Bruins Get Best of Flyers in Sloppy Game, but Don't Overreact to a Season Opener

The more things change, the more things stay the same.

The Boston Bruins, an arguably weaker team entering 2014-15 with the losses of Jarome Iginla to free agency and Johnny Boychuk to a financially necessary trade, plus the absence of David Krejci due to injury, looked no worse for wear Wednesday. It took a Chris Kelly goal in the final two minutes, but the Bruins grabbed a much-deserved two points with a 2-1 win against the Philadelphia Flyers at TD Garden.

The great thing for the Flyers and the necessary truth about the season's first game for each team is nothing that happened over these 60 minutes matters in the grand scheme of an 82-game marathon.

Well, almost nothing matters.

As with all season openers, this one was sloppier than a second-grader's cursive writing. Missed connections on passes, poor breakouts, miscommunication and bad decisions as the result of fatigue were a hallmark of this contest. There were enough whistles as a result of offsides, icings and slow-developing shot attempts blocked into the netting that one could have easily thought they were at a rave.

The Bruins' first goal was the result of a dumb penalty by Zac Rinaldo—OK, maybe that's something that happened in this game that you can comfortably expect to see throughout the season. Reilly Smith buried the puck into a wide-open net as all four Flyers penalty-killers trapped themselves below the faceoff circle, leaving the middle unprotected.

Say what you want about the Flyers defensively, but that's the type of mistake that's symptomatic of an early-season game.

One of the better Flyers was Vinny Lecavalier, who looked like a man who spent the offseason using trade rumors as motivation to bounce back from a nightmare season that saw him relegated to the fourth line at season's end. He had two shots on goal in 15:50, which is more ice time than he had in any of his seven playoff games and final eight regular-season contests.

Lecavalier's five-on-five play was solid (he was only minus-three in Fenwick percentage differential, according to war-on-ice.com), and he nearly created a goal for R.J. Umberger in the first period.

As nice as that performance was for the Flyers, can they really expect that on a consistent basis from the 34-year-old?

The final 15 minutes looked like they were played between a couple of men's beer league teams that drank the beer before the game. Heavy legs abounded with each side looking as though they were skating through pudding. The winning goal was the result of Michael Del Zotto, Luke Schenn, Claude Giroux, Jakub Voracek and Brayden Schenn being trapped on the ice for nearly two minutes, which aided in Kelly's goal as much as the fluky bounce that led to it.

After the game, Giroux said via NHL.com's Matt Kalman, "We didn't execute. The first two periods, we were scared making plays. I don't know about the other guys, but I would get the puck and I couldn't get the confidence to make the play. We need to relax and play the game."

Brian Babineau/Getty Images

Yes, there will be times this year when goals will be scored in similar fashion, but this felt more like it was about players lacking stamina in a young season and less about Bruins dominance at five-on-five.

Then again, there were aspects of this game that should not be accepted as the doing of opening-night rust—like, for instance, the Bruins' dominance at five-on-five.

The Flyers were minus-16 in the Fenwick battle and were only two minutes from a point thanks to Steve Mason's 31 saves. The stark reality for the Flyers, with Kimmo Timonen likely unavailable this season because of blood clots, is that performances like this one from Mason will be a requirement if they are to contend for a playoff berth. Mason made five or six saves on quality chances that would have eluded most other goaltenders.

That's another portion of this game that should be ignored, because Mason, and really most other goaltenders, can't withstand this type of punishment over an 82-game season without breaking.

Then again, Giroux (minus-14), Brayden Schenn (minus-14) and Voracek (minus-13) will rarely get their backsides handed to them at even strength like they did in this one, as there is only one Patrice Bergeron in the NHL.

These teams will next meet Jan. 10 in Philadelphia. How much of what we saw tonight will have any bearing three months from now at Wells Fargo Center?

In the words of Dark Helmet, absolutely nothing.

Or was that Michael Corleone? I get those two mixed up.

Either way, burn this game from your memory before your head hits the pillow tonight. That's what everyone who played in this game will do.

All statistics via NHL.com or war-on-ice.com.

Dave Lozo covers the NHL for Bleacher Report. You can follow him on Twitter: @DaveLozo.