The Flyers will want to put their collapse to the Panthers behind them and they’ll be able to do that quickly. It’s a Saturday matinee against the Boston Bruins.
The two actually will finish up their season series with this game. The winner of this will take the series win as the Flyers won the first game and Boston took the second.
Philadelphia Flyers
It was the penalty kill and “self inflicted” wounds that cost the Flyers against the Panthers. They gave up four power play goals, with the second to last the biggest blow in the game. Joel Farabee took the blame for his ill-timed penalty, but stressed he’d always stand up for a teammate. Boston comes in with the league’s worst power play at 11.8%, while the Flyers’ once potent penalty kill is now 11th at 80.8%.
Goaltending was also a struggle against the Panthers. Ivan Fedotov was pulled after just one period in which he allowed two goals on seven shots. Aleksei Kolosov didn’t fare much better, giving up four goals on 20 shots. He did allow the Flyers to get back into the game, but it was the above issues that lost them the lead they had.
Despite practicing in full with the team this week, Sam Ersson remains on IR with Jamie Drysdale. Both are likely to miss Saturday’s game. Nic Deslauriers was also placed on IR after tweaking something in practice. That opens up another spot if both Ersson and Drysdale ready soon.
Flyers Projected Lineup
Joel Farabee - Sean Couturier - Travis Konecny
Owen Tippett - Morgan Frost - Matvei Michkov
Tyson Foerster - Noah Cates - Bobby Brink
Scott Laughton - Ryan Poehling - Garnet Hathaway
Cam York - Travis Sanheim
Emil Andrae - Rasmus Ristolainen
Egor Zamula - Nick Seeler
Aleksei Kolosov
Boston Bruins
This is a much different Bruins team than the Flyers’ last saw. After firing Jim Montgomery, Boston is 6-2-0 under interim head coach Joe Sacco. They’re allowing far less goals against, allowing a minuscule 1.87 goals per game. They have seen a slight increase in scoring.
The usual suspects lead the Bruins in scoring. It’s David Pastrnak with 26 points and Brad Marchand with 10 goals. Justin Brazeau has already broken all offensive highs in his second season with Boston. Newcomer Elias Lindholm has struggled to score in his first year, posting a measly three goals in 28 games. He hasn’t scored in seven games.
Jeremy Swayman is likely to man the crease again. He has less than stellar numbers after re-signing with the Bruins at the last minute. He has won his last two, giving up two goals a piece in each. Overall, Swayman has a 3.03 GAA and a .893 SV%.
Bruins Projected Lineup
Brad Marchand - Elias Lindholm - David Pastrnak
Morgan Geekie - Pavel Zacha - Justin Brazeau
Trent Frederic - Charlie Coyle - Mark Kastelic
Cole Koepke - John Beecher - Marc McLaughlin
Jordan Oesterle - Charlie McAvoy
Nikita Zadorov - Brandon Carlo
Mason Lohrei - Andrew Peeke
Jeremy Swayman
When, Where, and How to Watch
Time: 1:00 PM
Where: TD Garden
Watch: NBCSP, NHLN
Radio: 97.5 The Fanatic
Live Stream: FuboTv
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