Tonight's Officials
Referees Pierre Lambert (37), Kevin Pollock (33)
Linesmen Darren Gibbs (66), Derek Amell (75)
Ntl. Anthem Lauren Hart
TONIGHT’S GAME - The Bruins visit the Flyers tonight in the 2nd of 3 games between these teams this season and the Bruins’ lone visit to Wells Fargo Center this season … The Bruins are 26-15-5 this season and are 10-9-4 on the road … They are 4-5-0 vs. Metropolitan Division opponents and are 16-11-2 vs. Eastern Conference foes. - They are opening tonight their 9th of 14 sets of back-to-back games this season … They are currently 4-3-1 in the 1st game of those sets and are 6-1-1 in the 2nd games so far. - They are opening their 10th of 17 sets of 3-games-in-4-nights … They are 3-5-1 in game 1s, 6-1-2 in game 2s and 6-2-1 in game 3s of those series this season. - The Bruins next return home to host STL on 1/17 & NYR on 1/19 before their bye week … In all, they play 9 of their 12 January games on home ice.
MILESTONES APPROACHING - Zdeno Chara is 2 goals shy of his 200th NHL goal … He will become just the 21st defenseman in NHL history to reach that milestone. - Tuukka Rask is 2 wins short of his 253rd Bruins/NHL win, which will be the most by a goaltender in team history (Cecil “Tiny” Thompson, 252). - David Backes is 4 games shy of his 900th NHL game. - Brandon Carlo is 5 games short of his 200th NHL game. - Patrice Bergeron is 7 games shy of his 1,000th NHL game.
INJURIES (Total man-games lost in 2018-19: 158) - Joakim Nordstrom: Non-displaced fibula fracture suffered 1/1 vs CHI
BOSTON vs PHILADELPHIA, LIFETIME SERIES - The Bruins and Flyers are meeting for the 196th time in their histories with the Bruins having a 106-60-21-9 record and 645-567 scoring advantage in those games. - The Bruins are 47-36-10-4 lifetime in Philadelphia with the Flyers holding a 300-297 scoring edge in those 97 contests. - The Bruins have taken points out of their last 8 games vs. the Flyers at 6-0-2, including a 3-0 win in Boston on 10/25 in the 1st game of this season’s series, and they are 12-1-3 in their last 16 games overall with their lone regulation loss in that span a 3-2 road setback on 1/13/2016 … They are 2-0-2 in their last 4 road games vs. Philadelphia and are 5-1-2 in their last 8 of this lifetime series on the road with their lone regulation loss in that stretch a 3-2 loss on 1/13/2016.
Fun Fact: The Flyers are 1 of 3 NHL teams (TB, VGK) who have never swept the Bruins in a season series.
The Philadelphia Flyers will be searching for a second straight home win when they host the Boston Bruins on Wednesday night.
After dropping eight in a row and nine of 10, the Flyers rallied from an early 2-0 deficit to defeat the Minnesota Wild 7-4 on Monday. Nolan Patrick suffered through a 25-game drought without a goal but responded with two goals to help spur the comeback.
"To be honest, it weighs on you quite a bit," Patrick told reporters.
"It's something you think about when you go through a slump like that. You just have to believe in yourself and do things to help the team when you're not scoring. I was just trying to play a good two-way game. I knew it would eventually come."
James van Riemsdyk has also snapped out of a recent slump with goals in three consecutive games for Philadelphia (17-23-6). In the three-goal win over the Wild, van Riemsdyk recorded a hat trick -- the fourth of his career.
Two of van Riemsdyk's goals came as a byproduct of creating havoc in front of the net.
"It's one of the areas I felt he can be better," Flyers interim head coach Scott Gordon said. "I know what he's capable of."
Wayne Simmonds also rediscovered his offense for the Flyers, scoring two goals to improve his season total to 15.
"Going up," Simmonds told reporters. "It takes a while. At the beginning of the season, I felt a million times better than last year, but it's really getting better now."
Brad Marchand scored one goal and one assist, while David Krejci scored one goal, but the Bruins fell 3-2 at home in overtime to the Montreal Canadiens on Monday. Marchand improved his goal total to 17 this season.
The Bruins (26-15-5) did compile one point with the overtime loss, however, thanks to Krejci's 6-on-4 goal late in the third period.
"We got one," Marchand said. "Krejci got a big goal there late to get us that point."
Before that overtime loss, the Bruins had won six of seven.
The Bruins have been scoring plenty of goals lately. They have scored at least two goals in 19 consecutive games, since falling 5-0 at the Florida Panthers on Dec. 4.
"I think we had momentum on our side," Krejci told reporters after the overtime defeat. "We just couldn't get it done."
Bruins goaltender Tuukka Rask stopped 19 of 22 shots against the Canadiens. Rask had won his previous six starts yet took solace in the late goal to force overtime.
"We worked hard for that goal there," Rask said in the Boston Globe. "Finally got rewarded."
The Bruins couldn't take that momentum into overtime as they fell on Jeff Petry's goal just 15 seconds in. Yes, they did corral one point, but their head coach was not thrilled.
"Clearly right now it sucks," Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy told reporters.
"Especially when it happens that quick. It's a pretty straight-forward rush. Instead of challenging the puck-carrier, it started a domino effect and we lost coverage in front. Got a good save. We've been down this road before where we lost in overtime in a hurry."
The Bruins recalled 23-year-old forward Peter Cehlarik from Providence of the American Hockey League on Tuesday. They had previously waived center Colby Cave, who was claimed by the Edmonton Oilers.
