Flyers’ playoff chances dim as they fall to shorthanded Boston Bruins, 4-2

The Flyers, playing one of the most important games of their uneven season, faced a Boston Bruins team Tuesday that was missing two of its best defensemen and its three top goaltenders.

They failed to take advantage.

Boston goalie Jeremy Swayman made 40 saves in a memorable NHL debut, and Patrice Bergeron scored three times as the Bruins handed the Flyers a killer loss, 4-2, at the Wells Fargo Center.

The Flyers fell five points behind Boston for the fourth and final East Division playoff spot, and the Bruins have two games in hand. The Flyers could have moved to within a point of the Bruins with a regulation win.

Instead, they fell into a fifth-place tie with the Rangers with 18 games remaining.

“It’s a tough loss, but there are still a lot of points [available],” left winger Oskar Lindblom said.

Bergeron completed a hat trick, the sixth of his career, with an empty-net goal to seal the verdict.

Once again, special teams cost the Flyers, who were outscored, 2-0, in that department as Boston had a power-play goal and a late shorthanded tally that snapped a 2-2 tie.

With the Flyers on a power play, Travis Konecny, alone in front, couldn’t control a bouncing puck, and a short time later, the Bruins took advantage of a turnover in Philadelphia’s offensive end, enabling Brad Marchand (four points) and Jeremy Lauzon to dash down the ice on a two-on-one.

Marchand took Lauzon’s pass and patiently waited before putting a shot through Carter Hart’s legs, giving Boston a 3-2 lead with 11:39 left in regulation.

“We threw everything,” defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere said about the Flyers’ 25-shot second period. “That’s the way we need to play all the time, with that urgency.”

The urgency was missing in the final period. With their playoff lives on the brink, the Flyers went down meekly, managing just four shots in the third.

“Give them credit. They’re a good team, they’re an experienced team,” coach Alain Vigneault said. “... I thought we played extremely well in the second and they tightened things a little bit and it was tougher for us to get through.”

The Flyers outshot the Bruins, 42-26, and had a 77-50 advantage in shot attempts.

“We didn’t give them a lot of looks, and we had some great looks,” Vigneault said. “We weren’t able to finish and they were able to finish.”

Swayman, 22, was the only reason the Bruins were in a 2-2 tie — and didn’t trail by at least a couple of goals — after two periods.

In the second, the Flyers had more shots (25) than in any period this season, and they allowed only seven shots in the session. In the first 40 minutes, the Flyers had a 38-18 shots domination and a 65-37 advantage in shot attempts.

But Swayman, who starred in nine AHL appearances this year, kept the Bruins in the game.

Trailing 2-0, the Flyers swarmed Swayman. Jake Voracek scored the Flyers’ first goal and set up the second one, enabling the Flyers to knot the score at 2-2 early in the second.

“We were doing our thing, getting pucks deep and making the simple plays,” Gostisbehere said.

Voracek tapped home Konecny’s slick pass with 18:27 left in the second to get the Flyers within 2-1. Just 2½ minutes later, Voracek’s cross-ice pass set up Gostisbehere for his sixth goal, a high blast from the right circle.

Boston built a 2-0 first-period lead on a pair of Bergeron goals. That meant the Flyers had been outscored by a 21-goal, first-period margin since the start of March.

Scott Laughton had two first-period breakaways; he shot wide on the first one, and was robbed by Swayman on the second attempt while the Flyers were shorthanded.

» READ MORE: Oskar Lindblom returns to Flyers’ lineup; Scott Laughton downplays trade rumors

After the latter save, the Bruins came down ice and Bergeron put a slot shot thought the legs of Carter Hart, giving Boston a 2-0 lead with 2:29 left in the first.

It gave Bergeron the 48th multi-goal game of his sensational career, and made Boston a mind-boggling 10 for 19 (52.6%) on the power play against the Flyers this season.

Earlier in the first, Bergeron, uncovered out front, collected a rebound and gave Boston a 1-0 lead with 12:51 to go in the period.

Besides stopping Laughton on a breakaway, Swayman made key saves on Joel Farabee (redirect) and Nolan Patrick (alone in front) in the opening 20 minutes.

Swayman, a University of Maine product, was playing because rookie Dan Vladar had been used the previous night. The Bruins’ top two goalies, Tuukka Rask and Jaroslav Halak, are sidelined. Rask is working his way back into the lineup after an injury, and Halak is on the COVID-19 protocol list.

The Bruins were missing defensemen Charlie McAvoy and Brandon Carlo because of injuries.

One night earlier, the Flyers recorded a stirring 3-2 overtime win in Boston. Their playoff charge appeared to be underway.

That was before a goalie making his NHL debut outplayed Hart and proved to be the difference.

“Carter is a young goaltender playing a real tough position and he’s trying his best,” Vigneault said.”