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With Sean Couturier back in the lineup, the Flyers earned a thrilling 3-2 victory Saturday afternoon over the Bruins at the Wells Fargo Center.
Travis Konecny scored his 29th and 30th goals of the season. Tyson Foerster scored the winning goal with 1:31 left.
Konecny broke the ice late in the second period with a power-play goal. During the third period, he put the Flyers back in front, 2-1, before Danton Heinen got it back 56 seconds later.
It all set up Foerster’s heroic acts. The rookie winger also had an assist.
“We never gave up,” Foerster said. “We always stick together.”
The Flyers (36-26-9) have earned at least one point in three consecutive games (2-0-1).
John Tortorella’s club is 2-2-1 in this grueling seven-game stretch against contenders. He has the Panthers and the Rangers left.
The Flyers now have 12 wins over top 10 clubs. They went 1-2-0 against the Bruins (41-16-15) in their three-game regular season series. After allowing 12 goals in the first two meetings, the Flyers limited Boston this time.
“High marks,” Tortorella said. “That’s a really good hockey team, obviously. I thought we were there and played a really good third period.”
Since the 2021-22 season, the Flyers have gone 2-7-0 against the Bruins.
• Couturier returned to the lineup after two games on the bench.
“I’m past it,” he said of the consecutive healthy scratches. “I don’t really want to talk about it. I just want to help the team in any way I can. Everything went well, we got three out of four points and now five out of six. I thought as a team. We all responded very well.”
The Flyers captain played well on the fourth line with Noah Cates and Olle Lycksell. It may have been the Flyers’ most effective line.
The trio had lasted time in the offensive zone, created some looks and scored the penalty to set up Konecny’s man-advantage score.
“I thought they scored well. I thought the line played very well,” Tortorella said. “I think Lycksell is a guy that the more I see of him, it’s something that we’re interested in as far as what he can be. He’s also had some scoring opportunities, but I think on the other side of the puck he’s played pretty well.
“I started those three guys in the offensive zone most of the time, they had some changes to their top lines and I think they did a pretty good job.”
Nicolas Deslauriers, Cam Atkinson, Denis Gurianov and Marc Staal were safe and sound.
• With 11 games remaining, the Flyers are in third place in the Metropolitan Division, where they have been since late January. They entered Saturday with a 75.4 percent chance of making the playoffs, according to Hockey-Reference.com Odds Report.
After Saturday’s win, they are four points ahead of the Capitals and six points ahead of the Islanders. Washington has played two fewer games than the Flyers and New York one less. The Flyers have one more matchup with each team.
The Flyers Postgame Live team broke down the team’s 3-2 win Saturday afternoon over the Bruins.
• Samuel Ersson made 18 saves on 20 shots. He has stopped 75 of 83 shots in the Flyers’ three-point streak.
“I think we’ve played well all year against the best teams,” the 24-year-old rookie said. “Obviously we have to respect them, but we know what we can do, we are also a good team. We have to believe it and go out and show it every night.”
Boston tied the game just over halfway through the third period on a goal by Justin Brazeau. It came thanks to the Flyers’ third defensive pairing of Egor Zamula and Erik Johnson. Brazeau finished with a good play on Ersson.
Konecny was almost the hero, but Heinen surprised the Flyers and made it 2-2. Morgan Geekie somehow managed to sneak a cross-field pass through the Flyers’ coverage.
The Flyers were able to hold David Pastrnak and Brad Marchand scoreless.
Bruins goalie Linus Ullmark stopped 26 of the Flyers’ 29 shots. He was solid through two periods, but Boston needed him to improve late.
One minute and 16 seconds after Konecny scored in the midframe, Johnson stepped up and made a great defensive play to start a breakaway from Scott Laughton. But Ullmark made an eye-catching glove save to keep the Bruins within one at the second intermission.
“I don’t think you guys realize how big of a play that was,” Konecny said of Johnson’s effort. “Because there was a breakdown and you know their equipment can be dangerous. It was huge.”
Johnson, whom the Flyers acquired at the trade deadline, also had high praise for Konecny.
“From what I knew before, a great competitor, really good at getting under the skin of a team,” the veteran defenseman said. “There’s a fine line, right? You don’t want to cross that line and hurt your team, but you want to play on the edge and be that thorn in the other team’s side. For TK, he has that skill and that aggressiveness. He really has helped our group.”
• The Flyers return to action on Sunday when they host Florida (6 pm ET/NBCSP+).
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