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Boston clinches top Eastern Conference record, edges Flyers

David Krejci, Dougie Hamilton

Boston Bruins’ David Krejci, left, celebrates his goal with teammate Dougie Hamilton (27) in the first period of an NHL hockey game against the Philadelphia Flyers in Boston, Saturday, April 5, 2014. (AP Photo/Michael Dwyer)

AP

The Philadelphia Flyers managed to find the back of the net this afternoon, which is more than they could say about some of their recent losses, but it wasn’t enough to reverse their fortunes.

Although they were evenly matched with the Bruins for most of the contest, Boston’s Johnny Boychuk and Milan Lucic scored just 31 seconds apart late in the third period to hand the Bruins a 5-2 victory.

Forward David Krejci got the Bruins on the board first in the first period. Wayne Simmonds even things 14:36 minutes into the second period, giving Philadelphia its first goal in 165:01 minutes, per the Philadelphia Daily News’ Frank Seravalli.

Loui Eriksson also had a big game with a season-high four assists. The Bruins needed their top players to click today after it was determined that Jarome Iginla would miss the game due to a lower-body injury.

With this victory, Boston has guaranteed it will finish the 2013-14 campaign with the best record in the Eastern Conference. Meanwhile, Philadelphia’s hold on the third seed in the Metropolitan Division is vulnerable. It is entirely possible that the Flyers will slip to the second Wild Card spot, which would trigger a first round series between these two teams.

Follow @RyanDadoun