Bruins vs. Flyers Preview

The Bruins will hope to skate past the Flyers and into the next round.

The Bruins have made it to the second round of the NHL playoffs. The team will begin a seven game series against the Philadelphia Flyers tomorrow (Saturday, May 1) at 12:30 PM.

All top four seeds (1-4) have been knocked out of the playoffs after the first round. In fact, the Bruins have found themselves in the ideal situation having secured home ice for series against Philadelphia--pretty rare for a #6 seed.

The team would never had made it to this position had it not been for the absolute brilliant play of G Tuukka Rask. The young buck has been a force between the pipes this season and has made veteran G Tim Thomas an absolute afterthought in most people's minds. After handing Thomas a four-year extension in the offseason, he was absolutely dreadful to begin the season--and with the team ravaged by injuries, the B's thought it was time to give Rask his shot. I think they're happy with the decision.

Here are a few keys to the series:

1. Outmuscle the Flyers: Philadelphia has relied on their ability to play a physical brand of hockey through this point in the season. However, it's been a while since they matched up with a team like the Bruins. With Milan Lucic and Zdeno Chara leading the hungry B's, the Flyers will have their hands full should they choose to make it a bang n' crash series.
   
2. Chara vs. Pronger: The B's captain stands at an imposing 6'9, 255 lbs while Pronger checks in at 6'6 and 214 lbs. The two defenseman are the clear leaders of their respective squads and it will be up to them to inspire the play of their teammates. Someone once told me that it always comes back to defense in the playoffs, and that appears to be the case here as well.
3. The PP & PK: For you hockey rookies, PP is the powerplay and PK is the penalty kill. In their first round matchup against the Devils, the Flyers let up only four goals in 32 attempts (87.5% kill rate). However, the Bruins were even better against the Sabres, not allowing a single goal on a Buffalo PP. Each team will look to do their scoring on the PP opportunity as neither is known to be a high-scoring squad.
   
4. The Injury Bug: Injuries have plagued both teams all season long. The Bruins get a huge boost this series with veteran leader Marc Savard ready to play for the first time since sustaining his grade 2 concussion on March 7th. However, the team remains without Dennis Seidenberg and Mark Stuart as they both require a little longer time on the shelf. The Flyers have been playing without three of their most integral players: Jeff Carter (broken foot), Simon Gagne (broken toe), and Ian Laperriere (concussion). Both sides will have to pick up some additional slack should they hope to advance to the Eastern Conference finals.
   

The Bruins know that they can't take a single second off from this series against the Flyers should they hope to advance, and we're betting that they recognize this as a golden opportunity to advance to the Eastern Conference Finals.

Series Prediction: Bruins in six (4-2)