Four Third Period Goals Lift Bruins to Preseason Win Over Flyers
BOSTON, Mass - After a relatively slow start and a scoreless second period, Boston’s offense woke up in the third period as the Bruins picked up a 5-1 victory over the Philadelphia Flyers.
The Bruins struck first, as Michael Eyssimont opened the scoring 13:31 into the first period. The opportunity started as Flyers’ goaltender Dan Vladar lost his stick making a save on Tanner Jeannot. Before he was able to gather his discarded equipment, the Bruins cycled the puck to the blue line for Frederic Brunet who sent a shot towards the cage. Eyssimont was able to redirect it, giving a stickless Vladar no chance to react.
After the goal, Vladar hobbled back to the bench and was replaced by Aleksei Kolosov. The original plan was for Vladar to get the first two periods before Kolosov closed out the game but Flyer’s head coach Rick Tochhet was forced to alter his plans as the starter was injured in the buildup to Boston’s first goal.
In the closing minutes of the first, the Flyers found an equalizer shortly after their first powerplay of the game expired. Jacob Gaucher entered the zone and skated left to right through the zone before beating Swayman for the first Philadelphia goal of the night.
Boston’s top forwards had opportunities during the long scoreless stretch, first with JJ Peterka being denied by Kolosov from point-blank range in the final minutes of the first period and David Pastrnak missing the cage despite an open shooting lane early in the second period. The Bruins’ leading scorer from a year ago would also send a shot wide of the net off of a rush with 40 seconds left in the second period as the middle frame finished scoreless.
Early in the third period, Elias Lindholm drew a high-sticking call against Philadelphia’s Ty Murchison. On the powerplay, the Bruins were able to spread out the four penalty killers as Hampus Lindholm slid the puck to Pastrnak before he moved it down to Morgan Geekie, who put the Bruins back on top.
Two and a half minutes later, the Bruins doubled their advantage as Brian Halloran found the back of the net. The play started off of a clean draw win by Brendan Gaunce to Frederic Brunet who quickly set up Halloran for his first preseason goal.
The man that drew the penalty to start the offensive onslaught, Elias Lindholm, continued it with just over five minutes. Skating from the bench to the attacking zone, Lindhom collected a pass from Nikita Zadorov as he crossed the blue line. As he skated left to right across the blue line, Lindholm returned the puck to Zadorov left of the cage, before Zadorov snapped it back to Lindholm to set up the Bruins’ fourth goal of the game.
91 ➡️ 28 ➡️ 91 ➡️ 28 🚨 pic.twitter.com/F9iUAyGJOR
— Boston Bruins (@NHLBruins) September 23, 2026
Michael Eyssimont finished the night the way he started, scoring his second goal of the game as Dans Ločmelis found him open to the goaltenders left. The preseason is a promising sign for Eyssimont as he looks to be a more consistent goal scorer, he scored eight in 56 games in 2025-26 and his career high is 11 for Tampa Bay in 2023-24.
The win moves Boston to 2-0-0 in preseason play and was the first time a bulk of Boston’s veterans saw the ice against a different team since being eliminated by Buffalo in the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. In net, Jeremey Swayman stopped 20 of 21 shots, including the last 11 as he shutout the Flyers over the final 41:54 of the game. The dominant third period for the Bruins saw Boston score more goals, 4, than Philadelphia had shots on goal, 3.
Next up, the Bruins will travel to Philadelphia to take on the Flyers for their third preseason game on Thursday night. Puck drop is set for 7 p.m. ET on NESN+.
Chris Vogel contributes to both Boston College and Boston Bruins On SI, and is also play-by-play broadcaster for ACC Network Extra and Hockey East on ESPN. He’s a graduate of the University of Massachusetts and got his master's degree at Boston College, where he served as the radio voice of Boston College Women’s Hockey on WZBC 90.3; the flagship radio network of Boston College Women’s Athletics. He’s the host of the “All Things Hockey” podcast, and covers women’s college hockey for College Hockey On SI.