• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers
• Game Tracker

First-period burst sends Bruins past listless Flyers

Mar 9, 2013 - 11:54 PM Boston, MA (Sports Network) - Tuukka Rask turned back all 23 shots he faced to notch his second shutout of the season, and the Boston goaltender received three goals within a 2:18 span in the first period that lifted the Bruins to a 3-0 decision over the slumping Philadelphia Flyers at TD Garden.

Tyler Seguin, Chris Kelly and Daniel Paille all lit the lamp during Boston's scoring barrage, which in turn dealt the Flyers a third consecutive defeat that matched a season-high losing skid.

Ilya Bryzgalov finished with 25 saves for Philadelphia, which opened the shortened 2013 campaign with setbacks to Pittsburgh, Buffalo and New Jersey from Jan. 19-22.

Coming off a shaky outing Thursday against Pittsburgh in which he was pulled in the second period, Bryzgalov had a rough stretch in this one as well. The Philadelphia netminder surrendered goals on three straight shots that staked the Bruins to a commanding early lead they never relinquished.

The first came on a Boston power play with 8:07 left in the opening period. After the Flyers failed to clear the zone following a faceoff win, Seguin buried the puck into an open left side after receiving a well-placed backhand feed from Milan Lucic.

Just 1:35 later, Kelly made it a 2-0 game by ripping home a wrister from the slot off Jordan Caron's pass from the left boards, and a Philadelphia turnover caused by Boston's Shawn Thornton set up a 2-on-1 rush between Gregory Campbell and Paille that resulted in the latter's fourth goal of the season a mere 43 seconds after Kelly's tally.

"It was good for us to get that lead," said Bruins head coach Claude Julien. "For us, it was about playing a 60-minute game. We knew they were going to come out better in the second [period] and we had to face that."

Bryzgalov held his own the rest of the way, especially during an active second period in which the Bruins put 13 shots on net but failed to score. However, the Philadelphia offense continued to sputter as Rask polished off his 13th career shutout.

"After 1-0, we stopped competing," said Flyers head coach Peter Laviolette. "They scored a goal and we never recovered. We never responded to it. We were looking for a response from last game and that wasn't the response we were looking for."

The Flyers' best scoring opportunity came on a power play with just under 13 minutes left, when Jakub Voracek delivered a blast from the point that bounced off the right post. Braydon Coburn had a chance late in the contest after Rask left the net unattended while attempting to play the puck, but Lucic preserved the shutout by making a sliding stop on the Philadelphia defenseman's attempt.

Game Notes

The Flyers suffered their first shutout loss at TD Garden since a 1-0 overtime setback on Jan. 25, 2003, with Jeff Hackett between the pipes for Boston that day ... The Bruins are now 11-0-1 on the season when recording the first goal, while Philadelphia fell to 3-10-1 when allowing the opponent to score first ... Boston's Rich Peverley earned his 200th career point with an assist on Kelly's goal ... Caron was making his season debut after being called up from AHL Providence on Friday, with the Bruins waiving forward Chris Bourque in a corresponding move ... Philadelphia defenseman Andrej Meszaros returned to the lineup for the first time since Jan. 24, having missed the team's last 21 games with a dislocated shoulder ... The Flyers fell to 1-5-0 against Northeast Division foes this season.