Flyers win for fourth time in five games
PHILADELPHIA -- If the Philadelphia Flyers had played this well earlier in the month, they would be playing in May.
Matt Read and Oliver Lauridsen scored goals seven seconds apart in the second period to help the Flyers beat the Boston Bruins 5-2 Tuesday night at Wells Fargo Center.
Scott Hartnell, Jakub Voracek and Simon Gagne also had goals for Philadelphia, which isn't going to the playoffs for the first time since 2007. The Flyers have won four of five, but it's too little too late.
"Unfortunately we're just starting to score goals too late, but I think our team's jelling," Read said. "Just starting to get the luck and the bounces and working hard together. All the lines ... are clicking so it's bittersweet, and you don't score five goals against the Boston Bruins, who are a great team and have a good chance of going deep into the playoffs."
Wade Redden and David Krejci had goals for playoff-bound Boston. The Bruins are the No. 2 seed in the Eastern Conference.
"It was definitely a step back in our game," Bruins coach Claude Julien said. "Really poor puck management tonight and door decision making. That to me is a reflection of guys not being ready to play. They need to take the accountability of being ready. We do a lot or work to prepare, and it certainly reflects on us as well as a team, coaching staff and everybody else, but too much of that lately and not enough focus.
"We are running out of time here to get this stuff going. You always hope that it's some sort of wakeup call, but the way the season's gone you question whether it will or not. Only time will tell."
Flyers goaltender Steve Mason had 39 saves.
"I'm not really thinking about next year," Mason said. "I'm just trying to finish off on a good note. I was fortunate enough to be able to come here, after the trade deadline, and start building a foundation here, some friendships, and start getting to really know the guys, before going into next year. I'm not really looking toward next season just yet. I just want to finish off on a strong note and now we're doing that."
Read put Philadelphia up 2-1 on his 11th goal. Anton Khudobin made a kick save on a shot by Wayne Simmonds, but Read controlled the puck in midair, backhanded a pass to himself and swatted a forehand shot into the net.
Lauridsen then got a lucky break to score his first NHL goal. Lauridsen dumped the puck behind the net and Bruins defenseman Zdeno Chara gathered it along the boards. But when Chara flipped it toward the net, Khudobin didn't see it and the puck trickled between his legs.
"In 20 years or a week from now no one is going to ask me how that went in," Lauridsen said. "It's a bounce; it wasn't a well-calculated snipe or anything."
Khudobin slammed his stick across the post and was pulled for Tuukka Rask.
"I think this is that kind of goal when something doesn't go your way pretty much," he said. "Just bad deflected off of me, and it wasn't a right goal at all."
Voracek scored a pretty breakaway goal to make it 4-1 in the third. He went forehand to backhand to net his 21st.
The teams then traded goals in a span of 13 seconds. After Krejci put a wrister in, Gagne answered for the Flyers.
Hartnell gave the Flyers a 1-0 lead just 1:40 into the game when he lifted a shot over Khudobin for his eighth goal. Hartnell led Philadelphia with 37 tallies last year.
Redden tied it three minutes later when he wristed a shot past Mason following a pass from 40-year-old Jaromir Jagr, who has 35 points. Redden had two goals in the first three games this year and had not scored again until this one.
NOTES: Jagr returned to the NHL with the Flyers last season after three years playing in Russia. He had 19 goals and 54 points and was hoping to remain in Philadelphia, but he signed a $4.5 million contract with Dallas. He was traded to the Bruins on April 2. ... Kimmo Timonen became the latest Flyers defenseman to go down with an injury. Of the six blue liners in the lineup for the season opener, only two remain healthy. ... Redden's goal was his first in 22 games.
