February 26, 2026; Boston, Massachusetts, USA; Boston Bruins left wing Viktor Arvidsson (71) celebrates a goal against the Columbus Blue Jackets with center Pavel Zacha (18) in the first period at TD Garden. Mandatory Credit: Eric Canha-Imagn Image Viktor Arvidsson and the Boston Bruins are back with a bang after the Olympic break.
The Bruins will look to further that performance Saturday afternoon when they visit the Philadelphia Flyers.
Boston, playing its first game since Feb. 4, earned a 4-2 win over the Columbus Blue Jackets on Thursday. Arvidsson scored twice and Joonas Korpisalo made 36 saves to help the Blue Jackets snap their seven-game winning streak.
“This was a big game,” Korpisalo said after the Bruins improved to 5-0-3 in their last eight games.
Bruins goalie Jeremy Swayman, who helped the United States win gold at the Olympics, could be in line to start Saturday. Boston coach Marco Sturm wanted to give Swayman some rest for Korpisalo, who helped Finland win bronze in Milan.
“‘Korpy’ was unbelievable today,” Sturm said. “I’m glad he didn’t waste any time coming back straight after the Olympics. … He was great.”
Morgan Geekie and Sean Kuraly scored goals against Columbus as Boston continues to climb the Atlantic Division standings. The Bruins are 11-1-3 in their last 15 games.
“It’s huge,” Geekie said of the win. “It seems like everyone in our division is winning every time they play, so to get those points is huge, especially to get two points right out of the gate. It’s something to build on, but we know we have a lot of work ahead of us.”
Philadelphia has played twice since the Olympic break, losing 3-1 against the Washington Capitals on Wednesday and then winning 3-2 in overtime against the New York Rangers the next night. On Thursday, the Flyers fell behind 2-0 thanks to two goals from Matvey Michikov, including the winner in overtime.
“He had two big goals for us,” Philadelphia winger Travis Konecny said of Michikov. “Obviously it was overtime, but I thought the first one was timely. That helped us calm down and get going again. He’s playing great. He looked quick. He looked confident with the puck.”
Trevor Zegras also scored for the Flyers and Samuel Ersson made 23 saves in his first start since Jan. 29. He gave up two goals before Philadelphia earned its second win in its last eight contests (2-4-2).
“He made so many outrageous saves that (the early goal he allowed) didn’t matter,” Zegras said.
For the Flyers, it was their league-leading 16th comeback win this season.
“We’ve been doing this all year, getting off to slow starts, giving up the first goal and then continuing to fight back,” Konecny said.
Due to the Olympic suspension, several players participating in Saturday’s competition are looking to break long goal droughts. Konecny has not scored since January 31, while Owen Tippett last scored on February 3. For Boston, David Pastrnak is looking to find the back of the net for the first time since Jan. 27.
This is the second of three meetings between Philadelphia and Boston this season. The Bruins defeated the Flyers 6-3 on Jan. 29, with Fraser Minten and Casey Mittelstadt each recording a goal and two assists.
–Field level media
