Marchand's 5-point performance leads Bruins over Flyers
Brad Marchand had two goals and three assists to lift the Boston Bruins to a 6-3 win over the slumping Philadelphia Flyers on Saturday.
The win improved Boston's record to .500 at home (10-10) in its first game of a stretch of five of seven at TD Garden heading into the All-Star break at the end of the month.
Tuukka Rask was back in goal for Boston after leaving the previous game - a loss at Nashville on Thursday - because he was hit in the throat area by a shot in the opening period. He made 21 saves.
The Flyers lost for the eighth time in 10 games (2-6-2).
Zdeno Chara, Patrice Bergeron, Torey Krug, and David Krejci also scored for the Bruins. Krejci's was his 500th point.
Marchand had an empty-net goal with 54 seconds left.
Bruins defenseman Kevan Miller was helped off the ice with what the team called an upper-body injury after he crashed into the backboards hard following a check by Jakub Voracek, who was given a major for boarding.
Wayne Simmonds, Pierre-Edouard Bellemare, and Brayden Schenn had Philadelphia's goals. Michal Neuvirth stopped 33 shots.
Playing in his 500th game, Marchand stole the puck from Sean Couturier near the blue line in the defensive zone and skated in while being hooked by defenseman Ivan Provorov. The puck slid off Marchand's stick for a short-handed goal and under Neuvirth, tying the game 1-1 at 7:48 of the first period.
Krejci fired a wrist shot into the top far corner of the net from left wing to move Boston ahead for good two minutes into the second. Austin Czarnik jumped to keep the puck in at the point before sending a cross-ice pass to Krejci for his power-play score.
Krug scored four minutes later when he redirected Marchand's cross-ice pass from the edge of the slot.
The Flyers cut it to 3-2 on Schenn's goal five seconds into a power play before Marchand set up Bergeron for a power-play goal at 13:04.
Chara one-timed David Pastrnak's pass by Neuvirth to make it 5-2. Marchand made a drop pass to Pastrnak, setting up the play.
Simmonds' goal came with 3.2 seconds left in the second. The Flyers were skating with a two-man advantage.
NOTES: Flyers D Mark Streit was activated off long-term injury before the game and F Boyd Gordon was waived. Streit was rehabbing a sprained left shoulder and missed 13 games. . It was the second of three games between the teams this season. Philadelphia won the first, 3-2 in a shootout at home on Nov. 29.
UP NEXT
Flyers: At Washington on Sunday in their second game of a stretch of four of five on the road.
Bruins: Host the New York Islanders on Monday afternoon.