A fighting offensive cannot break through against fliers

BOSTON – The Boston Bruins lost 2-0 to the Flyers despite beating Philadelphia 24-19 as shots on goal didn't tell the full story of the game.

The Bruins had plenty of opportunities to fend off the Flyers.

The Black and Gold had four power play opportunities in the game, including a two-man lead 1:37 into the opening period. Unfortunately for Jim Montgomery's Bruins, they only had two shots on Flyers goaltender Samuel Ersson, and there were no dangerous chances either.

“It’s not good enough,” Montgomery said of the team’s offensive performance. “We don't make plays, we don't do enough to create dangerous scoring chances. Whether that's the desire to go to those areas or not the right game plan. We are all to blame for not getting a win tonight.”

The Bruins have star power in their lineup, but they haven't performed well offensively for Boston through the first 10 games of the season.

“I think on any team, the best players, the star players have to carry the load offensively,” Montgomery added. “These are the players who are on the power play. At the moment the offensive is not happening for us.”

Montgomery added: “There are areas where we need to get better,” Montgomery said. “Whether it’s putting the puck in the net quicker when there are people there. We don't let shit happen or build up our team's offense, which sometimes we do and sometimes we don't. It's a combination of those. It really comes down to decision making now.”

To their credit, the Flyers blocked 28 Bruins shot attempts to keep the puck away from Ersson. It was the most blocks against the Bruins since the Ottawa Senators blocked 29 in 2019, per 98.5 Ty Anderson of Sports Hub.

“Maybe we need to be a little more direct,” Bruins captain Brad Marchand said. “They are a small peripheral part of this team, they play very tight inside. You have to penetrate them and put the pucks in the net.

“We had a few chances in the second half. We didn't do a good enough job in the third half. But you can't play on the perimeter against a team like that. We just need to get in there a little bit more.”

Here are more notes from Tuesday's Bruins-Flyers game:

— Joonas Korpisalo had an outstanding night in net for Boston. He made 17 saves between the posts for the Bruins, giving the team a chance to win.

“He didn’t have to take a ton of shots, but he had some quality shots,” Montgomery said. “I can think of at least three great saves that gave us a chance before it was 1-0.”

— The Bruins played one of their most disciplined hockey games this season. They were only penalized for three violations, one of which was consistent. Boston failed on two Philadelphia power plays in this game.

– The Flyers seemed to be going against Bruins forward Matthew Poirtas for most of the game. Poitras was knocked down by Flyers forward Joel Farabee with less than a minute left in the first period and beaten badly by Philadelphia defenseman Emil Andrae after the two fought for a loose puck.

“There was kind of a skirmish that was all about passing the puck,” Poitras said. “Obviously I didn’t like the sucker punch.”

– The Bruins will look to get back in the win column when they travel to Carolina to take on the Hurricanes on Thursday night. Puck drop from Lenovo Center is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. ET, and you can catch all the action after an hour of pregame coverage on NESN.