Bruins blanked by struggling Flyers at the Garden

Boston fell to 4-5-1 as it failed to consistently create good chances against a Philadelphia club that was giving up nearly 4.5 goals per game, the second-worst in the NHL.

The good news was that the Bruins were out of the box for the first 20 minutes. The downside is that they didn't get on the top scorers list either.

Joonas Korpisalo shined early and late as the Boston goalkeeper made his first start in nearly two weeks.

Korpisalo fended off Philadelphia winger Bobby Brink twice in a row, first repelling one attack with the blocker and then smothering the next attack with his right ball.

It was part of a mini-Flyers tournament made possible by heavy forechecking that kept defensemen Charlie McAvoy and Mason Lohrei on the ice for an extended shift.

Just when it looked like Philly goalie Samuel Ersson wasn't going to break a sweat, Cole Koepke woke him up with a shot from the blue line.

Boston put together a nice attack on a five-on-three power play when Scott Laughton cross-checked Brad Marchand and 23 seconds later Travis Sanheim pulled down David Pastrnak in the slot.

The Bruins were effective, with Marchand having the best chance, but Ersson failed.

The power play save was made by Korpisalo, who fended off a handball from Garnet Hathaway after a two-on-one from Laughton, who had just jumped out of the penalty area.

Ersson was denied by Pavel Zacha (nice shot by Matt Poitras) and Elias Lindholm (clear shot after a shot by Andrew Peeke), and Peeke sent a direct hit from the far post to end the quarter.

Korpisalo came through with several quality stops, including fending off Ryan Poehling on a partial break-in.

Rasmus Ristolainen, last seen hurting Poitras with a big hit at the buzzer in a preseason game, tried to get the Flyers going with a riser from the blue line, but Korpisalo gobbled it up.

Pastrnak temporarily hampered Jamie Drysdale with a rocket from just inside the blue line that hit the Flyers defender in the gut. The Bruins bombarded Ersson for a good 30 seconds as Drysdale tried to get to his feet.

Eventually he reached the workbench and down the tunnel before returning a few shifts later.

Philadelphia broke the ice when an uncovered Tyson Foerster hit a low wrister through Korpisalo's five-hole.

The Flyers went on the power play seconds later (Koepke for a hit), but were unable to contain Korpisalo and extend their lead.

Boston got another chance on the power play when Morgan Frost cornered Morgan Geekie with a high stick. Despite having plenty of zone time, the Bruins didn't make any shots with the man advantage and took a 1-0 lead into the locker room after 40 minutes.

Jim McBride can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him @globejimmcbride.