The threat of elimination might not hover over the Bruins until the NHL’s augmented playoff format is whittled down to 16 teams, but that doesn’t mean that Boston plans on simply shaking the rust off during the league’s scheduled round-robin tournament.
There’s still plenty to play for during the competition — which features the top four teams in each conference and will be held during the “play-in” round featuring 16 other clubs.
Even though some of the advantages of home ice will be negated due to neutral-site venues this year, the seeding at stake for these four teams in the round robin still holds significant sway — both in terms of determining last change and the perk of reseeding taking place after each playoff round this summer.
As such, the onus should be on the Bruins to fight tooth and nail to hold on to their No. 1 seed, given that Boston could make it all the way to the conference finals before having to square off against a club like the Lightning or Capitals in the best-of-seven series.
But it won’t come easy for the B’s, given that they need to sit atop the standings against the likes of Tampa, Washington and Philadelphia if they want to put itself in the best possible position for a deep Cup run.
As the Bruins looking to get Phase 2 underway in the coming days, here’s an early preview of how the Bruins match up against the rest of the field in the round-robin tournament. Let’s start off with the last club that they battled during the regular season — the Flyers:
Philadelphia Flyers
Record: 41-21-7 (89 points — 2nd in Metropolitan Division)
Team Stats:
Goals Per Game: 3.29 (7th in NHL)
Goals Against Per Game: 2.77 (7th in NHL)
Power-play Percentage: 20.8 (14th in NHL)
Penalty Kill: 81.8% (11th in NHL)
Bruins record against Flyers this season: 1-0-2
Previous Matchups:
Nov. 10, 2019: Flyers beat Bruins, 3-2 (SO)
A sluggish start doomed Boston in this matchup at TD Garden, with a Flyers club on the second leg of a back-to-back slate tallying two goals in the first period — headlined by Travis Konecny lighting the lamp on a 4-on-1 rush.
https://twitter.com/BruinsCLNS/status/1193688619028013057
While Brad Marchand and Danton Heinen eventually allowed Boston to escape with a point, Philly prevailed in the shootout — as Charlie Coyle, David Pastrnak and Marchand all failed to snap a puck past Carter Hart on all three of Boston’s chances.
Jan. 13, 2020: Flyers beat the Bruins, 6-5 (SO)
Relinquishing a four-goal lead at home to the Panthers might stand as Boston’s worst loss of the 2019-20 regular season, but this one is right up there — as the B’s coughed up a three-goal lead in the span of just 19:46 of ice time.
Bruce Cassidy called Boston’s defensive effort “unprofessional” in the minutes following the loss, with Travis Sanheim securing the equalizer at 12:58 in the third after this less-than-ideal showing in front of Jaroslav Halak.
https://twitter.com/ConorRyan_93/status/1216910574522597378
To add insult to injury, Boston once again came up short during the shootout, with Marchand capping off the loss by whiffing on a puck before even getting a chance to challenge Hart in net.
https://twitter.com/ConorRyan_93/status/1216917017166602241
March 10, 2020: Bruins beat the Flyers, 2-0
In what ended up being Boston's final regular-season matchup of the 2019-20 campaign, the B's finally got over the hump against Philly — with Tuukka Rask securing his 50th career shutout in a 2-0 win at the Wells Fargo Center. Even with Boston forced to play without a pair of key blueliners in Torey Krug and Brandon Carlo, Rask stood tall against a Flyers bunch that had averaged 4.3 goals per game in their previous nine outings — finishing with 36 saves.
https://twitter.com/ConorRyan_93/status/1237520027034632192
Stanley Cup Odds (Via William Hill): 12-1 Favorites
Injured Players:
Philippe Myers (right knee patella fracture)
James van Riemsdyk (fractured right finger)
Nate Thompson (knee sprain)
Samuel Morin (ACL tear)
Nolan Patrick (migraine disorder)
Oskar Lindblom (Ewing’s sarcoma)
Other than Morin and Lindblom — who is continuing his fight against Ewing’s sarcoma — there's a good chance that all of the remaining injured players on Philly's roster should be able to get back on the ice once Phase 3 gets underway in the next month or so. The biggest question mark among the likely eligible bunch is certainly Patrick — who has missed the entire season so far due to a migraine disorder.
Patrick, the second overall pick in the 2017 NHL Draft, was skating just ahead of the season's stoppage, but there was no set timetable for the young pivot's return. Among potential call-ups that could make an impact during this playoff run, keep tabs on center Morgan Frost — who tallied 29 points in 41 games with Lehigh Valley this season. Expect the 21-year-old forward to serve as valuable depth down the middle this summer, especially if Patrick is ultimately not given the green light for game action until 2020-21.
Three Flyers To Watch
Sean Couturier, Center: There are plenty of factors that led to Boston’s downfall in the 2019 Stanley Cup Final. But chief among them was when Ryan O’Reilly — the 2019 Selke Trophy winner — and his line managed to start landing punches against Patrice Bergeron and Co., while, more importantly, limiting the number of chances down the other end of the ice. Couturier, all but a lock as a 2020 Selke Finalist, could very well be this postseason’s O’Reilly — with the 27-year-old pivot set to be tasked with both driving Philly’s offense and stymieing other top-six opponents.
A versatile pivot that logged 19:50 of ice time per game this season — including an average of 2:02 on the PK — Couturier is already one of the best faceoff men in the NHL, winning 59.6% of his draws this year, including 62.8% during power-play situations and 59.5% in Philly’s own zone.
Despite often getting handed so-so ice position (48.66 Off. Zone Faceoff %) and matchups against top opponents, Couturier and his line often thrived against “Elite” competition — described by Puck IQ as players with:
Points/60 > 2.21
Time on ice per game > 75th percentile
Relative Corsi > 40th percentile
Relative Dangerous Fenwick > 40th percentile
Very few players check off all of these boxes when it comes to offensive production, earning heavy minutes, excelling in puck-possession metrics and consistently generating quality shots against the opponent.
But in Couturier’s matchups against “Elite” players this season, his line managed to score 76% of all goals during 5v5 play — giving the Flyers a potential trump card against other top-heavy lineups.
Any matchup between Couturier and Bergeron will be must-see hockey this summer — and could be the ultimate determinant over who has the edge in the round-robin tournament.
https://twitter.com/NHL/status/1229925635235176453
Carter Hart, Goalie
This one seems like a given, as the strides taken by the 21-year old netminder has obviously played a key role in the Flyers' surge forward this year. The underlying numbers behind Hart's game validates his reputation as one of hockey's top young goalies — with his goals saved above expectation (GSAX) total of 4.22 ranking third among goalies with at least 2,000 minutes played, behind only Connor Hellebuyck (an absurd 17.97 GSAX) and Rask (14.19).
Hart seemed to be settling into a groove just ahead of the stoppage as well, posting a .934 save percentage since returning from injury back in February. Still, there are a few questions that Hart will have to answer once his first taste of the Stanley Cup Playoffs gets underway in the coming months.
Turning aside high-danger shots is a task that even the top goalies in the NHL can only fare so well in, but Hart has decidedly been in the middle of the pack in that metric with an .831 save percentage on high-danger shots — which ranks 23rd among goalies with at least 1,500 minutes of even-strength TOI. Add in the fact that Hart has been rather average when it comes to limiting rebound chances, and the Bruins should make it a priority to pepper the net in Grade-A areas throughout their matchups against Philly.
James van Riemsdyk, Wing
While the Flyers' offense has been paced by the usual suspects like Claude Giroux and another 2015 first-round pick (sorry, Bruins) in Travis Konecny, the return of van Riemsdyk should give the Flyers a valuable power forward with a game suited for playoff hockey. While 40 points over 66 games may not jump off the page, van Riemsdyk's value lies in his size (6-foot-3, 217 pounds) and ability to generate quality looks around the dirty areas of the ice.
With an average shot distance of just 24.3 feet and an individual high-danger scoring chance / 60 min. rate of 4.85 (22nd among forwards with at least 500 minutes of TOI), look for van Riemsdyk to be a regular sight down low — scrapping against defenders and causing goalies fits in the blue paint. Sometimes, those efforts don't reflect all that much in terms of scoring, but are vital during the controlled chaos that is playoff hockey.
Stats and graphs via Natural Stat Trick, Sean Tierney and Puck IQ.