QUICK STATS
Season Series: 2-1-0All-Time Record: 201gp (73-97-21-10)Leading Scorer:PHI - Travis Konecny: 61-pts (24g-37a)BOS - David Pastrnak: 95-pts (48g-47a)
1. WHAT DO YOU MEAN?
Today starts the Round Robin for teams that have already qualified for the playoffs as they await their first round opponent, who are playing in a best-of-five qualifying round... The Flyers three games will determine the seeding for the Top 4 teams in the conference - BOS, PHI, TBL, WSH - meaning if the Flyers win all three games they will be in the #1 seed in the East - the Flyers can finish no worse than the fourth seed... While the qualifying series play a 5-on-5 overtime rules, the round-robin games will play 3-on-3 OT with a shootout, same as the regular season... Of the four featured Round Robin teams in the East, one has made the Stanley Cup Final in six of the past 10 years: Boston 3x (L-2019, L-2013, W-2011), Washington 1x (W-2018), Tampa Bay 1x (L-2015) and Flyers (L-2010).
2. MY ONE AND ONLY
Each team played just one exhibition game prior to entering the round robin... The Flyers took a 3-2 overtime win over the Penguins in which all five goals scored came at even strength, while the Bruins dropped a 4-1 decision to the Blue Jackets who stormed out to a 3-0 lead in the first period... Carter Hart will start in net today, he stopped 11 of 12 shots in exhibition, and is 4-1-0 against the B's... Tuukka Rask allowed three goals on 20 shots in his exhibition play, and owns a career mark of 15-2-4 against the Flyers, might not play do to illness leaving Jaroslav Halak as the starter - Halak stopped all 10 shots he faced in the third period of exhibition and has a 10-6-3 career mark against Philly.
3. ABOUT THESE TWO
The Flyers and Bruins were the two hottest teams in the NHL, both in the long-term and short-term... The Bruins ranked first in the league since Nov. 2 with 80 points, while the Flyers were T-2nd (Tampa) with 78 points since that date... The Flyers went into the pause going 16-4-1 in their last 21 games, and won nine of their last 10 games... The B's posted a 16-4-0 record in their last 20 games and won five of their last six before the pause... These two teams were also the last to play each other before the pause - the Bruins took a 2-0 win on Mar. 10 for their first win over the Flyers in the season series.
4. COMPLETELY RANDOM
The Flyers have the best point percentage (.700) against the 12 teams that are in the Qualifying and Playoff round in the East with a 22-8-5 record, which includes a 5-3-1 record against the Round Robin teams... The Bruins won the President's Trophy and were the only team this season to reach 100 points, which also marked the third straight season they hit 100 points... The B's own the 2nd best power play in the NHL at 25.2% and the 3rd best penalty kill at 84.3%... The Flyers at 29-0-2 are one of only three teams in the NHL (St. Louis & Florida) to have not suffered a regulation loss when leading after the second period - they are tied or leading after two periods of play 39-0-3 this season.
5. PLAYERS TO WATCH
FLYERS (C: #21 - Scott Laughton)
If you include the exhibition game in which he tallied the game-winning goal in OT, Laughton has 10 points in his last nine games (4g-6a), including a +13 rating... Laughton also loves playing in his hometown at Scotiabank Arena - including the exhibition game, he has five points (2g-3a) in his last six games there.
BRUINS (RW: #88 - David Pastrnak)
The co-Rocket Richard winner (WSH: Ovechkin) as the leading goal-scorer in the NHL with 48 tallies in 70 games, Pastrnak added the B's lone goal in exhibition play... Before the pause, he had a six-game point streak (3g-4a) and posted 13 points (6g-7a) in his last 10 games... Against the Flyers, he has nine goals and 15 points in 16 career games, including (1g-1a) in three games this season.
