Observations from the Flyers’ 4-1 win over the Bruins

Depth, scoring from all over the lineup, strong goaltending and good penalty killing was the Flyers’ recipe for Sunday’s 4-1 win over the Bruins. Here are some quick observations.

What it means. The Flyers gained two points to take the early lead in the round-robin standings. They next play Washington on Thursday.

Our three stars. Carter Hart, Michael Raffl, Phil Myers. The official three stars were Hart, Raffl and Ivan Provorov.

Almost perfect. Hart made 34 saves, the only goal that got past him caromed off Robert Hagg’s skate. He stopped all eight shots on goal from Boston’s top line of Patrice Bergeron, Brad Marchand and David Pastrnak, who combined to post a -7 for the game.

He said it. “I know it’s a short track record, but I think I’ve seen enough [of Carter Hart] to know that this guy is going to be a top-3 goaltender in the National Hockey League in short time,” NBC analyst and former Flyers goalie Brian Boucher.

Some bad news. Michael Raffl sustained what looked like a leg injury when he was ridden into the boards by Boston defenseman Jeremy Lauzon with about six minutes left. Raffl was visibly angry as he gingerly left the ice. Scott Laughton traded slashes with Lauzon a minute later and both were given 10-minute misconducts.

The coach’s view. Alain Vigneault said he saw a replay during the game and that “it seemed close to being a slew-foot, but I’d have to see the replay again. Obviously, he fell awkwardly into the boards, and we’re waiting to find out exactly what’s going on here” with the extent of Raffl’s injury.

Nice response. Chris Wagner scored Boston’s goal late in the second period. The Flyers then registered the next nine shots on goal, which included goals by Phil Myers (eight seconds after Wagner’s goal) and Laughton.

Ice break. The Flyers were fortunate when a puck bounced on the ragged ice late in the first period, otherwise Boston’s Charlie Coyle would have walked in alone on Carter Hart. It was 75 degrees in Toronto on Sunday.

Not quite playoff vibe. Play was occasionally physical, but the first game of the round-robin portion of the postseason did not have the usual grit of a playoff game. If the Flyers can come up with a win on Thursday against the Caps, they’d practically assure themselves of improving their fourth seed. Not sure how much that means after seeing fifth-seeded Pittsburgh and Edmonton lost their opening games on Saturday to 12th seeded teams.

He said this, too. “There’s just a different feel about this game than what we had yesterday [in the qualifying rounds]. It’s understandable why. It’s not part of the qualifying round. These guys are still feeling like they’re in regular-season mode, I guess you could say. At ice level, I don’t get that same type of intensity.”