Boston's start has been more up and down. The Bruins opened with a 3-0 shutout of the Rangers and a 4-3 win in Winnipeg, then lost back-to-back games 4-1 to Minnesota and Ottawa. As of Thursday they had stopped that skid by beating the Mammoth 6-1. They led 6-0 at the 2nd intermission against a Utah team that came to TD Garden at 3-1-0.
They've done it without their best player. Charlie McAvoy is serving a 6-game suspension for slashing Buffalo's Zach Benson in Game 6 of last spring's first-round series. The Utah game was No. 5, so Saturday should be the last one he misses before he's eligible again at San Jose on October 13. Boston's blue line has been patched together all month, and the 6-1 win was the first time it looked like that didn't matter.
There's a schedule wrinkle here too. Both teams played Thursday night, but Philadelphia has to get from Ottawa to Boston for a 1:00 PM ET puck drop. Boston slept in its own beds. For a team already chasing the puck for 60 minutes, an early start on the road is about the worst setup it could get.
Philadelphia's blue line is thin as well. Rasmus Ristolainen is out, Helge Grans is on the injured non-roster list with a lower-body injury, and winger Nikita Grebenkin is on IR. A defense that already can't break the puck out cleanly has fewer bodies to rotate against a Bruins team that just found its scoring.
For the Flyers, step 1 is simple: get through the neutral zone and keep the shot count somewhere near even. If they can't, they're asking Woll or Vladar to steal a game in a building where Boston just scored 6. For the Bruins, Saturday is their last game without McAvoy and a chance to show the Utah win wasn't a one-off.