Preview:
The Flyers season is just hours away and it’s time to take a look at the Flyers season opener tonight in Boston.
Last season the Boston Bruins ended a great season with a disappointing second-round playoff series loss to the Montreal Canadians after posting a regular season record of 58-19-5.
For the Flyers, they are hoping to get off to a fast start unlike last year when they started just 1-7 before making the playoffs with a 42-30-10 record, best for the 3rd place in the Metropolitan division and sixth in the conference. They would end up losing in the first round to the New York Rangers in seven games.
The Flyers will have a tough test as they go up against Vezina Trophy winner Tuukka Rask. the Boston defense itself is not an easy match-up as it features defenseman Zdeno Chara, Torrey Krug, and Dennis Seidenberg. Offensively, the Bruins will look to replace 30-goal scorer Jarome Iginla, who went to Colorado during free agency, while also losing David Krejci to injury. The Bruins however still have plenty of offensive talent in Petrice Bergeron, Milan Lucic, and Brad Marchand together they combined for 79 goals, 94 assists, for 173 points last season.
The Bruins, like the Flyers, know they must get off to a hot start. Forward Petrice Bergeron stated on the Bruins’ website, “We have to get off to a good start, we have to establish a connection with all the new players and make sure we’re dialed in and that we definitely need to carry on what we’ve accomplished already.”
The Flyers are looking to make a deep playoff run this season after not making it past the second round since their 2010 Stanley Cup Finals defeat to the Chicago Blackhawks. Craig Berube, is taking over in his second season as the Flyers head coach after replacing Peter Laviolette after three games last season. Many in the hockey world believe that Berube’s job is on the line this season.
Offensively, the Flyers are looking pretty good with their three stop scores in Claude Giroux, Jake Voracek, and Wayne Simmonds. They did lose a piece of their offense in Scott Hartnell who they traded to the Columbus Blue Jackets in exchange for R.J Umberger, a questionable decision to say the least. The Flyers also are hoping for big seasons out of Brayden Schenn and Matt Read this season. Schenn, who is expected to play the first line along with Giroux and Voracek will be expected to improve upon his 41 point total last season in which he put up 20 goals and 21 assists.
When it comes to defense, the Flyers are hoping the late offseason acquisition of Michael Del Zotto will help replace the injured Kimmo Timonen who’s career may be in jeopardy due to blood clot issues. Outside Del Zotto, the Flyers return the longest tenured Flyer in Braydon Coburn, who played in all 82 games last season. Coburn will be the anchor of the defense that could turn into a major problem early on this season. Veterans Mark Streit, Luke Schenn and Nicklas Grossman will have to be the leaders of the defense that also features Andrew MacDonald and Nick Schultz.
Steve Mason returns for his second full season in Philadelphia after coming over in 2013 at the trade deadline from the Blue Jackets. Last season, Mason had one of the best seasons for a Flyers’ goalie in recent memory winning 33 games, tying a career high and only allowing 2.50 goals per game over 60 starts.
The Flyers will be coming out with a vengeance on Wednesday night as they lost all three games last season against Boston.
INJURIES:
Flyers: Wayne Simmonds returned to practice on Monday after suffering a left foot injury. He’s questionable for tonight’s game.
Bruins: Placed forward David Krejci on IR with an undisclosed injury. He is out for a minimum of seven days retroactive to Saturday, October 4th.
Flyers Roster:
FORWARDS (13): Jason Akeson, Pierre-Edouard Bellemare, Sean Couturier, Claude Giroux, Blair Jones,Vincent Lecavalier, Michael Raffl, Matt Read, Zac Rinaldo,Brayden Schenn, Wayne Simmonds, R.J. Umberger, Jakub Voracek.
DEFENSEMEN (7): Braydon Coburn, Michael Del Zotto, Nicklas Grossmann, Andrew MacDonald, Luke Schenn,Nick Schultz, Mark Streit.
GOALTENDERS (2): Ray Emery, Steve Mason.
INJURED: Ryan White, Chris Pronger, Kimmo Timonen.
Bruins Roster:
FORWARDS (13): Patrice Bergeron, Craig Cunningham, Loui Eriksson, Brian Ferlin, Matt Fraser, Chris Kelly, Milan Lucic, Brad Marchand, Daniel Paille, Bobby Robins, Reilly Smith, Carl Soderberg, Ryan Spooner
DEFNESEMEN (7): Matt Bartkowski, Zdeno Chara, Dougie Hamilton, Torey Krug, Adam McQuaid, Kevan Miller,Dennis Seidenberg
GOALTENDERS (3): Tuukka Rask, Malcolm Subban, Niklas Svedberg
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