Couturier, Elliott help Flyers escape with 3-2 win over the Bruins

In terms of importance, the Flyers games the last three weeks or so have been similar to playoff contests, which made Saturday’s visit from Boston a Game 7.

“It’s safe to say that I wouldn’t have liked our chances of battling back if we would have lost,” coach Alain Vigneault said. “We needed to win, especially in regulation, especially against a team that we’re chasing.”

Sean Couturier scored a clutch third-period goal and the Flyers (gasp) killed off four penalties to keep those postseason hopes alive with a 3-2 win over a Bruins team that had won six of seven meetings this season.

The victory allowed the Flyers (44 points) to move ahead of the idle Rangers (43) and to within four points of the Bruins (48).

It was the Flyers’ fifth consecutive strong game and the fourth in which they’ve allowed three goals or less.

“We’ve just been stressing to take care of the house,” said winning goaltender Brian Elliott. “Within the [faceoff] dots, you really just want to limit [opponents’] possession.”

Things got off to an ominous start when Ivan Provorov took a deflected shot off the inside of his left knee and laid motionless on the ice for several moments. Provorov, who has not missed a game in his 355-game career, eventually rolled over onto his knees and skated gingerly to the Flyers’ bench.

Naturally, he didn’t miss a shift, and led all players with 25 minutes, 4 seconds of ice time.

“It was an important game,” Provorov said. “There was no way I was leaving the ice and not coming back.”

It’s the seventh time in eight games Provorov has played at least 25 minutes.

If there was one point of emphasis heading into their final meeting of the season against Boston, it had to be for the Flyers to stay out of the box. They lost six of their first seven games this season against Boston as the Bruins converted 10 of 20 power plays. That’s ludicrous.

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But the Flyers survived four penalties, including two in the third period when Kevin Hayes was whistled for an unusual cross-check on David Pastrnak and Ivan Provorov tripped Pastrnak three minutes later. Pastrnak actually stepped on Provorov’s stick.

“Our PK guys did a great job,” said Vigneault, of a unit that stole a point against the Islanders on Thursday by killing a 5-minute power-play and nearly nine minutes total. “Our D [was good], and ‘Moose’ made some big saves.”

It was the biggest game of the year and the Flyers still came out sluggish. They gave up the first goal -- again -- and didn’t have a shot for the first eight minutes. It was then that Travis Konecny had seen enough.

In a span of six minutes, Konecny scored a goal, drew a roughing penalty on Jeremy Lauzon, and assisted on the subsequent power play with a sweet pass to Shayne Gostisbehere.

“The first minute [of the game] was slower than we expected to come out,” Konecny said. “They came at us pretty hard, but I ended up getting a good bounce there and those are the kind of things that can get you back in the game and we ended up capitalizing there.”

The Bruins, like the Flyers, were playing their fourth game in six days. Top defenseman Charlie McAvoy already was out with an upper-body injury. Matt Grzelcyk, their No. 2 D-man, did not play the final two periods because of an UBI. They also were using fourth-string goaltender Jeremy Swayman for the third consecutive game.

Brian Elliott, making his first start in five days, made 30 saves, including all eight against the Bruins’ power play. Elliott is 9-1 this season when he sees at least 25 shots on goal. Of course, he’s been pulled a few times before shot totals can get that high, but he seems to flourish with the extra work.

And with the rest.

“When ‘Moose’ has been fresh, he’s been outstanding,” Vigneault said. “He’s been making big saves at big times and been a force for us in goal.”

They might want to make an addition to their list of executives because Patrice Bergeron has simply owned the Flyers this season. He added to his staggering statistics against Philadelphia when he notched his eighth goal in eight games to open the scoring. He also has six assists.

Konecny tied it with a quick wrister off a rebound of a Robert Hagg blast from the right point. Up until that little flurry, the Flyers had one shot on goal in the first 10 minutes.

Nolan Patrick took a tripping penalty on Lauzon when he accidentally sent Lauzon into the boards back-first. It was a dangerous play for two reasons. Fortunately, Lauzon was not injured. Secondly, it put the Bruins on the power play.

The Flyers nearly got an insurance goal, but Gostisbehere’s score was wiped out by a goaltender interference call -- after a review -- on Jake Voracek, who brushed the head of Swayman.

Philadelphia hosts Buffalo on Sunday (2 p.m., NBCSP). The Flyers are still not sure if they’re buyers heading into Monday’s trade deadline. But thanks to Couturier and the penalty-kill units, they’re not selling.

Now let’s see what happens with the Sabres game.

“That was a big two points,” Vigneault said, “and now we need to get ready for [Sunday]. It’s going to be our fifth game in seven nights. We’re going to need all our players to be on top of their game.”