WARNINGPHI
A. Kolosov couldn't make the stop
A. Kolosov allowed 4 on 18 shots (0.778) — 2.13 goals worse than expected.
Reassess the crease rotation before the next start.
The verdict · earned
The Bruins earned it — the game and the expected-goals battle both.
PHI 1 · BOS 5
Preseason · exhibition
Split squads and prospects, not the club that will take the ice in October. The shots and grades below describe this game only: nothing here counts toward season records, form, rankings or player numbers.
◆ By the ModelSep 22, 9:48 PMxG: xgboost-0.758Edited for clarityDrafted from NHL play-by-play by Backcheck's model, worded for clarity by an AI editor that may not change a number. Nobody at Backcheck was at the rink. How this works
Boston beat Philadelphia 5-1. The Bruins scored four times in the third period after the teams traded goals in the first. Michael Eyssimont scored twice — opening and closing the game — and Boston's power play was the deciding factor.
Eyssimont struck first at 13:31 of the first, assisted by F. Brunet and T. Jeannot. J. Gaucher tied it 1-1 before the period ended. The second was quiet, and then the Bruins took over. M. Geekie scored on the power play 5:19 into the third, assisted by D. Pastrnak and H. Lindholm, to make it 1-2. B. Halonen followed less than two minutes later with help from F. Brunet and B. Gaunce, pushing it to 1-3. E. Lindholm added a fourth at 14:49, assisted by N. Zadorov and P. Zacha. Eyssimont's snap shot from the high slot at 18:47, assisted by D. Locmelis, closed it at 1-5.
The goaltending split was decisive. J. Swayman stopped 20 on 21 shots for Boston. A. Kolosov allowed four on 18 shots for Philadelphia, then D. Vladar came in for cleanup and allowed one on seven.
Now the numbers explain the divergence. Boston won 5-1 while generating expected goals of only 2.60 — meaning the Bruins scored 2.40 goals more than their underlying play should have produced. Philadelphia generated 2.22 expected goals but scored only 1, an underperformance of 1.22 goals. This variance, the Bruins overperforming while the Flyers underperformed, is what turned a close game into a rout.
The teams split high-danger chances 2-0 in Boston's favor, but the real separation came off the rush. Boston converted four goals on 20 rush attempts, an elite efficiency rate. Special teams sealed it: Boston's power play scored 1 of 2, beating the league rate of roughly 21%, while Philadelphia went scoreless on its only power play attempt.