PREVIEW: FLYERS @ BRUINS
In the final game of a four-game road trip, Dave Hakstol's Philadelphia Flyers (31-27-8) are in Beantown on Saturday afternoon to take on Bruce Cassidy's Boston Bruins (35-26-6). Game time at TD Garden is 1 p.m. ET. The game will be televised locally on CSN Philadelphia and nationally on NHL Network.
This is the third and final meeting of the season between the clubs, and the second and final game in Boston. The Flyers took a 3-2 home decision after a nine-round shootout on Nov. 29. On the afternoon of Jan. 14, the host Bruins laid a 6-3 whipping on the Flyers.
Flyers Outlook
The Flyers are 1-1-1 during the road trip to date. For the season, the team is 12-17-4 on the road, which has been a key factor in why they are in severe jeopardy of missing the playoffs for the second time in three seasons.
The Flyers enter this game coming off a 4-2 loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs in a virtual must-win game for both teams. Wayne Simmonds (power play goal) and Shayne Gostisbehere (even strength goal, power play assist) scored in a losing cause. Michal Neuvirth stopped 29 of 32 shots. The final Boston tally was an empty netter. Boston went 2-for-2 on the power play. Philadelphia has yielded four opposition power play goals over the last two games.
On the injury front, Michael Raffl (lower-body injury) remains on injured reserve and could miss the rest of the regular season.
Bruins Outlook
The Bruins hold an automatic playoff spot as the third place team in the Northeast Division. The club has won six of its last seven games at home and is 18-14-0 overall on home ice. The Bruins have gone 9-3-0 since Cassidy was named interim coach following the dismissal of Claude Julien.
Boston enters this game coming off a 6-1 blowout win over the Detroit Red Wings. David Krejci notched his 17th and 18th goals of the season, while Brad Marchand added his 31st, David Pastrnak scored his 27th and Drew Stafford scored his fifth overall and first as a Bruin since being acquired from the Winnipeg Jets.
Boston holds a two point lead over the Maple Leafs for third place in the Atlantic, with Toronto holding one game in hand. If the Maple Leafs were to bypass the Bruins, Boston would then be in battle with the New York Islanders for the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.
On the injury front, Boston forwards Tim Schaller (lower body) and Ryan Spooner (concussion) are out of the lineup.
Projected lineups (Subject to change)
FLYERS
40 Jordan Weal - 28 Claude Giroux - 17 Wayne Simmonds 10 Brayden Schenn - 51 Valtteri Filppula - 93 Jakub Voracek 11 Travis Konecny - 14 Sean Couturier - 24 Matt Read 76 Chris VandeVelde - 78 Pierre-à‰douard Bellemare - 13 Roman Lyubimov
9 Ivan Provorov - 47 Andrew MacDonald 23 Brandon Manning - 53 Shayne Gostisbehere 15 Michael Del Zotto - 3 Radko Gudas
35 Steve Mason [30 Michal Neuvirth]
Scratches: Nick Cousins (healthy), Dale Weise (healthy), Nick Schultz (healthy), Michael Raffl (IR, lower body).
BRUINS
63 Brad Marchand - 37 Patrice Bergeron - 42 David Backes 19 Drew Stafford - 46 David Krejci - 88 David Pastrnak 72 Frank Vatrano - 27 Austin Czarnik - 11 Jimmy Hayes 39 Matt Beleskey - 28 Dominic Moore - 20 Riley Nash
33 Zdeno Chara - 25 Brandon Carlo 47 Torey Krug - 54 Adam McQuaid 8 Colin Miller - 86 Kevan Miller
40 Tuukka Rask [35 Anton Khudobin]
Scratches: John-Michael Liles (healthy), Joe Morrow (healthy), Peter Cehlarik (healthy), Ryan Spooner (concussion), Tim Schaller (lower body).