The Flyers finally got the offense going in their final road game of the preseason.
After being outscored 8-1 in their first pair of preseason games, the Philadelphia Flyers were hopeful the offense would awaken against the Boston Bruins at TD Garden.
They got their wish. They not only quadrupled their goal output from their first 120 minutes of preseason hockey, but they earned their first win of the preseason as well.
Despite an unsurprisingly strong showing from Bruins sharpshooter David Pastrnak, who scored two goals on the night, the Flyers took down Boston in the shootout by a score of 4-3. Morgan Frost netted the winning shootout goal, showing off his silky mitts before beating Bruins netminder Linus Ullmark with a quick wrister.
Ryan Poehling continues to look like a good add for the Flyers. After scoring the Flyers' only goal against the New York Islanders on Wednesday, he logged his second goal in as many games to give the Flyers a 2-1 lead late in the opening period — and it came on the power play, no less.
Stationed in Ullmark's blind spot, Poehling buried a nifty feed from Bobby Brink to give the Flyers their second lead of the game. Forward Tyson Foerster got the play started with a pretty cross-ice feed to Brink from above the right faceoff circle.
Poehling also came close to scoring in the game's early minutes when he got a one-on-one opportunity with Ullmark, but his shot was turned aside.
That's two straight games in which Poehling has stood out offensively. Signed primarily to play a bottom-six PK specialist role, the 24-year-old's efficiency in the offensive zone has been a nice little preseason surprise.
Brink also turned heads Friday night. After earning the primary helper on Poehling's tally, Brink later scored a beauty in the third period to knot the game up at three goals apiece, then pulled off an absolutely disgusting move in the shootout to beat Ullmark with a nasty backhander.
Brink is very much a longshot to make the Flyers out of training camp, but his performance Friday night certainly put some of the team's other youngsters on notice. If he's going back to Lehigh Valley, he's not doing so without making life difficult for the Flyers' brass.
"I thought Bobby played really, really well. He obviously was an offensive catalyst," Flyers assistant coach Rocky Thompson told the media after the game.
"He got a goal and an assist, he was good on the power play. I thought he played well at 5-on-5 as well. He was stripping guys of the puck, he was backchecking like we've been asking him to do, so that was really encouraging."
Joel Farabee also showed some encouraging flashes — and some not-so-encouraging flashes. In the first period, after a gaffe in the neutral zone by Pastrnak, Farabee jumped on the loose puck and raced in on Ullmark, beating him glove side with a quick wrister to open the scoring.
Unfortunately, Farabee was on the other end of an ugly turnover in the middle frame that led to Pastrnak's second goal of the game. He very nearly ended the game on a breakaway in overtime, but soon after Ullmark turned his game-winning bid aside, he took a holding penalty that gave the Bruins' power play a golden scoring opportunity late in the OT period.
Farabee was a mixed bag in Boston, but at the very least, it's promising to see him putting himself in position to score goals regularly — something he struggled with at times last season.
Sam Ersson put together a mostly solid performance in net against the Bruins. He allowed a pair of goals on 10 shots in his 30 minutes of play, but there's only so much a netminder can do against Pastrnak when he's on his game.
Cal Petersen, however, put on a show. After a horrid showing against the New Jersey Devils in the Flyers' preseason opener, he responded exactly the way one would've hoped. Taking over for Ersson at the game's midway point, Petersen turned aside 16 of 17 Bruins shots and pulled off a miraculous desperation save in the game's waning minutes to keep the score knotted and ultimately force overtime. He also stopped both Matthew Poitras and Pastrnak in the shootout.
Petersen may not be the favorite to win the backup goalie job, but perhaps he shouldn't be totally counted out after his stellar performance Friday night.
The Flyers will return to action Saturday night for their first home game of the preseason when they host the Devils at Wells Fargo Center. Puck drops at 7 p.m. ET.