The dividends that are being paid from several new faces are very clear. Three of those newcomers had multiple points and helped the Flyers get off to their best scoring start through three games since 1983-84 with another six-goal outburst.
You can imagine how the result looked when the Boston Bruins, playing in their first preseason home game, took the opportunity to load up with roughly 90 percent of the NHL roster. It's hardly a way to evaluate how one team looks against another. It did present some early warning signs that need to be addressed and cleaned up with exactly two weeks remaining until the regular season opener.
The Flyers managed to get a point in Thursday’s game with a late power-play goal that tied things up and forced overtime and the eventual shootout, but it is a relatively lucky point for the Flyers to earn, given how the game played out. It could have easily been two points...and it could have easily been no points. Five takeaways from Thursday's shootout loss to the Bruins.
The Flyers took a 2-0 lead to the third and gave it all back in a span of 2:06. Two Bruins goals tied the game early in the third, starting a frantic back-and-forth scoring barrage. Ultimately, the game was capped off with a shootout, and the Flyers couldn't find a way to score while the Bruins got the only goal necessary, winning the game, 5-4.
One day after they acquired defenseman Matt Niskanen from the Capitals for Radko Gudas, they officially placed defenseman Andrew MacDonald on waivers for purposes of a buyout. MacDonald is expected to clear waivers and have the contract bought out, making him a free agent.
Despite the three-goal rally that made it a game again on the scoreboard, the Flyers were badly outplayed for a stretch of the game and made mistakes that can't translate to regular-season play. More from the Flyers 4-3 loss to the Bruins in our Postgame Review.