NBCSN will continue its coverage of the 2015-16 campaign tonight when the Boston Bruins host the Philadelphia Flyers at 8:00 p.m. ET. If you want to watch the game online, you can do so here.
After winning games in Colorado and Arizona, the Bruins’ next task will be to earn their first victory at TD Garden in 2015-16 when they face the Flyers tonight.
The Bruins allowed 16 goals over their three games at home, but two of those contest were against the formidable Montreal Canadiens and Tampa Bay Lightning. Boston was also missing captain Zdeno Chara for two of the games in addition to Dennis Seidenberg. The squad is still without the services of Seidenberg, but the Bruins’ shots allowed has dropped from 35 per game without Chara to roughly 22.7 since his return.
Their offense has also heated up too. Patrice Bergeron stood out on Saturday with three points, including two goals in the final 11 minutes of Boston’s 5-3 win. Meanwhile, David Krejci has been one of the best players so far this season with four goals and five assists in five contests.
That’s an edge the Bruins have over Philadelphia as its top forwards haven’t broken out yet. Claude Giroux has been limited to a goal and an assist in five contests while Jakub Voracek only has one point.
The lack of early output from the Flyers’ stars is a big part of the reason why they’ve scored less than three goals in four of their five contests. They need that to change sooner rather than later, but in the short-term they might be able to win on the strength of their defense and goaltending.
Mason made 30 saves in Philadelphia’s 2-1 loss to Dallas last night and while he’s likely to get the night off, that’s not necessarily a break for Boston as backup goaltender Michal Neuvirth has shutout his last two opponents.
A win tonight for Boston would bring the squad to .500 before it has to begin a tough eight-game stretch in its schedule that includes six road contests. Philadelphia is going into this game with a 2-2-1 record after taking four of six points during its three-game homestand.