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Three reasons why the Flyers lost to the Bruins in overtime

Self-inflicted wounds and too much of Boston's power play were enough for the Flyers to turn a 3-1 third-period lead into a 4-3 overtime loss.

James van Riemsdyk had one assist and seven shot attempts in the Flyers' 4-3 loss to Boston on Wednesday. In his last seven games, JVR has four goals and seven dimes.
James van Riemsdyk had one assist and seven shot attempts in the Flyers' 4-3 loss to Boston on Wednesday. In his last seven games, JVR has four goals and seven dimes.Read moreELIZABETH ROBERTSON / Staff Photographer

The Flyers suffered a tough overtime loss to the Bruins on Wednesday night at the Wells Fargo Center.

Here are three reasons they couldn’t get the job done.

Boxed in

The Flyers are committing too many penalties. What’s worse is that they are lazy infractions, not a message-sending roughing penalty when somebody gives Carter Hart a snow shower.

The Flyers have allowed 18 power-play opportunities over their last four games, compared to nine they’ve had for themselves.

That’s putting too much pressure on the goalies and causing Ivan Provorov’s minutes to surge. The young defenseman had two giveaways, but looked a step behind the play most of the night.

Too much Pasta

Three helpings of pasta in South Philly is usually just gluttonous. On Wednesday, it was lethal.

David Pastrnak, who did not play because of injury when Boston swept two games from the Flyers last month, had three goals. Two were on the power play late in the third period, and the other came 12 seconds after the opening faceoff.

Pastrnak went around Shayne Gostisbehere way too easily and flung a shot that bounced off Ivan Provorov’s stick past a helpless Hart.

Did you notice the Flyers had their fourth line on to start the game, and it wound up costing them when Patrice Bergeron beat Connor Bunnaman on the first faceoff?

Flyers coach Alain Vigneault sent out different lines to start all three periods and the overtime. That’s probably not happening if Sean Couturier is healthy.

Paging Mr. Konecny

Travis Konecny, the Flyers’ most recent All-Star, had a couple of decent shifts, but failed to register a shot on goal for the third time in his last five games. He did have a scoring chance from a tough angle along the goal line, but shot it high.

Three numbers to know

  1. 10 — Boston goalie Tuukka Rask has not lost in regulation to the Flyers in his last 10 starts. That’s a 7-0-3 mark for Rask and the Bruins.

  2. 35-25 — The Flyers were outshot again on Wednesday, the 10th time in their 11 games.

  3. 900 — Claude Giroux played in his 900th career game. Only Bobby Clarke (1,144) and Bill Barber (903) have played in more in Flyers history.