PHILADELPHIA — The Boston Bruins have lost shootouts every which way this season.
Brad Marchand found a new one Monday night.
The Bruins star overskated the puck at centre ice on a shootout attempt in a bizarre ending to the Philadelphia Flyers‘ 6-5 victory over Boston.
Travis Konecny scored in the fifth round of the shootout for Philadelphia, and Marchand lined up for his turn needing to score to keep the game going. The two-time All-Star charged toward the resting puck but barely nipped it as he skated past — he zoomed into the offensive zone, but the puck trickled forward just a few inches.
Officials met briefly before signalling that the game was over. Because Marchand made contact with the puck, it was considered a shot attempt.
"I was just trying to get going and just missed it," Marchand said. "That’s the way it is. I’m not going to overthink it."
Boston entered the game tied with Washington and St. Louis for most points in the NHL but fell to 0-7 in shootouts.
"We’ve seen that movie before," Boston coach Bruce Cassidy said.
Well, not exactly. Not quite like this.
"It was a nice way for us to know it was over," Konecny said.
Travis Sanheim scored twice in regulation for the Flyers, who rallied from a three-goal deficit.
"It’s a big positive for us," Konecny said. "We went through a little stretch where we were struggling, so to come back against a team like this, it puts us right up there and we know we can win against these teams."
Sean Couturier, Connor Bunnaman and Kevin Hayes also scored for the Flyers, who were down 5-2 with 12 1/2 minutes left in the second period.
"They’re a great team over there," Hayes said. "They’re top of the league every year. To go down three goals and come back and play the way we did to win the game, it’s a springboard of the good things coming up."
Philadelphia improved to 15-3-4 at home.
David Krejci had two goals and Anders Bjork, Charlie Coyle and David Pastrnak also scored for the Bruins.
The Flyers had the best opportunity in the five-minute overtime when Ivan Provorov was right on the doorstep, but Jaroslav Halak extended his right pad for a stellar save just before the buzzer sounded.
Sanheim got his second of the game by following his own miss to tie it at 5 with 7:02 left in the third period during a 4-on-4.
"He’s real effective when he moves up in the play," Flyers coach Alain Vigneault said of Sanheim, a defenceman. "He’s just scratching the surface with that potential."
The teams combined for six goals in an entertaining second period.
Boston looked in position for a blowout after Krejci’s second of the night made it 5-2. The Flyers answered with the final two goals of the second.
Couturier pulled Philadelphia within 5-3 with 6:48 left in the period when he lost control of the puck near the crease and it slid under Halak’s glove. Connor Bunnaman, called up on Sunday from Lehigh Valley of the AHL, then was credited with his first career goal 1 1/2 minutes later when Mark Friedman’s shot from the point hit him and two Bruins defencemen before going into the net. It was Friedman’s first career assist.
Cassidy wasn’t happy with the Flyers’ final three regulation tallies, especially the tying one.
"It’s inexcusable," he said. "No compete in front of the net, no urgency to keep the puck out of the net."
Pastrnak notched his NHL-leading 36th goal on a backhander through Carter Hart’s legs to open the second-period scoring.
Krejci scored his 10th of the season to make it 2-0 with 3:11 left in the first, finishing a beautiful tic-tac-toe passing play with a one-timer from just inside the post to extend Boston’s club-record streak with a power-play tally to 14 consecutive games.
Hayes pulled the Flyers within a goal with a one-timer from the right circle on a power play with 1:38 left in the first to snap Philadelphia’s 0-for-11 skid on the man-advantage.
NOTES: Halak stopped 34 shots and Hart made 26 saves. … D Zdeno Chara played in his 1,000th game as a Bruin, becoming the sixth player in club history to reach the mark. He joined Ray Bourque, Johnny Bucyk, Patrice Bergeron, Don Sweeney and Wayne Cashman. Overall, it was the 1,5030th game of Chara’s career. … The teams will wrap up the three-game season series March 10 in Philadelphia. … Philadelphia improved to 5-5 in shootouts. … Couturier had two assists for a three-point night.
UP NEXT
Bruins: At Columbus on Tuesday night.
Flyers: At St. Louis on Wednesday night.
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