Flyers-Bruins: Game 51 Preview

Kevin Durso

January 31 2019

By Kevin Durso, Sports Talk Philly editor

The Flyers have been riding a wave of success lately, winning five straight games and six of their last seven as they enter Thursday night's game. One of the wins on the current streak came against the opponent they will face on Thursday in their final road game for nearly two weeks.

The Flyers face off against the Bruins on Thursday night, a team that has lost five of the last seven games since a five-game winning streak of their own.

Game time is at 7 p.m.

Team Leaders

Philadelphia Flyers	GP	G	A	P	Boston Bruins	GP	G	A	P
Claude Giroux	50	14	38	52	David Pastrnak	50	28	31	59
Sean Couturier	48	19	21	40	Brad Marchand	49	19	37	56
Jake Voracek	50	11	29	40	Patrice Bergeron	34	16	27	43
Travis Konecny	50	13	15	28	David Krejci	50	10	30	40
Wayne Simmonds	50	15	8	23	Torey Krug	39	5	28	33

Player to Watch
11 Travis Konecny	88 David Pastrnak
Last 5 Games: 2 G, 2 A, 4 P, E	Last 5 Games: 2 G, 4 A, 6 P, -2

Travis Konecny had a pair of multi-point games back-to-back before Tuesday, when the Flyers were held to one goal. With a pair of goals in those games, Konecny is up to 13 on the season.

David Pastrnak picked right back up where he left off before his All-Star appearance with a three-point game in Tuesday's loss to Winnipeg, including his 28th goal of the season. Pastrnak also scored against the Flyers in the last game on Jan. 16.

Goalie Matchup
79 Carter Hart	40 Tuukka Rask
13 GP, 7-5-1, 2.52 GAA, .922 SV%	26 GP, 13-9-3, 2.43 GAA, .918 SV%

Carter Hart gets back in goal after a night off on Tuesday. Hart won his last start on Monday, making 31 saves on 32 shots against the Jets, and has won his last four starts, including making 39 saves in a win against the Bruins on Jan. 16.

Tuukka Rask missed the Bruins last game on Tuesday after suffering a concussion in the final game before the All-Star break on Jan. 19. He is expected to return and start Thursday's game.

Flyers Projected Lineup

Injuries: Shayne Gostisbehere, Michal Neuvirth, Brian Elliott, Corban Knight

Scratches: Jori Lehtera

Left Wing	Center	Right Wing
25 James van Riemsdyk	28 Claude Giroux	11 Travis Konecny
23 Oskar Lindblom	14 Sean Couturier	93 Jake Voracek
21 Scott Laughton	19 Nolan Patrick	17 Wayne Simmonds
44 Phil Varone	24 Mikhail Vorobyev	12 Michael Raffl
Defense
9 Ivan Provorov	6 Travis Sanheim
26 Christian Folin	47 Andrew MacDonald
8 Robert Hagg	3 Radko Gudas
Goalie
79 Carter Hart

Lineup Notes

Shayne Gostisbehere did not take part in the morning skate and is now going to be out through the remainder of the week, per Scott Gordon, so the lineup remains the same from Tuesday.

Bruins Projected Lineup

Scratches: Steven Kampfer, Matt Grzelcyk, Noel Acciari

Left Wing	Center	Right Wing
63 Brad Marchand	37 Patrice Bergeron	88 David Pastrnak
22 Peter Cehlarik	46 David Krejci	74 Jake DeBrusk
43 Danton Heinen	82 Trent Frederic	42 David Backes
20 Joakim Nordstrom	52 Sean Kuraly	14 Chris Wagner
Defense
33 Zdeno Chara	73 Charlie McAvoy
47 Torey Krug	25 Brandon Carlo
27 John Moore	86 Kevan Miller
Goalie
40 Tuukka Rask

Game Notes

Power Play: Flyers (31st, 31st on road), Bruins (2nd, 2nd at home)
Penalty Kill: Flyers (28th, 25th on road), Bruins (16th, 10th at home)
Recent History vs. Bruins
- Oct. 25, 2018 – Bruins 3, Flyers 0 (at BOS)
- Jan. 16, 2018 – Flyers 4, Bruins 3 (at PHI)
Flyers Leaders vs. Bruins
- Jake Voracek – 27 GP, 6 G, 17 A, 23 P
- Claude Giroux – 35 GP, 9 G, 19 A, 28 P
- James van Riemsdyk – 33 GP, 14 G, 11 A, 25 P
- Carter Hart – 1 GP, 1-0-0, 3.00 GAA, .929 SV%
Milestone Watch
- Travis Sanheim is playing in his 100th NHL game tonight.
- Radko Gudas needs two points to reach 100 for his career.