Bruins 5, Flyers 2: Milan Lucic scored two goals and set up another and Loui Eriksson notched four assists as host Boston clinched the top overall seed in the Eastern Conference.
David Krejci collected a goal and an assist and defenseman Johnny Boychuk scored the go-ahead tally with 6:06 remaining in the third period. Chris Kelly added an empty-net goal and Tuukka Rask turned aside 24 shots for the Bruins, who completed their first season sweep of Philadelphia since 1989-90 and moved two points ahead of St. Louis in the race for the Presidents’ Trophy.
Wayne Simmonds netted a power-play goal to end the Flyers’ scoring drought at 165 minutes, 1 second. Agitator Jay Rosehill also tallied for Philadelphia, which is clinging to a two-point edge over Columbus for third place in the Metropolitan Division after dropping six of its last seven (1-4-2).
With the contest tied at 2-2, Patrice Bergeron won a faceoff in the offensive zone and Boychuk unleashed a blast from the point that beat Ray Emery (37 saves) glove side. Reilly Smith provided the screen for Boychuk, who scored his fifth goal of the season – and second in three games. Lucic netted his 24th of the campaign from a sharp-angle 31 seconds later to provide insurance.
Krejci cleaned up a rebound with 4:04 remaining in the first period for his 17th goal – and first since he recorded a hat trick versus Florida on March 4. Simmonds backhanded the puck off the end boards and around Rask’s extended right pad to forge a tie at 14:36 of the second before Lucic answered 19 seconds later with a blast from the high slot. Rosehill avoided an attempted poke-check by Rask and tucked the puck into the net at 16:21 to knot it up again.
GAME NOTEBOOK: Bergeron notched an assist on Boychuk’s blast to extend his point streak to a career-high 11 games. He has scored nine goals and set up six others during that stretch. … Boston RW Jarome Iginla sat out with an undisclosed injury. The team posted on its official Twitter account that it was “not a healthy scratch,” but did not note if the injury was the same lower-body ailment that caused Iginla to miss Wednesday’s game versus Detroit. … Rosehill scored his fifth career goal and tallied for the first time since Nov. 9 versus Edmonton.
