Flyers-Bruins: Game 46 Preview

Kevin Durso

January 13 2020

By Kevin Durso, Sports Talk Philly editor

The Flyers were handed just their third loss in regulation on home ice on Saturday. It also marked another first, the first time this season they have been shut out.

The team is currently playing through a very difficult schedule, facing the league's top team and hottest team in the last two games. Their first two games of this week come against teams that are now tied atop the NHL standings. First up are the Boston Bruins, who have put together a three-game winning streak entering Monday's game.

Game time is 7 p.m.

Team Leaders

Philadelphia Flyers	GP	G	A	P	Boston Bruins	GP	G	A	P
Travis Konecny	42	14	24	38	David Pastrnak	46	35	30	65
Sean Couturier	45	12	24	36	Brad Marchand	46	20	42	62
Jake Voracek	45	8	26	34	Patrice Bergeron	37	19	19	38
Claude Giroux	45	13	18	31	Torey Krug	38	5	26	31
Ivan Provorov	45	9	15	24	David Krejci	39	9	21	30

Player to Watch
28 Claude Giroux	88 David Pastrnak
Last 5 Games: 1 G, 2 A, 3 P, +1	Last 5 Games: 6 G, 0 A, 6 P, +1

In situations like Saturday's shutout loss, you turn to the leaders on the team to deliver in key moments. The Flyers power play has struggled to score and goals have been hard to come by lately for the team. Claude Giroux has just two goals in the last 11 games and three points in the last five games. The Flyers could use a big game from the captain, who just celebrated his 32nd birthday on Sunday.

David Pastrnak has been the top goal scorer in the league this season with 35 goals in 46 games. A 50-goal season is a given at this point and there's certainly a chance he could break 60 goals this season. As part of a lethal power play and as skilled as it gets at 5-on-5, Pastrnak needs to be accounted for every step of the way in this game.

Projected Goalie Matchup
79 Carter Hart	41 Jaroslav Halak
31 GP, 14-11-3, 2.53 GAA, .908 SV%	19 GP, 10-4-5, 2.34 GAA, .923 SV%

Even in defeat, Carter Hart turned in another excellent performance on home ice, allowing one goal on 28 shots to the Tampa Bay Lightning. He will get the start in goal again on Monday night against the Bruins.

Jaroslav Halak gets the start for the Bruins on Monday night. Halak picked up the win in his last start, making 17 saves on 21 shots in a win over Winnipeg last Thursday. Halak has lost five of his last seven starts, going 2-3-2 in that time.

Flyers Projected Lineup

Injuries: Shayne Gostisbehere (knee, day-to-day), Justin Braun (groin, out until All-Star break), Nolan Patrick (migrane disorder, out indefinitely), Oskar Lindblom (Ewing's sarcoma, out for season)

Scratches: Chris Stewart (healthy)

Left Wing	Center	Right Wing
28 Claude Giroux	13 Kevin Hayes	11 Travis Konecny
12 Michael Raffl	14 Sean Couturier	93 Jake Voracek
25 James van Riemsdyk	21 Scott Laughton	62 Nicolas Aube-Kubel
49 Joel Farabee	82 Connor Bunnaman	18 Tyler Pitlick
Defense
9 Ivan Provorov	15 Matt Niskanen
6 Travis Sanheim	5 Phil Myers
8 Robert Hagg	59 Mark Friedman
Goalie
79 Carter Hart	37 Brian Elliott

Lineup Notes

The Flyers called up Connor Bunnaman on Sunday and then shuffled the lines heavily ahead of Monday's game. All four forward lines have a new look with Kevin Hayes centering Giroux and Travis Konecny, Sean Couturier between Michael Raffl and Jake Voracek, Scott Laughton at center with James van Riemsdyk and Nicolas Aube-Kubel and finally Bunnaman with Joel Farabee and Tyler Pitlick. The defensive pairings remain the same.

Bruins Projected Lineup

Injuries: Matt Grzelcyk, Connor Clifton, Anton Blidh, Karson Kuhlman, Kevan Miller

Scratches: Par Lindholm, Steve Kampfer, David Backes

Left Wing	Center	Right Wing
63 Brad Marchand	37 Patrice Bergeron	88 David Pastrnak
74 Jake DeBrusk	46 David Krejci	10 Anders Bjork
43 Danton Heinen	13 Charlie Coyle	18 Brett Ritchie
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	48 Matt Grzelcyk
Goalie
41 Jaroslav Halak	40 Tuukka Rask

Game Notes

Power Play: Flyers (21st), Bruins (3nd)
Penalty Kill: Flyers (T-9th), Bruins (T-2nd)
Recent History vs. Bruins
- Oct. 25, 2018 – Bruins 3, Flyers 0 (at BOS)
- Jan. 16, 2019 – Flyers 4, Bruins 3 (at PHI)
- Jan. 31, 2019 – Flyers 3, Bruins 2 (F/OT) (at BOS)
- Nov. 10, 2019 – Flyers 3, Bruins 2 (F/SO) (at BOS)
Flyers Leaders vs. Bruins
- Jake Voracek – 29 GP, 6 G, 19 A, 25 P
- Claude Giroux – 37 GP, 10 G, 19 A, 29 P
- James van Riemsdyk – 35 GP, 14 G, 11 A, 25 P
- Travis Konecny – 10 GP, 2 G, 4 A, 6 P
- Carter Hart – 3 GP, 3-0-0, 2.23 GAA, .926 SV%
Milestone Watch
- Shayne Gostisbehere needs one point to reach 200 for his career.