The Philadelphia Flyers (4-6-1) host the Boston Bruins at the Wells Fargo Center.
All of a sudden, a sub-.500 Flyers team has won two games in a row. After shutting out the Bruins 2-0 in TD Garden last Tuesday night, the Flyers returned home where they defeated the St. Louis Blues to a 2-1 final score on Halloween night.
Samuel Ersson produced 2 monster games, holding a combined 0.50 GAA and .976 SV%. He has been everything and more in these games and from routine play to shutting down key high danger scoring opportunities, Ersson has given the Flyers a chance. Still, with an offense as depleted as Philadelphia’s, they still have a ways to go.
It’s strange to say, but the Bruins are struggling. Boston too owns a 4-6-1 record. In their last 5 games, the Bruins have allowed more than 3 goals in 3 of their last 5 outings. They have scored less than 3 goals in 4 of their last 5 games. With stats like that, it is not hard to understand why they are not 1-4 in their last 5 games played.
When: 1:00pm ET
Where: Wells Fargo Center; Philadelphia, PA
Broadcast Info: NBC Sports Philadelphia; 97.5 The Fanatic
Last Game PHI: 10/31; 2-1 W vs. St Louis Blues
Last Game STL: 10/31; 8-2 L at Carolina Hurricanes
Philadelphia Flyers
If the Flyers actually begin to turn their season around, we will be referencing that win in Boston last week for the rest of the season. Sure, the Bruins are not great right now (4-6-1), but on paper, should be much better than Philadelphia. This was a statement game on a few levels. One, it was a statement game by Samuel Errson, who showed everyone he can be their guy. It gave similar vibes to Sean Couturier’s hat trick and 5 point night against the Minnesota Wild. However, that game was still messing, ending in a 7-5 final, featuring some leaky goals by Errson. All that changed though when they entered TD Garden. We can expect a Bruins team to come in with an emphasis on structure after getting blown out 8-2 at Carolina. This may be another low event hockey game, which we have seemingly been winning over the last week. With Jeremy Swayman entering in goal, it is going to get that more difficult to outscore the Bruins.
This was not just any kind of win. That was the first time in 13 YEARS the Flyers have beaten the Boston Bruins in their barn in regulation. The last time the Flyers did this? Danny Brière was playing in that game. So yeah, it has been a while.
We can expect the Flyers to continue with the same lineups they have rolled their last 2 games.
Aleksei Kolosov will take on the backup goaltender role. Tortorella noted that if Ersson is not playing, it is Kolosov’s net.
Projected Lineup: Flyers (per NHL.com)
#11 Travis Konecny – #14 Sean Couturier – #39 Matvei Michkov
#74 Owen Tippett – #48 Morgan Frost – #71 Tyson Foerster
#86 Joel Farabee – #21 Scott Laughton – #10 Bobby Brink
#27 Noah Cates – #25 Ryan Poehling – #19 Garnet Hathaway
#6 Travis Sanheim – #55 Rasmus Ristolainen
#24 Nick Seeler – #9 Jamie Drysdale
#36 Emil Andrae – #77 Erik Johnson
#33 Sam Ersson
(#35 Aleksei Kolosov)
Bruins Projected Lineup (per NHL.com)
#19 John Beecher – #18 Pavel Zacha – #88 David Pastrňák
#63 Brad Marchand – #28 Elias Lindholm – #47 Mark Kastelic
#49 Max Jones – #13 Charlie Coyle – #45 Cole Koepke
#11 Trent Frederic – #51 Matthew Poitras – #55 Justin Brazeau
#6 Mason Lohrei – #73 Charlie McAvoy
#27 Hampus Lindholm – #25 Brandon Carlo
#91 Nikita Zadorov – #52 Andrew Peeke
#1 Jeremy Swayman
(#70 Joonas Korpisalo)
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