Boston Bruins: What to expect in the round-robin versus the Flyers

As the Boston Bruins are gearing up for their first round-robin game against the Philadelphia Flyers, what can we expect from the squad?

Going into the Round Robin the Boston Bruins are likely to take one of two approaches. Either they go into them aggressive and try to go for the top seed, or they use it as a time to shake the dust off and prepare for the “real” start to their playoff run.

We won’t know which approach the Boston Bruins will take until game time comes. But let’s focus on what we saw from both the Flyers and Bruins exhibition games.

Starting with the Flyers. Kevin Hayes barely seemed to miss a beat in the first game back. Hayes only recorded one goal on a turnover but helped create offensive chances all game.

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The Flyers goaltending was also pretty strong considering they hadn’t played in four months. Carter Hart stopped 11 of the 12 shots he faced and Brian Elliot also managed well saving 13 of the 14 shots he faced.

The Flyers’ second line of Laughton, Hayes, and Konecny was a strong spot for the team as well.

If the Flyers play the way they played against the Penguins, the Boston Bruins are going to have a tough challenge to face on Sunday.

Now onto the Bruins. If you watched the game Thursday night you would know that it was pretty disappointing even given the fact the Bruins hadn’t played in four months.

One sore spot for the Bruins was penalties. The Blue Jackets had five power plays during the game. While the Bruins were able to keep Columbus from scoring on 4 of the 5 penalties, it’s still not ideal for the Bruins to have to kill off that many penalties in one game.

Another tough spot for the Boston Bruins was goaltending. Tuukka Rask did not get off to a great start. He allowed three goals in just the first period.

While it is expected that goalies especially are going to be pretty rusty after the pause if Carter Hart plays the way he did Tuesday and Tuukka Rask (if the Bruins even decide to start him) doesn’t improve the Bruins are going to struggle come Sunday.

However, as the game progressed the Bruins did seem to improve a bit. Sean Kuraly was one of the bright spots for the Bruins. He started a bit slow but as the game progressed, he seemed to find his legs and was a positive of the game.

We’ll have to wait and see what approach the Bruins decide to take, but from what it seems the Bruins squad has their work cut out from them in this first round-robin game.