Flyers again blow late lead as they fall to Boston, 2-1, and miss chance to climb into first place

The Flyers again appeared to have control in the third period against Boston.

But for the third time in four games against the Bruins this season, they blew a late lead Friday night and suffered a crushing 2-1 loss.

Brad Marchand and Sean Kuraly scored 27 seconds apart in the third period to erase a 1-0 deficit, keeping Boston in first place in the East Division, two points ahead of the Flyers.

Marchand scored on a wild scramble in front with 7 minutes, 59 seconds left in regulation at the Wells Fargo Center, and Kuraly beat Brian Elliott with a long shot from above the left circle with 7:32 to go.

Elliott was eight minutes away from his second shutout in four starts this season. “You go from pitching a perfect one to losing in like the span of a minute, so it’s frustrating and it’s on me,” he said.

“Unfortunately, it was a shot that I’m sure Brian would like to have back,” coach Alain Vigneault said of the game-winning goal. “But he gave us a chance and battled hard.”

Boston has outscored the Flyers this season, 11-4, in the third periods of their four games — all Bruins wins.

The Flyers blew two-goal third-period leads in two of their other losses to Boston.

“We just have to do a better job of closing games out,” said James van Riemsdyk, who had a goal and a team-high five shots and was the Flyers’ best player. “When you have a lead in the third, you have to try to make those a little more automatic. Certainly that’s a good team, and some of their key players made big plays over the course of these couple games.”

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The Flyers had taken a 1-0 lead when van Riemsdyk redirected Erik Gustafsson’s power-play shot past Tuukka Rask with 19:33 left in regulation. It gave van Riemsdyk six goals in 12 games this season, including five on the power play, which is tied for the NHL lead. He had four power-play goals in 66 games last season.

Before Boston’s late rally, Elliott looked headed to his first win over the Bruins in more than 10 years.

“Tonight, we didn’t have our best,” Boston coach Bruce Cassidy said, “but we hung around and found a way to stay in the game.”

Late in the game, Boston’s Connor Clifton drilled Oskar Lindblom with a high hit. No penalty was called. Lindblom didn’t return, and Vigneault didn’t have an immediate update.

The Flyers had only four second-period shots, but one of them was a Grade-A chance because Joel Farabee came out of the penalty box and was pulled down from behind by defenseman Jakub Zboril as he went in on a breakaway.

That gave Farabee a penalty shot, but Rask easily turned him aside as the 20-year-old winger tried to put his drive through the goaltender’s legs. That kept the game scoreless with 3:35 left in the second.

Earlier in the period, Elliott denied scoring machine David Pastrnak from the slot and later on a point-blank chance while Boston was on a power play. He also turned aside Marchand from the right circle.

The Flyers’ penalty kill cost them a win Wednesday, when they blew a 3-1 lead by allowing three late power-play goals in a 4-3 overtime loss to Boston.

On Friday, it was the Flyers’ power play that was faulty in the opening period, squandering three chances with an extra attacker. Passes went astray, and Rask was not severely tested. The Flyers had three power plays for a total of 5:35 in the opening period — including a lengthy four-on-three — and managed just three shots.

The good news: All that power-play time helped keep Boston’s dynamic attack out of the Flyers’ zone for a big portion of a scoreless first period. The B’s managed just five shots — two fewer than the Flyers — in the session.

The first period included the Flyers’ first fight of the season as Nic Aube-Kubel, after getting punched in the face, came back and landed a couple of shots against Clifton, a New Jersey native.

“You don’t see many fights anymore, so it was nice to see one,” Travis Konecny said. " ‘Kube’ stepped up and got us into the game a little bit.”

Elliott was Friday’s announced starter even before Carter Hart came down with back spasms and couldn’t serve as the backup. Hart had started all three previous games against Boston — three losses in which the goaltender was not always the main culprit — and the Flyers turned the duties to Elliott.

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The Flyers were missing second-pairing defenseman Phil Myers (perhaps related to his recent rib injury). Robert Hagg entered the lineup and Justin Braun moved to the second pairing.

Hagg, paired with Gustafsson, supplied some physicality for the Flyers, who are now 0-2-2 against the Bruins this season.

The teams will meet again Feb. 21 in an outdoor game in Lake Tahoe.

Maybe the Flyers should hope they need to come from behind in the third period because playing with a lead doesn’t suit them.