A quick look ahead at some of the narratives at play this weekend…
Toronto and Detroit duke it out
There’s plenty to play for on Saturday night at the Air Canada Centre, when Toronto hosts Detroit in a huge game for Eastern Conference playoff implications.
The Wings and Leafs head into Friday’s action tied on points, with 80, though Detroit holds the final wild card spot thanks to more wins in regulation/overtime (28 to 27). Those standings could change, however -- Toronto takes on Philly tonight with the opportunity to bounce back into a wild card spot.
Saturday’s game (7 p.m. ET) between these two Original Six foes will be their fourth and final meeting of the season and, if the last three matchups were any indication, it’ll be a tightly-contested affair. Detroit won the first game 5-4 in a shootout; Toronto won the second (the ’14 Winter Classic) 3-2 in a shootout; the third game was the only one not to go to extra time, but still ended in a narrow decision -- 3-2, for the Wings.
Philly hosts Boston
The Flyers and Bruins will be seeing plenty of each other over the next week -- they square off this Sunday at Wells Fargo (12:30 p.m. ET, NBC), then again six days later at TD Garden.
Those will be the second and third meetings of the year between the Flyers and B’s. In the first game, Boston scored a decisive 6-1 victory on the strength of two-goal performances from both Jarome Iginla and Zdeno Chara; Philly goalie Steve Mason was hooked after allowing four goals on 19 shots.
What Philly will want to do is replicate its blueprint from the lockout-shortened ’13 campaign. Like this year, the Flyers lost their first of three matchups with the Bruins... but then rallied to defeat Boston in the second and third head-to-head battles of the season.