Flyers to Host Bruins in Easter Matchup
By Scott Cole
Once you’ve found all your Easter eggs and put away that ham for dinner, you may want to turn on TNT to watch your Philadelphia Flyers play on national television. Then again, with them playing the historically mighty Boston Bruins, you may not want to. Riding a six game losing streak, the Flyers will host the Bruins who are chasing history and will not lighten up no matter how Philly is playing right now.
The Flyers have played Boston twice this year and have lost both games by a combined score of 10-1. So, there really is no reason to think that anything will be different this time around.
Philadelphia Flyers
Record: 30-37-13 (73 points, 7th in Metro)
In all of the games in April, the Flyers are averaging just 1.6 points. That numbers shoots way up to 2.0 points a game if you add in the overtime loss to Ottawa; the game that started their current losing streak.
And while the Flyers have played some tougher competition that are playing for playoff spots (Buffalo, Pittsburgh, Dallas, and NY Islanders), that isn’t true for all their recent opponents (Ottawa and St. Louis). In short, it goes back to something that assistant head coach Rocky Thompson said during the loss to the Blues:
"“Quite frankly, it looks like some guys in here don’t even care. They’re just not trying.”"
Some of the players are playing as if they are just phoning it in and running out the clock. I know I am not a professional athlete, nor would I ever be confused for one. However, I have always performed to my utmost best no matter where I worked, from when I was a high school kid working until now at the old age of 43. I always made sure that, at the end of the day, I did what I was supposed to do and nobody could say I didn’t do my job.
If I was on this Flyers team right now, I would do everything I could to either A) Prove to this organization that I belong here or B) prove to another team that I still have some value and you are going to want to acquire me via free agency or trade. So for guys not really performing right now, like Kevin Hayes or James van Riemsdyk, you got three games left to sell your wares to 31 other NHL teams.
Felix Sandstrom gets the start tonight….good luck. Hayes has been moved back to the first line. Justin Braun and Kieffer Bellows get a chance to play today. Nick Seeler is out with an illness and Tony DeAngelo remains scratched. So unless something changes, the Flyers are going 13/5 tonight.
Projected Lineup
Kevin Hayes — Noah Cates — Owen Tippett
Joel Farabee — Morgan Frost — Travis Konecny
James van Riemsdyk — Scott Laughton — Wade Allison
Nicolas Deslauriers — Tanner Laczynski — Brendan Lemieux
Kieffer Bellows
Ivan Provorov — Cam York
Travis Sanheim — Rasmus Ristolainen
Justin Braun
Felix Sandstrom
Boston Bruins
Record: 62-13-5 (129 points, 1st in Atlantic)
The Bruins have more than double the wins that the Flyers do. They have almost twice the amount of points that last place Columbus has. They have tied the NHL record for most wins and points. They have almost the same amount of regulation losses (13) all season as the Flyers have had since March 1st (11). Unlike the Flyers, they have won every game in April, including five games in a row and 12 of the last 13, with the only loss in a 2-1 game vs Nashville.
In short, this team is the anti-Flyers. David Pastrňák (105), Brad Marchand (63), and Patrice Bergeron (57) all have more points than Flyers leader Travis Konecny (56). Boston have five players with more than 20 goals while Philly has just Konency and Owen Tippett. Boston is second in goals scored, first in goals against, first in penalty kill, and 11th in power play.
However, this season will not be complete if they don’t bring home the Stanley Cup. When you are playing this good, you need to bring home the hardware. That’s a lot of pressure on a team. And while these guys have the ability to do it, only one of the five NHL teams in history that have won 60+ games have won. That team was the 1976-77 Montreal Canadiens, who swept Boston in four games.
The Bruins are chasing history. They will not allow the Flyers to stand in their way. Despite not having Nick Foligno or David Krejci in the lineup, they will still try to roll all over Philadelphia in this game.
Projected Lineup
Brad Marchand — Patrice Bergeron — Jake DeBrusk
Tyler Bertuzzi — Pavel Zacha — David Pastrnak
Taylor Hall — Charlie Coyle — Trent Frederic
A.J. Greer — Tomas Nosek — Garnet Hathaway
Matt Grzelcyk — Charlie McAvoy
Hampus Lindholm — Brandon Carlo
Jakub Zboril — Dmitry Orlov
Jeremy Swayman
Where, When, and How to Watch/Listen
Time: 6 PM
Where: Wells Fargo Center
Watch: TNT
Radio: 97.5 FM
Live Stream: Fubo Tv
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