The Bruins and Flyers came within three seconds of a shootout on Saturday night, but Mike Richards ended it with a 2-1 Philadelphia win before it could come to that. 

The Flyers got the overtime victory off a Marc Savard pass to nobody at the point, and Richards gained possession, kept it the whole way, and beat Thomas.

"I just threw it back to the point and obviously, it was my fault there," Savard said after the game. "Johnny [Boychuk] had gone down the net and I just thought [Dennis] Seidenberg was back there and he was in the middle more, so I just made a bad play, that’s all.

James van Riemsdyk scored the other Flyers' goal, while Nathan Horton tied it for the Bruins in the third period. Horton now has 11 goals on the season.

The Bruins had a major scare when Adam McQuaid was hit from behind by Jody Shelley in the second period as the two were chasing an iced puck. McQuaid went head-first into the boards and was down on the ice for a couple of minutes. Luckily for the Bruins, McQuaid returned to the ice later in the period, having only gotten the wind knocked out of him. 

Thomas had 31 saves on 33 shots and fell to 11-2-3 on the season. The loss snapped the team's season-best three-game home win streak. Here's the Hat Trick:

IT'S TOUGH TO BUY THAT JODY SHELLEY'S HIT WAS AN ACCIDENT

Well, the Flyers' forward probably didn't intend for McQuaid to go head-first into the boards, but when you shove somebody with two hands and they're racing at full speed to touch a puck, that's probably going to be the result. 

Claude Julien said after the game that the play was "definitely uncalled for" and that "hopefully the league deals with it the proper way." McQuaid said he could hear Shelley saying he didn't mean it as the B's defenseman remained on the ice, but after the game the blueliner respectfully expressed his displeasure with it. 

"I obviously wasn’t prepared to get hit there," McQuaid said. Of course, McQuaid also could have been furious with the play, but the mild-mannered defenseman would never show it. 

After the game, Shelley pulled out every excuse: that he lost an edge, that they flew into the boards together, etc. Unless he was trying to break his fall by shoving McQuaid -- which at last check is not a viable tactic -- his case doesn't really hold water. Nobody in the Bruins locker room had a bad word to say about Shelley. Shawn Thornton, who said he hand't seen the replay yet, noted that he has always found Shelley to be a clean player. 

If anyone considered Shelley dirty, postgame Saturday would have been the time to air it, and nobody did. He may not be a dirty player, but make no mistake: It was a dirty play, and it should be punished. 

MARCO STURM IS GONE, BUT SO TOO ARE THE CAP QUESTIONS

The Marco Sturm era is officially over in Boston, and it ends over a week later than most expected. In fact, given all the confusion that surrounded last Thursday's report that Sturm was headed for LA, players weren't even certain after the game that the deal had even gone down. Asked for his reaction to the trade Saturday, Nathan Horton responded by asking, "[Is it] for sure?"

Yet even Horton -- who never suited up in a game with Sturm -- had an endless supply of praise for the now former Bruin, but that's not a surprise. Sturm is a high-character player who made a very positive impression on the locker room. 

Perhaps against his health's best interest, Sturm chose to go on the European trip to open the season. He had a setback because of swelling in his knee (he was recovering from a torn ACL and MCL), but even with the setback, Peter Chiarelli said Saturday that Sturm was five-to-seven days away from being healthy enough to return.

With Sturm getting closer and closer to a return, the Bruins really had no choice but to trade him -- for nothing, which is exactly what they got in the deal. 

They needed to figure out their cap situation, and given the options of losing a productive player like a Michael Ryder, sending Sturm to Providence and turning the Bruins into a hellish destination for free agents, or simply giving Sturm away, it was obvious which choice was the right one. His former Bruins teammates are pulling for everything to work out for Sturm, but that doesn't mean they won't miss him. 

"I hope he goes to L.A. and he has a ton of success and he gets himself an extension and makes himself a home there," Shawn Thornton said. "He’s a great teammate. I can’t say enough about him. My three and a half years, I don’t know if I met a better guy. He’s very mature and I’m sure he’ll make the best of this situation. It’s not the easiest time of the year to get moved with the family and stuff but I’m sure he’ll do what he can."

In 306 games since coming over in the Joe Thornton trade, Sturm had 193 points (106 G, 87 A).

With Sturm out of the picture, the team is now $288,793 under the salary cap, with no more anticipated money to be added to the books unless the B's were to trade for someone. 

SUCCESSFUL HOME STRETCH IS IN THE BOOKS

It's odd that the Bruins could have any reason to be happy after a loss, but they truly can take solace in the fact that with the point they picked up Saturday, they completed their three-game home-stand with five points.  

"Not that it's any excuse, but we've had some [instances of] playing on the road, and then coming home and playing the next night, which is never easy for any team," Blake Wheeler said before the game. "We're finally getting some consistent games at home, and that helps us be better prepared."

The Bruins also now have points in their last four home games (2-0-2). They head to Buffalo and Montreal next and will return to the Garden for another three-game homestead in which they'll play the Capitals, Ducks, and Thrashers beginning on Dec. 18.