The Boston Bruins capped off a flawless January at home with a commanding 6-3 win over the Philadelphia Flyers on Thursday night at TD Garden - and the score only tells part of the story.
From the drop of the puck, it was clear which team had fresh legs and which was running on fumes. The Flyers were coming off a game the night before in Columbus, and it showed.
Meanwhile, the Bruins were rested, ready, and relentless, closing out the month with a perfect 9-0-0 home record - eight of those wins coming in regulation. That’s not just impressive.
That’s the kind of stretch that sends a message to the rest of the league.
Boston wasted no time asserting control. Viktor Arvidsson opened the scoring midway through the first period, finishing off a slick passing sequence initiated by Fraser Minten. Just 41 seconds later, Pavel Zacha made it 2-0 on another picture-perfect setup - this time featuring a laser of a pass from Morgan Geekie and a heads-up assist from Jonathan Aspirot.
By the time the second period rolled around, the Bruins were in full command. Minten, who’s been on an absolute tear lately, added a goal of his own with a clean five-hole finish on Samuel Ersson.
That marked 16 points in his last 15 games - and if it wasn’t already clear, the 19-year-old is becoming a key piece of Boston’s attack. His confidence is growing, and so is his role.
The Flyers managed to pull one back to make it 3-1, but any hopes of a comeback were short-lived. Minten continued to dazzle, setting up Andrew Peeke with a cross-ice feed that Ersson somehow stopped - but Casey Mittelstadt was there to clean up the rebound and push the lead to 4-1. Just minutes later, Tanner Jeannot added a deflection goal to make it 5-1.
Philadelphia did manage another quick strike before the end of the second, but with the Bruins entering the third period boasting a 25-0-2 record when leading after two (now 26-0-2), the outcome was never really in doubt. Not with Jeremy Swayman between the pipes. The Bruins’ netminder turned aside 33 shots and looked locked in from start to finish.
Marat Khusnutdinov added an empty-netter in the third after a heads-up play by Charlie McAvoy, who launched a puck the length of the ice that took a fortunate bounce right to Khusnutdinov’s stick. The Flyers tacked on a power-play goal from Matvei Michkov with just under two minutes to go, but by then, the Garden crowd was already celebrating.
Still, the night wasn’t without concern for the Bruins. For the second straight game, they lost a key center to injury.
Pavel Zacha, who had earlier scored Boston’s second goal, left in the second period with an upper-body injury and did not return. That comes just two days after Elias Lindholm went down with a similar issue.
With the NHL’s Olympic break looming and both players slated to represent their countries, the timing couldn’t be worse. The Bruins are deep, but losing two top-six centers in back-to-back games is a hit no contender wants to absorb - especially with the postseason push not far off.
But for now, Boston can enjoy a dominant January at home. They were perfect in their own building all month long, and Thursday night was just the latest example of a team that knows exactly who it is - and how to win.