The 35-26-9 Philadelphia Flyers welcome the 41-15-15 Boston Bruins for an early afternoon clash on Saturday. Boston arrives having been swept in the season series by the New York Rangers. Thursday’s 2-5 loss at TD Garden was a closer game than the score suggests, the Blueshirts scoring a pair of empty-net tallies to lengthen the winning margin. They are 5-1-4 in their last 10 on the road with three of those wins coming in overtime. A win that they didn’t need extra minutes for was the last time that they visited the Flyers, beating Philadelphia 6-2 at the end of January. They saw off the Flyers 6-5 at TD Garden last week so there have been plenty of goals the twice they have met. Goals conceded have been an issue as the season has gone on. They only allowed one or fewer in five of their first eight this season but that level has slipped to more than three per game since February 10.
The Flyers are still third in the Metropolitan but have just a three-point cushion at the time of writing over the Washington Capitals who have two games in hand. Joel Farabee has had a feat or famine time in the two clashes with Boston this season, scoring twice when they last met but he was a -4 in their opening meeting. They have held their form well at home, only losing twice in 60 minutes since the Bruins won at Wells Fargo with those defeats against the New York Rangers and the Toronto Maple Leafs. They took the Carolina Hurricanes to overtime before losing 2-3 on Thursday so they are still holding their own against the better teams.
Philadelphia has conceded six goals or more 10 times this season, including in both games with the Bruins and in three of their last six games played.
The Bruins have only lost six in 60 minutes on the road, the fewest in the league but they have lost nine in overtime or a shootout on the road, the most in the league!
There have been goals both times these teams have met this season, seven in Philadelphia and 11 in Boston. Neither team has been all that great on the blue line in March, with each team averaging six goals in total per game this month. It would not be a shock to anyone if the lamp was lit on plenty of occasions again in this game so our Philadelphia Flyers vs Boston Bruins prediction is for over 6 goals, -115 with Draftkings
Leave a Reply