The Bruins needed something to get their bottom six forwards going. Maybe it was a new addition to the third line (Jordan Caron), maybe it was just some grit (Shawn Thornton to set up a goal) and maybe it was just facing a Flyers team that isn’t very good this season.

Chris Kelly, who went the first 21 games of the season without an even-strength goal, finally broke his slump when Caron, who was called up Friday, hit him with a pass at the hashmarks, where he beat Ilya Bryzgalov in the first period to give Boston a 2-0 lead. Daniel Paille made it 3-0 shortly after with his fourth of the season. 

For Boston, getting offensive production from the bottom two lines is key. Claude Julien likes to roll his lines more regularly than most coaches, but that was easier to do last season when Kelly was scoring 20 goals and posting a plus-33 rating. His minus-7 rating entering Saturday’s game wasn’t the product of him playing poorly -- he’s still a plus-player in his own zone and one of Boston’s best penalty killers -- but his lack of scoring was glaring.

The line of Kelly between Bourque and Rich Peverley obviously didn’t work, but the Caron-Kelly-Rich Peverley trio got off to a good start Saturday. Maybe that first-period goal, which Kelly celebrated with a mammoth double-fisted fist-pump, is what the line needed to finally get going. 

“It was nice to see it go in,” Kelly said of his goal following the game. “I was… not relieved, but happy.”

Consider this: With Kelly’s goal Saturday, the Caron-Kelly-Peverley line already has as many goals as the Bourque-Kelly-Peverley line had over the course of the 16 games during which it was together. (Bourque’s goal against the Maple Leafs on Feb. 2 was the only goal the Bourque-Kelly-Peverley trio produced -- either Daniel Paille was skating on the other wing or Bourque wasn’t in the lineup for all three of Peverley’s goals.)

In a season that’s seen the top two lines carry the offensive load more than it normally does in these parts, it was good to see the team get secondary scoring, and Paille’s goal wasn’t the only contribution the fourth line made. The group continued to create chances in the offensive zone, with Paille leaving a nice drop-pass for Thornton on a rush later in the first period.

“There's been no mistake about it that our top two lines have been doing all the scoring for us,” Kelly said. “It was nice to contribute, my line and Soupy's line, not necessarily to give them a night off, but relieve some of the pressure. We can't rely on them each and every night to produce.” 

Caron would have at least contended for the left wing spot on Kelly’s line earlier, but he was hurt during camp and his numbers didn’t jump off the page when he was healthy (10 goals and five assists in 44 games). He was finally called up Friday and got his first shot of the season with Kelly and Peverley on Saturday. Though he took a third-period slashing penalty, the takeaway from his season debut was the offense that his line finally got. Claude Julien was pleased with Caron’s performance, saying he skated well and was strong on the puck. After waiting a long time to finally get his opportunity this season, Caron, too, was satisfied with the results.

“I wanted to be good on the forecheck and I wanted to bring some size, going in front of the net and stuff,” Caron said. “I think that’s what I did today.”

The 25th overall pick in the 2009 draft, Caron can do a lot by stringing together some solid play in his latest stint with the Bruins. He can either prove that he’s capable of holding down a spot that’s been a revolving door since Michael Ryder left, or he can boost his value as a potential trade chip should the B’s be inclined to include him in a deal at the trade deadline.

WHAT HAPPENED TO THE FLYERS?

Saturday marked the Bruins’ first of three meetings with the Flyers, and with Boston’s win we can continue to ask: What’s happened with Peter Laviolette’s team this season?

The Flyers have gone to at least the second round of the playoffs in three straight seasons, one of which saw them come two wins from winning the Stanley Cup in 2010 against the Blackhawks. Yet after Saturday’s loss, they sit at the bottom of the Atlantic Division with 23 points.

That might not look too bad when you see that they’re only three points behind the eighth-seeded Rangers (23 points), but as of Sunday morning the Flyers will have played 26 games, which is tied with the Maple Leafs for the most in the Eastern Conference. Making up those points on teams that have played two or three fewer games than them will be tough, and later in the season Philadelphia could very well be kicking itself for jumping out to an 11-14-1 start.

Scott Hartnell said as much in late February, stating after a loss to the Maple Leafs that if his team didn’t turn things around soon, it was going to miss the playoffs. Since then, the Flyers have have gone 2-3-0, with two of their regulation losses against divisional opponents in the Rangers and Penguins. Through 26 games, the Flyers still haven’t had a winning streak of more than two contests.

So why aren’t the Flyers as competitive as usual this season? They would have been a heck of a lot better if they were able to sign Shea Weber away from the Predators, something they tried doing with a massive 14-year, $110 million offer sheet that Nashville matched. One way they were actually able to address their blueline was by trading former second overall pick James van Riemsdyk to the Maple Leafs for Luke Schenn, but the Flyers still have a minus-7 goal differential. Shaky goaltending (as usual in Philadelphia) is one of the causes of that, with Ilya Bryzgalov allowing four or more goals in seven of his 24 games this season. 

The Flyers have also been brutal on the road this season. They’ve actually been pretty strong at Wells Fargo Arena (7-4-1), but their 4-10-0 record outside of Philadelphia has done most of the damage for them this season. Yes, there have been injuries here and there, with Hartnell missing time due to a foot injury and Chris Pronger still technically not retired, but it’s not like Jakub Voracek and Claude Giroux, the team’s top two producing forwards, have been on the shelf. Voracek and Giroux combined for zero shots on goal Saturday. 

The team has lamented slow starts this season, and that continued Saturday when the Flyers surrendered three goals to the B’s and failed to get on the board. Surprisingly, they had an even rating in the first entering the game, but they now stand at a minus-3 in the first and a minus-10 in the third. Want to know why their record is so ugly? Not being able to start or finish games should give you an idea. 

The Flyers have the month of March to figure out where they stand. Danny Briere’s name has been thrown around in trade rumors, but he’d need to waive his no-trade clause and the Flyers would need to find a team that could take on a $6.5 million cap hit in each of the next two seasons.

The Flyers aren’t out of it. As long as they linger and can cling onto a bottom spot in the East’s playoff picture, maybe damage can be done (see: 2010). Still, wouldn’t you think they’d be more in the thick of it by now? After Saturday’s lethargic showing, maybe it’s not that surprising.