John Tortorella's Philadelphia Flyers (34-25-8) are in Beantown on Saturday evening to take on Jim Montgomery's Boston Bruins (39-14-15). Game time at TD Garden is 7:00 p.m. EDT.
The game will be televised on NBCSP. The radio broadcast is on 93.3 WMMR with an online simulcast on Flyers Radio 24/7.
This is the second of three meetings between the teams this season and the lone game in Boston. On January 27 at the Wells Fargo Center, the Bruins defeated the Flyers by a 6-2 score. Tyson Foerster scored twice in a losing cause. The season series will conclude with a matinee in Philadelphia on March 23.
The Flyers have lost six of their last 10 games (4-5-1). The team brings a 17-11-5 road record into Saturday's game. On Thursday, the Flyers sustained a 6-2 home loss at the hands of the Toronto Maple Leafs. Owen Tippett (power play) and Foerster (first career shorthanded goal) tallied for the Flyers.
The Bruins, 5-2-3 over their last 10 games, are currently one point behind the Florida Panthers for the top spot in the Atlantic Division. The Bruins bring a 21-8-6 home record into Saturday's game. The Bruins suffered a 5-1 home loss to the St. Louis Blues on Monday and a 2-1 overtime road loss to the Montreal Canadiens on Thursday.
Here are five things to watch in Saturday's game:
1. Flyers Can't Afford a Slow Start
The Flyers' loss to the Bruins on January 27, last Saturday's 7-0 defeat in Tampa Bay and Thursday's loss to Toronto, all followed a pattern: The Flyers dug themselves an early multi-goal deficit and spent the rest of the match chasing the game in vain.
In all three games, the Flyers eventually stabilized their play and attempted to chip away at the deficit. However, Philly attained either modest or no (Tampa game) progress on the scoreboard before their opponent pulled further away.
With a still-depleted blueline corps, goals coming at a premium of late and the need to quickly put Thursday's loss quickly in the rearview mirror, it's vital for the Flyers to stay out a scenario where they fall in a hole in the first period. If the Flyers get scored against first, the next two or three shifts are absolutely critical.
The Flyers two post All-Star break wins over the Florida Panthers are the prototype for how Philly can successfully navigate games against top opponents: Weather the storm as needed and then establish their own game.
2. Five-Man Structure and Goalie Play
When the Flyers have been at their best this season, two elements have been central to their success: five-man units staying connected through good structure and goaltending play where few stoppable chances end up in the net.
Every team has the occasional stretches where one or both components get misplaced. The key is to make the necessary adjustments before the issues linger.
Plain and simple: The Bruins are a team with a plus-40 goal differential. The Flyers, who are now in the red (minus-five) in their goal differential for the season, will not win if they don't make the Bruins earn their opportunities and/or if Philly doesn't saves on stoppable shots. The margin for error is slim.
The Flyers are still trying to work around the injuries (Jamie Drysdale, Nick Seeler, Rasmus Ristolainen) and departures (Sean Walker trade) on their blueline. Both from a defensive and puck-moving standpoint, the Flyers need to play a simple but focused brand of hockey.
As Flyers alternate captain Scott Laughton described it after Thursday's game, "We’re gonna have to play a simple, disgusting road game and squeak one out there."
Less colorfully stated: The Flyers' objective in Boston is to frustrate the Bruins with tight checking, be patient and persistent in pushing play up-ice and to get pucks to the net. It needn't be pretty. The two wins in Florida weren't pretty, either. They were just effective.
3. Poehling Line and Laughton
In the big picture, if the Flyers are to earn a playoff spot, the team needs Sean Couturier's to get his game back to where it was at midseason. Likewise the team needs more game-to-game consistency from the likes of Morgan Frost, Owen Tippett, and Joel Farabee to supplement leading scorer Travis Konecny.
In the meantime, centers Ryan Poehling and Scott Laughton have done a lot of the heavy lifting for the Flyers over the last six weeks. The trio of Noah Cates, Ryan Poehling and Garnet Hathaway in particular have been positive tone-setters far more often than not.
Neither Poehling (who, to be fair, was under the weather) nor Laughton (just getting over an illness of his own) had one their best nights in the game against Toronto. Poehling's line was out for three Toronto goals. Laughton's line was outchanced by a wide margin (four scoring chances for vs. eight chances against). A bounceback game is needed from both centers and their linemats.
From an offensive standpoint, Laughton went on a red-hot run over a seven-game point streak (4g, 6a) from Feb. 10 to 24. Seven of Poehling's 21 points (8g and 13a overall) on the season have come since the All-Star break. He has three goals and four assists in that span.
Laughton and Poehling's post-All Star Break offensive uptick -- along with eight points (2g, 6a) from Cates and five points (3g, 2a) from Hathaway -- bought time for the Flyers to get some of their more central offensive players going more consistently. It was not going to be a long-term solution for getting enough goals to win down the stretch.
Not unexpectedly, there's been a recent leveling off from an offensive standpoint. Over his last eight games, Laughton has chipped in two points (one goal, one assist). Poehling has also posted two points (key goal in Florida, one assist). Cates has one point (0g, 1a) in seven games to date in March, as does Hathaway (1g, 0a, 38 penalty minutes).
That is OK. The Flyers don't necessarily need points from these players to win. What Laughon and the entire Poehling line can -- and must -- do against the Bruins is bring energy and checking pressure to wear down Boston and put the next line out in an advantageous position to attack.
The good news for the Flyers: Toronto game aside, those four players have pretty consistently delivered on the key facets of their games. The offensive stat upticks were a nice reward but never the main reason these players saw their usage increase.
4. Flyers Special Teams vs. Bruins Special Teams
The Flyers lost Thursday's game against Toronto because the Maple Leafs picked Philly apart at 5-on-5. The Flyers won the special teams, going 1-for-3 on the power play and 4-for-4 on the penalty kill with Foerster's late-game shorthanded goal.
The strong PK work against the Maple Leafs (a top-five power play club) was one of the few silver linings to Thursday's game. The team hopes it is now back on track after a two-game hiccup that saw Tampa Bay scored power play goals and San Jose two.
Overall this season, the Flyers rank third in the NHL with an 85.1 percent success rate on the penalty kill (opposing power plays are 32-for-214). By a wide margin, the Flyers lead the NHL with 15 shorthanded goals, four more than the Dallas Stars or St. Louis Blues, who are tied for the second-most. Konecny has scored five shorthanded goals, Poehling has three, Laughton has two, ex-Flyer Walker had two, and Travis Sanheim, Hathaway and Foerster have scored one apiece.
The Flyers have scored a power play goal in back-to-back games: Frost against San Jose and Tippett against Toronto. Nevertheless, the Flyers are still ranked last in the NHL on the power play at 13.2 percent (28-for-212, three shorthanded goals allowed. The 31st-ranked Calgary Flames are at 14.1 percent.
Boston ranks ninth in the NHL on the power play at 23.2 percent (48-for-207, three shorthanded goals allowed). The Bruins are eighth on the penalty kill at 81.9 percent (opponents are 42-for-232). Boston has scored five shorthanded goals this season with two apiece from Brad Marchand and Jake DeBrusk and one from Danton Heinen.
5. Behind Enemy Lines: Boston Bruins
The Flyers need no reminders about the damage the likes of David Pastrnak (41g. 54a, 95 points), Marchand (27g. 32a, 59 points) and defenseman Charlie McAvoy (nine goals, 33a, 41 points) are capable of inflicting. Philly has witnessed it firsthand all too often.
Two-way center Charlie Coyle is third on the scoring leaderboard for the Bruins this season with 52 points (21g, 31a), while Pavel Zacha is fourth with 45 points (17g, 28a). Veteran two-stint Flyers left wing James van Riemdsdyk, who spent much of last season on a line with Tippett and Frost, has posted 38 points (11g, 27a) for the Bruins this year.
The Bruins have been one of the NHL's most prominent advocates for tandem goaltending. This season, Jeremy Swayman (21-7-8 record, 2.49 GAA, .920 save percentage, three shutouts) has made 36 starts while Linus Ullmark (18-7-7, 2.66 GAA, .913 SV%, one shutout) has started 32 games.
The Flyers are almost overdue for a step-up team performance against Boston. Entering Saturday's game, the Flyers' last win over the Bruins came back on Oct. 20, 2021. Since then, the Flyers are 0-6-0 in head-to-head meetings with the Bruins and have allowed four or more goals in five of the games.
