The Philadelphia Flyers are on fire as they roll into Boston for a matinee on Martin Luther King Day. They’ve won 3 in a row, 7 of their last 8, 9 of their last 13, and are fresh from a home-and-home sweep of the Washington Capitals. What they are up against today is no small task as the Boston Bruins are a ridiculous 33-5-4 with an even more ridiculous home record of 22-1-3 – an unbeaten run in regulation that was snapped just last week against the Seattle Kraken.
The Bruins have won 5 of their last 6 games, 10 of their last 11, and have 1 regulation loss in their last 16 games, which was the 3-0 defeat to Seattle on home ice. They are first in the NHL with 70 points – 9 more than 2nd place Carolina in 1 less game – are 2nd in goals with 158, are the only team that has allowed less than 100 goals (91), have the 4th best power play unit (27.59%), and of course the league’s best penalty killing unit (85.62%). They are the best team in the NHL for a reason.
Flyer-killer, David Pastrnak, leads the team with 33 goals, 26 assists, and 59 points in only 42 games. Brad Marchand, who missed the start of the season, sits in second with 25 assists and 38 points, followed by Patrice Bergeron’s 16 goals and 34 points. David Krejci, who returned to the NHL this season, hasn’t missed a beat with 20 assists and 31 points, Jake DeBrusk was enjoying a renaissance season with 16 goals and 30 points in 36 games before his injury, and formerMVP in Taylor Hall has quietly put up 30 points.
The story of the season might be in goal with Linus Ullmark who is 23-2-1, holds a .936 SV% and a 1.92 G.A.A, has 2 shutouts, and an absurdly high 25.5 GSAA. He is coming off the heels of his 2nd worst start of the season, where he allowed 3 goals on 21 shots in 4-3 win over the Toronto Maple Leafs. Taking that into consideration, he’s having a fantastic season and the Vezina is his to lose at the moment.
Philadelphia on the other hand are doing things quite differently. Travis Konecny is at the top with his 24 goals and 46 points in 37 games. Unfortunately his 10-game point streak ended on Saturday night but he had 12 goals and 20 points during that streak, which had him 2nd only to Connor McDavid in points within that stretch. Scott Laughton has been leading the charge alongside Konecny with his 7 goals and 15 points in his last 13 games. He has become a threat in all facets of the game with his 5 power play goals, 3 shorthanded goals, and 6 shorthanded points. Joel Farabee is starting to slowly come out of his shell after offseason surgery as he has put up 4 goals and 10 points over his last 11 games, compared to the 5 goals and 15 points in the 32 games prior.
Tony DeAngelo has 15 points over his last 16 games, Owen Tippett has 5 goals and 11 points over his last 12 games, Morgan Frost has 14 points over his last 15 games, James van Riemsdyk has 5 goals and 13 points over his last 15 games, and even Noah Cates has chipped in with 6 points over a stretch of 7 games before the home and home against the Capitals. The Flyers offence has been balanced and everyone is chipping in.
PHI Record: 18-18-7, 43 pts, 7th in Metropolitain
BOS Record: 33-5-4, 70 pts, 1st in Atlantic
Last Game PHI: 1/14/23, 3-1 W at Washington
Last Game BOS: 1/14/23, 4-3 W vs Toronto
When: 1:00pm ET
Where: TD Garden, Boston, MA
PHI Goalie: Carter Hart (13-12-6, .910 SV%, 2.91 GAA, 0 SO)
BOS Goalie: Linus Ullmark (23-2-1 .936 SV%, 1.92 GAA, 2 SO)
PHI Projected Lineup
#86 Joel Farabee – #49 Noah Cates – #11 Travis Konecny
#25 James van Riemsdyk – #48 Morgan Frost – #74 Owen Tippett
#13 Kevin Hayes – #21 Scott Laughton – #57 Wade Allison
#44 Nicolas Deslauriers – #38 Patrick Brown – #17 Zack MacEwen
#9 Ivan Provorov – #45 Cam York
#6 Travis Sanheim – #77 Tony DeAngelo
#24 Nick Seeler – #55 Rasmus Ristolainen
#79 Carter Hart
#33 Samuel Ersson
BOS Projected Lineup
#63 Brad Marchand – #37 Patrice Bergeron – #12 Craig Smith
#18 Pavel Zacha – #46 David Krejci – #88 David Pastrnak
#71 Taylor Hall – #13 Charlie Coyle – #11 Trent Frederic
#17 Nick Foligno – #92 Tomas Nosek – #10 A.J. Greer
#48 Matt Grzelcyk – #73 Charlie McAvoy
#27 Hampus Lindholm – #25 Brandon Carlo
#28 Derek Forbort – #75 Connor Clifton
#35 Linus Ullmark
#1 Jeremy Swayman
PHI Injuries: Cam Atkinson (neck), Sean Couturier (back), Ryan Ellis (hip), Tanner Laczynski (lower-body)
Scratches: Justin Braun, Kieffer Bellows
BOS Injuries: Jake DeBrusk (lower-body)
Scratches: Jakub Zboril
News and Notes
– The Flyers are looking for their second 4-game winning streak of the season, have the 2nd most points since December 29th – behind Boston – and are surprisingly coming within striking distance of a Wild Card spot, which was something that seemed out of the question a month and a half ago.
– Carter Hart continues to climb up the Flyers’ all-time goaltending ranks. He will make his 178th appearance as a Flyer today, which puts him just 2 games away from passing Pete Peeters for 5th. If Hart earns the win today, it would be his 76th victory and would push him to just 2 wins away from passing Doug Favell for 9th.
– Today’s game marks the second regular season encounter between these two rivals, with the Bruins taking 2 of 3 matchups last season and winning 4-1 in Boston on November 17th earlier this season. The Bruins are 116-63-21-13 all time against the Flyers and dating back to the 2019-20 season, the Flyers are 5-7-3 in their last 15 games against the Bruins, which is a closer record than most would think. Games against the Bruins are either blowouts or 1 goal games with overtime on the horizon – seemingly no in-betweens.
– David Pastrnak has 19 goals and 32 points in 26 career games against the Flyers, Patrice Bergeron has 50 points in 62 career games, and Brad Marchand has 45 points in 46 games.
Broadcast Info: TV – NBC Sports Philadelphia, Radio – 97.5 The Fanatic
