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Flyers Gameday: 4/6/21 vs. BOS |
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GAME 38: FLYERS vs. BRUINS
Alain Vigneault's Philadelphia Flyers (18-14-5) are home on Tuesday take on Bruce Cassidy's Boston Bruins (19-10-6). Game time at the Wells Fargo Center is 7:00 p.m. EDT. The game will be televised on NBCSP.
This is the seventh of eight meetings this season between the teams, the back half of a home-and-home set and the second of three games they'll play this week. On Monday night, the Flyers earned a 3-2 overtime victory.
The Flyers are 1-3-2 thus far against the Bruins. Boston owns two blowout wins against the Flyers (one at TD Garden and the other in Lake Tahoe), one shootout win (following a third period comeback), a shootout win (after a third-period comeback) and a 2-1 regulation win (after the Flyers led 1-0 in the third period). Philadelphia's overtime win on Monday marked the third game this season that has gone beyond regulation.
After the Flyers play the Islanders on Thursday in Uniondale and the Bruins visit the Washington Capitals the same night, Philly and Boston will conclude their season series on Saturday afternoon at the Wells Fargo Center.
Entering Tuesday's game, the Flyers are three points (plus a tiebreaker disadvantage) behind the Bruins in the battle for the final playoff spot in the East Division. Boston also holds two games in hand on the Flyers. From a practical standpoint, the Flyers need to win all three of this week's head-to-head games with at least two coming in regulation. Boston would still have the two games in hand but the Flyers would pass them both in points and the tiebreaker advantage.
Flyers Outlook
The Flyers will be well-advised to stay out of the penalty box in tonight's match. Boston is 9-for-18 on the power play against the Flyers this season, including 1-for-2 last night. On the flip side, while the Bruins have been stellar on the penalty kill this year against the rest of the East Division, Philly has had some power play success (5-for-20) of their own in meetings with the Bruins. The Flyers were 1-for-3 on the power play on Monday, including Sean Couturier's game-tying goal in the third period.
In the first period of Monday's game, Travis Konecny broke a 12-game goal drought. He has been very good offensively in each of the last two games; something the Flyers need to see continue.
Overall, the Flyers played a good game at 5-on-5 against the Bruins on Monday. Philadelphia forechecked particularly well and showed improved puck support in the defensive zone for the second straight game. However, there were still a few too many breakdowns for comfort and way too many Flyers' icings (Boston didn't fare much better in those departments). Brian Elliott cranked out a strong game in goal.
Carter Hart will get the start tonight. His last time out, in Long Island, he played by far his best game since recording a shutout in Buffalo in late February. Actually, Hart arguably played better in the Islanders' game than the shutout of the Sabres because he faced more Grade A scoring chances. The Flyers hope that Hart can build off his sharpness in his last game and continue to get back on track to finish strong in what's been a very trying season.
On Monday, Oskar Lindblom returned to the Flyers' scratch list, in favor of Michael Raffl. Vigneault indicated before the game that, with the Flyers in the midst of playing five games in seven nights and the team's sports science biofeedback data showing Lindblom deep in the red in terms of how worn down he's gotten during the jam-packed schedule, his usage still needs to be managed. Raffl, meanwhile, had been playing through a nagging hand injury and other wear-and-tear, and having the game off last Saturday, a complete day off on Sunday and two consecutive non-game nights for the team last Thursday (an off-day) and Friday (a practice day) enabled the veteran Austrian winger a chance to recharge his own batteries.
From the start of the season through early March, James van Riemsdyk and Joel Farabee were two of the most reliably consistent offensive performers on the team. The last few weeks, however, have been a struggle for both players; offensively and (especially in Farabee's case) defensively.
JVR is pointless in his last six games and has been held off the scoresheet in 10 of the last 11 games. Farabee is pointless in his last five games, goalless in his last six, and has been kept off the scoresheet in nine of the last 11 games. The Flyers need one or both of these players to heat up again.
The Flyers are also looking to get Kevin Hayes (two goals, five points in the last 13 games) back to the penalty killing and offensive production standards he displayed during the stretches of the 2019-20 season when the team itself racked up wins with regularity.
Flyers defensemen have been picking up some scoring slack recently, including Travis Sanheim's OT goal on Monday, but the goal production as a club has dipped in recent weeks.
Bruins Outlook
Apart from a seven-goal explosion against Pittsburgh on Saturday, the Bruins have been mired in a deep offensive production slump of their own for the last five weeks. Outside of the top of their lineup, goals have been scarce. Karson Kuhlman's goal against the Flyers last night was an exception. Atop the lineup, Patrice Bergeron's power play marker in the second period was one of at least four prime scoring chances he had in the game.
With Tuukka Rask on IR and Jaroslav Halak in COVID-19 protocol, the Bruins got a solid start out Dan Vladar last night. The question is whether Cassidy goes b2b and potentially 3-in-4 or with him or he entrusts 22-year-old prospect Jeremy Swayman, who has all of nine games worth of pro experience in the AHL, to make his NHL debut in a high-pressure situation. There is a chance that Rask could be able to play by the end of the week, and it's also unclear how long Halak will need to be in COVID-19 protocol.
Projected lineups (based on Monday's lines, will be updated)
FLYERS
25 James van Riemsdyk- 14 Sean Couturier - 86 Joel Farabee
21 Scott Laughton - 13 Kevin Hayes - 19 Nolan Patrick
93 Jakub Voracek - 28 Claude Giroux - 11 Travis Konecny
23 Oskar Lindblom - 12 Michael Raffl - 62 Nicolas Aube-Kubel
9 Ivan Provorov - 61 Justin Braun
6 Travis Sanheim - 5 Phil Myers
55 Sam Morin - 53 Shayne Gostisbehere
79 Carter Hart
[37 Brian Elliott]
PP1: Giroux, Patrick, Farabee, Voracek, Provorov.
PP2: Hayes, Couturier, JVR, Konecny, Gostisbehere.
Scratches: 56 Erik Gustafsson (healthy), 58 Tanner Laczynski (healthy).
Injured reserve: 8 Robert Hägg (shoulder, 2-4 weeks from 3/17/21), 48 Morgan Frost (shoulder surgery).
COVID-19 protocol: None.
BRUINS
63 Brad Marchand - 37 Patrice Bergeron -12 Craig Smith
21 Nick Ritchie - 46 David Krejci - 88 David Pastrnak
74 Jake DeBrusk - 13 Charlie Coyle - 83 Karson Kuhlman
11 Trent Frederic - 52 Sean Kuraly - 14 Chris Wagner
48 Matt Grzelcyk - 86 Kevan Miller
55 Jeremy Lauzon - 75 Connor Clifton
67 Jakub Zboril - 44 Stephen Kampfer
1 Jeremy Swayman
[80 Dan Vladar]
PP1: Pastrnak, Bergeron, Ritchie, Marchand, Grzelcyk
PP2: Coyle, Krejci, Smith, Kampfer, Zboril
Scratches: 73 Charlie McAvoy (upper body), 10 Anders Bjork (healthy), 84 Jarred Tinordi (healthy), 19 Zach Senyshyn (healthy, could return to Taxi Squad list).
Injured reserve: 40 Tuukka Rask (upper body), 25 Brandon Carlo (upper body), 28 Ondrej Kase (upper body), 27 John Moore (March 22 hip surgery, out for the season).
COVID-19 protocol: 41 Jaroslav Halak.
Philadelphia Flyers Blogger •NHL.com • 
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