Flyers hit the road for first time this season, make a stop in Boston
The Flyers will face off against the Bruins on Thursday night at 7:00 PM in the first of seven meetings between the two teams this season. The Flyers will be looking to continue to find ways to win after beating the Sabres 3-0 with a depleted roster. The Bruins are coming off a painful overtime loss to the Islanders, and will be saltier than normal when they visit.
Injuries have created some questions for the Flyers. Morgan Frost (dislocated shoulder), and Phil Myers (fractured rib) will both miss some time, the Flyers announced early Thursday morning. Center Connor Bunnaman and defensemen Mark Friedman are expected to see action in tonight’s game.
The Bruins are also facing injury woes. David Pastrnak (hip) and Ondrej Kase (upper body) are both on the injured reserve. Pastrnak is an offensive dynamo and is a huge loss for the Bruins, as he would be for any team. Kase was to provide secondary scoring that the Bruins desperately needed. These offensive cogs are dearly missed, as the Bruins have only scored 3 goals this year, none of them at 5 v. 5.
What to Look For
All of the Bruins goalies have been solid this season.
The combination forward of Marchand and Bergeron will still be formidable, defensively and offensively, even without Pasternak. It will be interesting to see which Flyers Bruce Cassidy wants his top line matched against.
The rest of the Bruin’s forward group are grinders with varying degrees of offensive talent, but a few tiers below the top line. Expect the Bruins forwards will return to their defensive zone to help the team gain control of the puck.
The Bruin’s defense will be led by Charlie McAvoy, who has a great deal of natural talent. As the Bruins have strained for goals It appears that McAvoy has started cheating in his offensive zone positioning. Look for Kevin Hayes to sneak behind him for a break away chance.
The Flyers’ back end has been mistake-prone already while facing the relatively polite forechecking efforts of the Penguins and Sabres. Boston’s physical grinding forwards will take the body and try to create turnovers that lead to scoring chances.
Expect a close and competitive game. If the Flyers can avoid dangerous turnovers, they should be able to counter punch a Bruins team that will be pressing for goals.