Round Robin Game 1 Preview: Flyers-Bruins

Kevin Durso

August 2 2020

By Kevin Durso, Sports Talk Philly editor

After one tune-up for each of the 24 teams in the hub cities, the games finally count. For the Flyers, there are three more opportunities to figure out a successful formula for the first round of the playoffs.

With that in mind, each of the next three games comes against a team that is safe through the qualifiers and comes with the opportunity to move up in the seeding and potentially get the designation of being the home team throughout the playoffs.

It begins against the Boston Bruins, a team that was on a hot streak and running away with the President's Trophy at the time of the pause. It becomes the first test for the Flyers to see where they stand as the playoffs approach.

Game time is 3 p.m.

Team Leaders (Regular Season Stats)

Philadelphia Flyers	GP	G	A	P	Boston Bruins	GP	G	A	P
Travis Konecny	66	24	37	61	David Pastrnak	70	48	47	95
Sean Couturier	69	22	37	59	Brad Marchand	70	28	59	87
Jake Voracek	69	12	44	56	Patrice Bergeron	61	31	25	56
Claude Giroux	69	21	32	53	Torey Krug	61	9	40	49
Kevin Hayes	69	23	18	41	David Krejci	61	13	30	43

Player to Watch
11 Travis Konecny	63 Brad Marchand
Last 5 Games: N/A	Last 5 Games: N/A

For one, you need to have players bring a lot of energy to these games, and Travis Konecny can be that energy guy. In the exhibition game, you also saw his skill on full display with a great lead pass that set up Scott Laughton for the winning goal. The two will be on the same line for Sunday's game.

In a 4-1 exhibition loss to Columbus, Brad Marchand left the game and did not return. He was a full participant in practice and will play on Sunday, but there is a possibility his minutes could be limited depending on how he performs. He will be worth watching to see if the possible injury affects him in any way.

Projected Goalie Matchup (Regular Season Stats)
79 Carter Hart	41 Jaroslav Halak
43 GP, 24-13-3, 2.42 GAA, .914 SV%	31 GP, 18-6-6, 2.39 GAA, .919 SV%

Carter Hart got the start on Tuesday and made 11 saves on 12 shots through two periods. He will get the full game against Boston, making his fourth start against the Bruins this season.

Jaroslav Halak gets the start for the Bruins on Sunday with Tuukka Rask still not feeling well. Head coach Bruce Cassidy updated Rask's status on Sunday morning, saying that while Rask is feeling better, he is still unfit to play and will not dress for the game. Halak stopped all 10 shots he faced in Boston's 4-1 exhibition loss to Columbus on Thursday.

Flyers Projected Lineup

Left Wing	Center	Right Wing
28 Claude Giroux	14 Sean Couturier	93 Jake Voracek
21 Scott Laughton	13 Kevin Hayes	11 Travis Konecny
25 James van Riemsdyk	38 Derek Grant	62 Nicolas Aube-Kubel
12 Michael Raffl	44 Nate Thompson	18 Tyler Pitlick
Defense
9 Ivan Provorov	15 Matt Niskanen
6 Travis Sanheim	5 Phil Myers
8 Robert Hagg	61 Justin Braun
Goalie
79 Carter Hart	37 Brian Elliott

Bruins Projected Lineup

Left Wing	Center	Right Wing
63 Brad Marchand	37 Patrice Bergeron	88 David Pastrnak
74 Jake DeBrusk	46 David Krejci	68 Jack Studnicka
83 Karson Kuhlman	13 Charlie Coyle	10 Anders Bjork
20 Joakim Nordstrom	52 Sean Kuraly	14 Chris Wagner
Defense
33 Zdeno Chara	73 Charlie McAvoy
47 Torey Krug	25 Brandon Carlo
48 Matt Grzelcyk	79 Jeremy Lauzon
Goalie
41 Jaroslav Halak	80 Dan Vladar

Game Notes

Power Play: Flyers (14th), Bruins (2nd)
Penalty Kill: Flyers (11th), Bruins (3rd)
Recent History vs. Bruins
- Nov. 10, 2019 – Flyers 3, Bruins 2 (F/SO) (at BOS)
- Jan. 13, 2020 – Flyers 6, Bruins 5 (F/SO) (at PHI)
- March 10, 2020 – Bruins 2, Flyers 0 (at PHI)
Flyers Leaders vs. Bruins
- Jake Voracek – 31 GP, 6 G, 21 A, 27 P
- Claude Giroux – 39 GP, 10 G, 19 A, 29 P
- James van Riemsdyk – 36 GP, 14 G, 12 A, 26 P
- Carter Hart – 5 GP, 4-1-0, 2.71 GAA, .910 SV%