Boston Bruins: 3 players that need to step up in two games vs Flyers
The Boston Bruins are playing their next two games against the Philadelphia Flyers. With the Flyers being an extremely tough team to beat on most nights, the B’s will need some players to step up.
The Black and Gold are going into this two game series after losing their last two games. First a 2-1 loss against the New Jersey Devils and a 1-0 shutout loss at the hands of the New York Islanders.
The biggest issue through the first three games of the season for Boston has been their inability to consistently create offensive opportunities and score at 5-on-5 — they still don’t have a goal at 5-on-5 play.
With the Flyers banged up — they’ll be missing forwards Sean Couturier and Morgan Frost, and defenseman Phil Myers — these two games are the perfect opportunities for a few key players to gain some momentum and confidence and help the B’s gain four points in the standings.
3. Charlie Coyle needs to step up for the Boston Bruins against the Philadelphia Flyers.
Center Charlie Coyle is in the first year of a six-year extension where he has an annual cap hit of $5.25 million. Although Coyle is the third line center, much more is expected from him.
While he usually plays on the third line at 5-on-5, he also plays on the powerplay and the penalty kill. The fact that he has no points through three games so far is a bit disappointing.
At Coyle’s cap hit, he’s expected to perform a little better. He’s expected to bring up the level of play of his linemates, which just hasn’t been the case.
With the Flyers being shorthanded at center and digging deep to fill their bottom-six, now could be the time for Coyle and the third line to take advantage and get some momentum going.
If Coyle can get it going, this would help Craig Smith and Anders Bjork going, which would infinity help the B’s get going at as a whole.
2. Jack Studnicka needs to step up for the Boston Bruins against the Philadelphia Flyers.
To start the season, rookie forward Jack Studnicka was on the first line with Patrice Bergeron and Brad Marchand. However, after an unimpressive performance, he was scratched for the second game.
But with Ondrej Kase being injured in the second game, Studnicka was put back in the lineup on the second line with David Krejci and Nick Ritchie for the third game.
For this game, Studnicka, along with the rest of the team, looked much better and impactful creating scoring chances for himself and his linemates. However, he still has no points through two games.
Along with playing on the second line at 5-on-5, Studnicka has also been seeing time on the penalty kill. Although it would be in the better interest for the Bruins not to have to kill any penalties, it would be huge if Studnicka could create and finish some scoring opportunities on the PK.
Overall, Studnicka needs to get going and finally score his first NHL goal. Although Ritchie has been playing well, he shouldn’t be on the second line, so him and Krejci need to make up for him.
1. Jake DeBrusk needs to step up for the Boston Bruins against the Philadelphia Flyers.
After signing a two-year bridge deal with an annual cap hit of $3,675,000, Jake DeBrusk seemed determined and ready to bounce back after a disappointing 2019-20 season.
However, through three games, DeBrusk has been basically invisible with no points to his name. DeBrusk’s best game so far this season was the last one against the New York Islanders, where he played on the first line with Bergeron and Marchand.
Although DeBrush failed to score, he looked energized and was actually creating scoring opportunities — things he failed to do in the first two games when he was playing on the second line with Krejci and Kase.
While DeBrusk showed some energy for some shifts, this level of play was still not consistently shown in every shift. For the B’s to score at 5-on-5, DeBrusk needs to show up for every shift. He needs to play at his highest level throughout the whole game so he can create opportunities not just for himself but also Marchand and Bergeron.
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If these three players step up for Boston in these two games against the Flyers, it’ll make it a lot easier for the Bruins to finally score at 5-on-5 and overall outplay Philly and win these two games.