78. PHILADELPHIA FLYERS AT BOSTON BRUINS: SOMETHING, SOMETHING, WINTER IS COMING!

(today’s preview is brought to you by the letters Marshall Ottina)

The sky is falling! Two losses in a row! Sound the alarms, blow up the lines, bench Rask, call up Svedberg. I legitimately had someone tell me the B’s were going to fall to the 2 seed, mostly because of their loose grasp on that cool new thing going around called MATH.

Simple version: They’re one win or one Pittsburgh regulation loss away for locking up the best record in the Conference. Rest assured, both of those things will happen. The B’s haven’t lost three in a row (regulation or otherwise) at any point this season and these aren’t the Pens we’re used to seeing. Calm the fuck down. The Bruins are just figuring out the delicate balance of getting some key players some rest (any time you want to take your turn, Chara) while still staying sharp for the playoffs.

Zdeno Chara: "It was definitely a good third period. It's good to play these teams that are desperate. It's only something we can feed off"

— Joe Haggerty (@HackswithHaggs) April 4, 2014

Does that really sound like the Captain of a team that’s worried? If anything they’re just itching for the real season to start.

Speaking of itching… the unintended, yet welcome, consequence of this massive slump, is that the Bruins have lost their grip on the Presidents’ Trophy, the herpes simplex 10 of NHL hardware.

ewww, it still smells like Sedins

Out of the past ten Presidents’ Trophy winners, only two have actually gone on to win the Cup. In that same timeframe, four of them have gotten bounced in the first round. No thanks. All yours, St. Louis. We’ll take Sobotka back in return if you’re offering.

As far as today goes, the Bruins are going for their first season sweep of the Flyers since the 1989-90 season. I feel robbed that: 1. We only get three games against Philly this year, and 2. Every single one of them has been a weekend matinee game. I just can’t get angry enough to watch the Flyers while the sun is out, especially since I can see my lawn for the first time since Halloween. Even if Scott Hartnell is threatening to take down the whole realm.

In terms of importance in the standings, there’s not too much in this game. It’s just a matter of when the B’s seal the deal, and who gets home ice for the impending Flyers-Rangers series. However, I’m sure the entertainment value will be as high as usual. There aren’t a lot of games more fun to watch than when these two get together. There’ll be horses, a man on fire, and Brick might even kill a man with a trident.

The turnaround for this Flyers team has been insane, thanks in no small part to the awful level of competition in the Glen Metropolit Division. At the end of October, we asked 100 people the following question:

Luckily for Philly, the one guy who said yes just so happened to be their Captain. After starting the season with an abysmal 6 assists and 0 goals in the first month, Claude Giroux has been on the kind of tear that would permanently sever Andrew Ference’s groin, and is currently in the top five in scoring. How his name isn’t mentioned in the Hart debate is crazy. Say what you will about the Zac Rinaldos and Steve Downies of the world, but #28 in day-glo orange can bring it.

Projected Lines

Glad to see Claude finally put Loui back with Bergeron and Marchand, that’s why they brought him here. I’d like to see him take it a step further and give Reilly Smith the healthy scratch today. He’s been colder than a meat locker full of liquid nitrogen popsicles lately. Time to send the kid a message.

Milan Lucic – David Krejci – Jarome Iginla

Brad Marchand – Patrice Bergeron – Loui Eriksson

Chris Kelly – Carl Söderberg – Jordan Caron

Shawn Thornton – Gregory Campbell – Daniel Paille

Doug E. Hamilton – Zdeno Chara

Matt Bartkowski – Johnny Boychuk

Torey Krug – Kevan Miller

Tuukka Rask

Media

Puck Drop: 1:00pm EST

TV: NESN, NHL Network

Radio: 98.5 The Sports Hub