With Sean Couturier back in the lineup, the Flyers pulled off a thrilling 3-2 victory Saturday afternoon over the Bruins at the Wells Fargo Center.
Travis Konecny scored his 29th and 30th goals of the season. Tyson Foerster buried the game-winner with 1:31 left.
Konechny broke the ice late in the second period with a power play goal. During the third period, he put the Flyers back up 2-1 before Danton Heinen pulled one back 56 seconds later.
Everything is set for Foerster’s heroism. The rookie winger also had an assist.
“We never give up,” Foerster said. “We always stick together.”
The Flyers (36-26-9) have won at least a point in three straight games (2-0-1).
John Tortorella’s club is 2-2-1 in this grueling seven-game stretch against contenders. That leaves the Panthers and Rangers.
The Flyers now have 12 wins over top-10 teams. They went 1-2-0 against the Bruins (41-16-15) in a three-game regular-season series. After allowing 12 goals in the first two meetings, the Flyers limited Boston this time.
“High marks,” Tortorella said. “This is obviously a really good hockey team. I thought we hung in there and played a really good third period.”
Since the 2021-22 season, the Flyers are 2-7-0 against the Bruins.
• Couturier returned to the lineup after two games on the bench.
“It’s behind me now,” he said of the back-to-back healthy scratches. “I do not want to talk about it. I just want to help the team in any way I can. Everything went well, we took three out of four points and now five out of six. I thought as a team we all responded very well.”
The Flyers captain played well on the fourth line with Noah Cates and Ole Liksel. It may have been the Flyers’ most effective line.
The trio was able to get time in the offensive zone, create some looks and draw the penalty to set up the Konecny man-advantage marker.
“I thought they were a good fit. I thought the line played very well,” Tortorella said. “I think Lixel is a guy that the more and more I see him, it’s something we’re interested in as much as he can be. He also had some scoring opportunities, but on the other side of the puck, I think he played pretty well.
“All three guys, I would start them in the offensive zone most of the time, had some shifts against their top lines and I think they did a pretty good job.”
Nicolas Deslauriers, Cam Atkinson, Denis Gurianov and Marc Staal were healthy scratches.
• With 11 games to go, the Flyers are in third place in the Metropolitan Division, a spot they’ve held since late January. They entered Saturday with a 75.4 percent chance to make the playoffs, according to Hockey-Reference.com’s Probability Report.
After Saturday’s win, they are four points ahead of the Capitals and six ahead of the Islanders. Washington has played two fewer games than the Flyers and New York one fewer. The Flyers have one more game against each team.
The Flyers Postgame Live team broke down the team’s 3-2 win Saturday afternoon over the Bruins.
• Samuel Ersson recorded 18 saves on 20 shots. He has stopped 75 of 83 shots in the Flyers’ three-point range.
“I think all year we’ve played well against top teams,” the 24-year-old rookie said. “Obviously you have to respect them but we know what we can do, we’re a good team too. We have to believe that and go out and prove it every night.”
Boston tied the game a bit midway through the third period on a goal by Justin Brazeau. That came with the Flyers’ third defensive pairing of Egor Zamula and Eric Johnson. Brazeau finished with a good move against Ersson.
Konecny was almost the hero, but Heinen stunned the Flyers to make it 2-2. Morgan Geekie somehow snuck a crossover pass through Flyers coverage.
The Flyers were able to hold David Pastrnak and Brad Marchand scoreless.
Bruins netminder Linus Ullmark stopped 26 of the Flyers’ 29 shots. He was solid through two periods, but Boston needed him to be better at the end.
One minute and 16 seconds after Konecny scored in the center frame, Johnson laid out and made an excellent defensive play to ignite Scott Laughton’s breakaway. But Ullmark made a brilliant glove save to keep the Bruins within one at the second intermission.
“I don’t think you guys realize how big of a play that was,” Konecny said of Johnson’s effort. “Because there was a breakdown and you know their team can be dangerous. It was huge.”
Johnson, whom the Flyers acquired at the trade deadline, also had high marks for Konecny.
“From what I knew before, a great competitor, really good at getting under the team’s skin,” the veteran defender said. “There’s a fine line, isn’t there? You don’t want to cross that line and hurt your team, but you want to play on the edge and be a thorn in the other team’s side. For TK, he has that skill and that abrasiveness. It really helped our group.”
• The Flyers return to action on Sunday when they host Florida (6 p.m. ET/NBCSP+).
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