BOSTON -- Brad Marchand has played in 500 NHL regular-season games, and No. 500 was certainly one of his best.

Marchand scored two goals and three assists to lead the Boston Bruins to a 6-3 victory over the Philadelphia Flyers at TD Garden Saturday afternoon.

Marchand bookended his day by finding the net, putting the Bruins on the board early with an unassisted goal and adding an empty-netter in the final minute. In between, he set up Patrice Bergeron, Zdeno Chara and Torey Krug for goals of their own as the Bruins scored three times in the second period to take control of the game.

"I think it's just, that's how hockey goes sometimes," said Marchand, who didn't realize he was playing in his 500th game until after the final buzzer. "Pucks bounce your way and other times they don't. It is nice when things are going your way, you feel a little more confident, you're able to do things that you're a little nervous to try at different times."

Bergeron's second-period goal ended up the game-winner as the Bruins moved ahead of the Flyers in points and solidified their hold on second place in the Atlantic Division.

The Bruins evened their home record at 10-10-0 and pulled ahead of the Flyers in points as the two teams begin to look like potential entrants in the race for final Eastern Conference playoff spots. The Flyers suffered their 10th loss in their last 13 games, and their seventh in regulation, after winning 10 straight in November and December.

Tuukka Rask, making a return to the Boston net after being forced out of Thursday's game with an injury, made 21 saves in the win. Philadelphia's Michal Neuvirth turned aside 33 of the 38 shots the Bruins pumped on his net.

Fresh off his first career selection as an NHL All-Star, Marchand played one of his best games of the season, adding to his team-leading goal (17) and point (40) totals. It's his fourth straight season with 40 or more points, and the sixth of his eight-year career.

"Right now (Marchand is) feeling it, and when he's feeling it he makes good things happen," Bruins coach Claude Julien said. "One of his key traits is anticipation; he can see what's happening."

After the Flyers scored first through Pierre-Edouard Bellemare, Marchand certainly showed that trait on his first goal, a short-handed tally. He harassed Sean Coutourier and forced a turnover at the Boston blue line to set up a breakaway. With Flyers defenseman Ivan Provorov all over him, Marchand tried to deke in front of Neuvirth and lost the puck, only to watch it slide through the goaltender for a tying goal at the 7:48 mark of the first.

"He's been flying and making plays and he has the ability to change the game," Krug said. "So, definitely, when he's going, hopefully our team can mirror that."

The Bruins poured it on in the second period as the Flyers, who very early in the game seemed like they might have the jump on the hosts, lost their grip.

David Krejci got the rally started at the two-minute mark of the period, scoring his 500th career NHL point after Austin Czarnik gathered a failed Philadelphia clearing attempt and sent it to the center for a hard wrister over Neuvirth's glove shoulder and a 2-1 lead.

"Really, I thought probably the biggest turning point of the hockey game were the first five minutes of the second period where we just didn't take care of the puck and make them defend at all," Philadelphia coach Dave Hakstol said.

Exactly four minutes later, Krug started and finished a 3-on-2 rush, tipping in a feed from Marchand to make it 3-1. Krug, who struggled to score early in the season, picked up his third goal in as many games, a career first.

"I think he probably falls in the same bracket as (Marchand) does," Julien said. "He's starting to feel it, and things are coming around for him as well."

Brayden Schenn scored his 15th of the year for the Flyers, jamming a shot home just five seconds into a power play to cut the Boston lead to one with 8:16 gone in the second.

Twelve seconds later, Bruin defenseman Kevan Miller raced Flyer right winger Jakub Voracek for a puck deep in the Boston zone. Miller arrived first, and Voracek stapled him into the end boards.

Miller hit the ice immediately and required a trainer's assistance to get to the Bruin bench and down the tunnel for treatment. He did not return to the game, and Voracek picked up a five-minute major for boarding.

Four and a half minutes into Voracek's major penalty, Krug caught a slow-moving clearing attempt in the Philadelphia zone and filtered the puck down to Marchand, who found Bergeron for a turn-and-fire shot that deflected off of Andrew MacDonald's stick and over Neuvirth's shoulder for a 4-2 lead with 6:56 to go in the second.

Hakstol, who didn't love the call on Voracek, pointed to the major as another key in his team's loss.

"We did a hell of a job killing, and obviously the puck at the end of it changes the score of the game there," he said. "I won't get into it too much. That's two guys going into a battle, is what I thought of the play. Jake (Voracek) goes in to protect himself and turns as he normally would going into that situation, two big bodies coming together back to back."

Just over two minutes later, David Pastrnak found Chara cross-ice for a one-timer that the big Bruins captain blasted past Neuvirth for a 5-2 advantage.

The Flyers were given a 5-on-3 man advantage late in the second after Wayne Simmonds drew a holding call on Pastrnak and Chara later cleared a puck over the boards. Simmonds converted with 3.2 seconds left in the middle period to cut the deficit to 5-3.

But that was the end of the comeback effort for the Flyers, and Marchand scored his second goal of the game after making a steal at the Philadelphia blue line and burying an empty-netter with 54 seconds to go.

It marked the second time this year that he scored five points in a game, after posting 2-3--5 totals in Boston's season-opening win over Columbus. He's the first Bruin to score five points twice in a season since Jason Allison in 1997-98.

NOTES: Boston C David Krejci scored his 500th career point in the game, moving past Adam Oates to 14th on the franchise's all-time list. ... Flyer D Mark Streit, out since Nov. 14 because of a shoulder injury, returned to the lineup after missing 13 games. D Shayne Gostisbehere was a healthy scratch. ... Saturday's game was Bruins LW Brad Marchand's 500th in his NHL career, and LW Pierre-Edouard Bellemare's 200th as a Flyer. ... G Michal Neuvirth got the start for the Flyers after being called in to Relieve Steve Mason in a win over Vancouver on Thursday. It marks the first back-to-back games for Neuvirth since his return from a knee injury sustained in mid-November.