughton said. “Played with the puck. Hartsy bailed us out a couple times again. That’s a good team over there. But it’s getting frustrating.”

When the Flyers were finding ways to win to start the season, they were receiving scoring contributions from the power play. They strung together goals on the man advantage in five of their first eight games of the season. However, their power play has struggled as of late, going 1-for-12 in their last five games.

Going up against the Bruins and their league-best penalty kill was no easy task. The Flyers struggled with their entries and getting set in the Bruins’ zone. As a result, they failed to notch a single shot on goal through three opportunities on the man advantage. However, they finally broke through when Tippett beat Ullmark with a snipe of a wrist shot through a screen. Overall, the Flyers went 1-for-4 on the power play.

“When things aren’t clicking, it gets frustrating and you want to be able to build momentum for your team, whether it’s scoring or whether it’s just creating chances and turning the momentum in the game,” Tippett said. “I think when things don’t go, you just have to turn back to being simple.”

The Flyers wrap up their road trip when they take on the Montreal Canadiens on Saturday at 7 p.m. (NBC Sports Philadelphia)