Flyers head coach John Tortorella wanted a strong start in this game as the team looked to rebound from Sunday’s loss to Montreal. He got that in the first shift of a line that had Scott Laughton centering Bobby Brink and Joel Farabee. Brink, in particular, was returning to the lineup after missing three games as a healthy scratch, and got involved from the very beginning. He jumps into this possession by getting a shot on goal, getting his own rebound to keep the cycle going, and then later getting two more excellent opportunities before again retrieving the puck and keeping things alive.

Later in the first period, he was active again in the offensive zone, showing good hands in traffic before feeding it out in front. This was another overall good shift for that line, with Laughton’s forecheck causing Boston consternation before Farabee deftly knocked a clearing attempt out of midair to begin the sequence that led to the opportunity.

The fact that the rest of these clips involve Brad Marchand is a complete coincidence, but it illustrates how difficult a player he is to deal with and the job that the Flyers did in dealing with him. Emil Andrae had a second solid game jumping in on the third defensive pairing. In both of these clips, Marchand tries to slip in behind Andrae, but the young defenseman recovers and is able to get a stick in to disrupt the Boston troublemaker. This one comes five minutes into the first period.

Later, while on the power play, the Flyers encountered issues with Marchand in the neutral zone but Andrae was able to recover and help nullify the threat.

And then there’s Owen Tippett, who had a remarkable end to the second period. First, he accelerates up the near wall and is able to gain possession in a situation where most players would not have gotten there in time. He sees Travis Konecny entering the zone, but Marchand is hanging out in Tippett’s blind spot (on purpose) and pounces on the pass once it’s made. But Tippett turns on the speed again, and recovers to make a great play on Marchand at the other end.