Sunk at Lake Tahoe: Flyers tread water until Bruins chase Carter Hart in blowout loss

The scenery at Lake Tahoe was something to remember. The game was something to forget.

The Philadelphia Flyers suffered a blowout loss to the Boston Bruins, 6-3, at Lake Tahoe on Sunday night. The Flyers showed some life in the first period and actually had a 2-1 lead, but once both teams settled in it was all Bruins.

Gritty appears to be enjoying his Lake Tahoe vacation

Flyers take in the sights at Lake Tahoe before Sunday night’s game

The Flyers fell to 8-4-3 on the season and 0-3-2 in five games against the Bruins. Boston extended their division lead as they are now 11-3-2 for 24 points in 16 games.

Let’s get to the action.

The Flyers were looking fresh in the Reverse Retro jerseys.

Look at these beauties.

It was an ugly start for the Flyers, however. Once again, David Pastrnak got the Bruins a 1-0 lead in the first minute of the game.

Philippe Myers‘ point shot was blocked by Patrice Bergeron, who fed a bank pass up to Brad Marchand for a two-on-one rush. He made the pass to Pastrnak, who put it in the back of the net.

It looked like the Flyers would be having another one of those games against Boston, but they temporarily turned things around.

The Flyers drove play pretty well in the first half of the first period and it resulted in a goal of their own.

Sean Couturier sent a dump-in off the endboards with purpose. Joel Farabee won the race to the puck in the slot and slid it through the five-hole while falling down.

It was a great play by Couturier and finish by Farabee.

James van Riemsdyk also picked up an assist on the goal for his 500th NHL point.

The Flyers kept pushing but took a penalty just over halfway into the period. Sean Couturier was called for tripping, leaving the Flyers without one of their best penalty killers.

You wouldn’t have been able to tell, however, because the Flyers did a great job of killing off the penalty.

Then, with Couturier coming out of the box, the Flyers rushed up ice. Couturier drove the net and cleaned up the puck in front after a nice move by Kevin Hayes.

This is a great bird’s-eye view of it.

The Flyers had their first lead of the game, but it wouldn’t last.

Just 39 seconds later, the Bruins tied it. Charlie McAvoy blasted a shot through traffic that Carter Hart wasn’t able to stop.

He’d probably like to have that one back, but there was a partial screen by Ivan Provorov and who knows what his view is like out there. Still, a disappointing goal to give up so quickly after the Flyers took the lead. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the only disappointing goal Hart would allow.

Couturier laid a big hit on Connor Clifton in the final minutes of the period.

A good hit by Couturier.

The Flyers nearly retook the lead heading into intermission with defenseman winger Mark Friedman in front. A nice pass by Andy Andreoff set up a great scoring chance.

Still, it was a solid period for the Flyers to start things off. They were even with the Bruins in goals and had the advantage in 5-on-5 shot attempts (22-14), shots on goal (11-7), and scoring chances (9-6). It was impressive given the shorthanded lineup.

But it went downhill from there.

The Bruins dominated the second period and scored again in the first minute.

Of course, it was Pastrnak.

What an absolute snipe.

The Flyers were treading water for most of the period before the floodgates opened.

Hayes had one of the Flyers’ best (only) chances of the period but missed wide.

The Bruins were knocking on the door all period, and once they were let in they did not let up.

The Bruins scored two goals in 33 seconds, and Andy Andreoff took a bad penalty after the second one was scored. That sent the Bruins on the power play where they took a 6-2 lead.

Three goals in 99 seconds are all it took to change the game. The Flyers had a power play after that, but couldn’t score.

The Flyers got out-attempted 23-10, outshot 13-2, and out-chanced 10-6 at 5-on-5 play in the second period. The Bruins took a 6-2 lead into the third period.

Hart struggled in the game, there’s no doubt about it. A few of the goals he should’ve stopped and it could’ve changed the outcome. He was replaced in net by Brian Elliott to start the third period.

After a flurry of goals in the latter stages of the second period, the third period was much more subdued. Neither team scored until the final minutes of the game.

James van Riemsdyk got his eighth goal of the season and third point of the game on the power play.

He now has 21 points in 15 games on the season.

Then, Pastrnak completed the hat trick on a one-timer to make it a 7-3 game.

He now has two hat tricks against the Flyers this season.

The Flyers will return to action on Wednesday night against the New York Rangers. Hopefully, they’ll have a few of their players on the COVID list back for that game.