Boston Bruins: 3 Stars Against the Flyers at Lake Tahoe

2. Connor Clifton

The number of injuries on defense grows by the game, including Jeremy Lauzon suffering an upper-body injury after just 36 seconds of ice-time Sunday night, but Clifton has proven to be a reliable fill-in and that continued against Philly.

He was third on the team in ice-time at 23:06, had two assists, blocked four Philadelphia shots, and finished with a plus/minus (+/-) of plus-3. He assisted on Charlie McAvoy’s goal late in the first period and then had a helper on Trent Frederic’s goal in the second.

He was beaten out by Kevan Miller for the third defensive pairing with rookie Jakub Zboril, but has made the most of his opportunity filling in for injured teammates and making an impact.

1. David Pastrnak

Who else? Reunited with Patrice Bergeron and Brad Marchand on the first line, he wasted little time in scoring. He opened the scoring 34 seconds into the game and then potted his second just 46 ticks into the middle period. He completed the hat trick with 2:56 left in the game when he one-timed a pass from Jack Studnicka past Brian Elliott for the seventh and final Boston goal.

Pastrnak, who missed the first seven games of the season recovering from offseason hip surgery, was the second player to score a hat trick in an outdoor game. Tyler Toffoli of the Los Angeles Kings did it last February against the Colorado Avalanche at the Air Force Academy. He was then traded 48 hours later to the Vancouver Canucks.

Pastrnak has done most of his damage this season against the Flyers. In three games, he has two hat tricks, the other coming in a 4-3 overtime win on Feb. 3. It’s safe to say that one of the league’s most gifted goal-scorers is back and healthy.