Michael Raffl collected a goal and an assist to lift the Philadelphia Flyers to a 4-1 victory over the Boston Bruins on Sunday in the opener of the Eastern Conference round-robin tournament in Toronto.
Scott Laughton, Nate Thompson and defenseman Philippe Myers each scored a goal and Carter Hart made 34 saves for the Flyers, who had won nine of 10 before the shutdown in March.
Chris Wagner scored the lone goal for the Bruins, who are jockeying with the Flyers, Washington Capitals and Tampa Bay Lightning to determine the Eastern Conference's seeding of its top four clubs.
Boston goaltender Jaroslav Halak made 25 saves while making his first playoff start since 2015. He got the nod in place of Tuukka Rask, who was ill.
The Flyers killed off a power play and allowed the Bruins just one shot as the game remained scoreless with nine minutes left in the first period.
Philadelphia later received its first power play at 14:41 of the first after Laughton had a wrist shot saved by Halak. In the early stages of the power play, captain Claude Giroux fired a shot which caromed off the post.
The Flyers struck first following a Bruins turnover, with Raffl capitalizing at 5:33 of the second period.
Seconds after Raffl's goal, Boston defenseman Brandon Carlo skated in and ripped a shot off the post.
Thompson gave the Flyers a 2-0 lead at 9:31 as the Flyers' fourth line continued to stay aggressive.
The Bruins had their best scoring chance at 16:50 of the second when Wagner turned around just outside the crease and fired a shot off Hart's pad. Wagner's persistence paid off and he later scored at 18:51 to halve the deficit.
Eight seconds later, Myers blasted a wrist shot over Halak's shoulder to regain a two-goal lead for Philadelphia.
Laughton scored at 4:07 of the third with a wrist shot into the top corner of the net to cap the scoring.
The Bruins pulled Halak with 4:01 remaining and had several solid scoring opportunities but couldn't squeeze the puck past Hart.
--Field Level Media
Philadelphia | Boston | |
Michael Raffl 2 | Points | Chris Wagner 1 |
Michael Raffl 1 | Goals | Chris Wagner 1 |
Michael Raffl 1 | Assists | Charlie McAvoy 1 |
N/A | Power Play Goals | N/A |
N/A | Short Handed Goals | N/A |
Carter Hart .971 | Save Percentage | Jaroslav Halak .862 |
Carter Hart 34 | Saves | Jaroslav Halak 25 |
Team | Shots | Goals | Power Play | Penalty Kill | Penalty Mins | Face Offs Won |
Philadelphia | 29 | 4 | 0-2 | 3-3 | 20 | 41 |
Boston | 35 | 1 | 0-3 | 2-2 | 18 | 36 |