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Philadelphia Flyers defenseman was punched in the face in both the first and third period of Saturday’s matinee affair between the Flyers and Boston Bruins. The one in the third, however, had to hurt more.
In a season series finale that began with Manning squared off with Matt Beleskey in a fight, a throw-it-on attempt from Bruins winger Drew Stafford with just 5.6 seconds left in the third period of a 1-1 tie bounced off Manning stick and through Steve Mason for what might be the deathblow on Philly’s season and good for the Bruins’ 10th win in 13 games under interim coach Bruce Cassidy.
“That’s a product of being in the league for 10 years, and knowing he can score and make plays, and they did a good job in the last minute, to get the puck first of all, and get it out with control, and then hey, you never know,” Cassidy said of the goal. “You just never know, throwing it at the net, and I mean it’s lucky. We all know that. It’s a heartbreaker for Philly, but a benefit for us.”
That was probably the theme of the night for the Black and Gold’s improbable win.
In an opening period that forced the Bruins to kill 103 seconds of a five-on-three -- and against a Philly power play led by top-tier talents Claude Giroux, Shayne Gostisbehere, and Wayne Simmonds, just to name a few -- the Bruins not only made the kill, but then converted on their counter power play, as David Pastrnak tallied his 28th goal of the season to put the B’s up 1-0 through 20 minutes.
The Flyers countered that just over a minute into the second period behind a Jordan Weal goal, as Simmonds and Weal took advantage of a B’s defense that was left swimming in their own end, and finished the period with a 9-to-4 shot advantage over the Bruins, as the Bruins failed to put a shot on goal against Mason until the 8:45 mark of the second period with a Colin Miller slapper from 50 feet.
The Bruins seemed to rebound with a stronger third period -- with chances from Matt Beleskey and David Backes -- but it was on their last-second chance that they found a goal, as Stafford struck.
“It was one of those overtime-type goals, you know?” Bruins netminder Tuukka Rask, who stopped 26-of-27 shots in a winning effort, said. “It kind of just – he [Stafford] made a nice move and Millsy [Kevan Miller] kept the play alive and Drew realized he had some time there and made a nice spin-o-rama and threw it at the net. I think he knew how much time there was and was trying to create a rebound or something. Unfortunate for Mason that it hit their own guy, but we’ll take it.”
This and that
- It’s pretty incredible to think that Drew Stafford was acquired for a conditional sixth-round draft pick. It’s even harder to imagine with each game played by the 31-year-old winger. With the game-winning goal on Saturday, Stafford now has two goals and four points in four games with the Bruins, and has been directly responsible for two of the club’s wins, with the primary assist on a Ryan Spooner game-winning goal last week and Saturday’s goal against Philadelphia. So, that’s two added wins for a sixth-round pick. The deal, which may go down as Sweeney’s best to date, is already worth it.
- From WEEI.com: Matt Beleskey got back to the basics in his return to the lineup on Saturday.
- What. A. Damn. Kill.
The Bruins very well should have started this game in an 0-1 hole when they were down both Brandon Carlo and Brad Marchand -- half of their go-to, four-man penalty killing group -- for an extended 1:43 of a 5-on-3 for the Flyers. But the B’s instead stepped up with a massive kill, including two massive blocks on Claude Giroux slapshots from Adam McQuaid, key d-zone faceoff wins from Patrice Bergeron, and a combined seven shots made by Tuukka Rask on the sequence.
“You do whatever you have to do and sacrifice,” Bruins captain Zdeno Chara said of the club’s successful killing effort. “Obviously, blocking shots, having good stick, do whatever you can to prevent them from using their number one or two plays and try to take that away from them. Obviously, be compact, and every time you have a chance to clear, you just clear and waste some time.”
The Bruins sit just .6 percentage points behind the Panthers for the best penalty kill in the NHL.
- Man, what a heartbreaker for the Flyers. Especially, as I said, for Manning.
“You know what, he and everybody in our room knows what a warrior he is for us, right from the start of this hockey game,” Dave Hakstol said of Manning. “That’s not going to change in anybody’s mind. He’s a huge part of our team, he’s a character man and he’s going to be just fine on Monday night.”
Up next
The Bruins are heading back out West for a three-game Canadian trip with games against the Canucks, Flames, and Oilers. Vancouver is up first for the Bruins. The B’s beat the Canucks by a 4-3 final in their only prior head-to-head this season, which came back on Feb. 11 at TD Garden. This is a game that the Bruins should absolutely win, but this trip has always been a weird one for the B’s.
Ty Anderson is the Boston Bruins beat writer for WEEI.com, and has been covering the National Hockey League for HockeyBuzz.com since 2010. He can be heard on the Saturday Skate program on 93.7 WEEI (Boston), can also be found in the New England Hockey Journal magazine, and has been part of the Boston Chapter of the PHWA since 2013. Contact him on Twitter or send him an email at Ty.AndersonHB[at]gmail.com.
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