Philadelphia Flyers versus Boston Bruins – NHL Play-off Semi-final Preview
The Philadelphia Flyers will be hosting the first game of the Eastern Conference semi-final as they face the Boston Bruins, in a match to be played at the Wells Fargo Arena this Saturday, April 30, 2011. The game is sure to be a very interesting one and
a lot of action can be expected on the ice.
The two teams have met each other on four occasions during the season, out of which three times it has been the Bruins who have emerged as winners. The Flyers have also recorded a win over their opponents, in a match played on December 11, 2010.
The win came in over-time with Captain of the Flyers, Mike Richards scoring with a few seconds remaining, to win the game 2-1 in the end. Bruins goal-keeper, Tim Thomas has been performing consistently and a lot is expected from him in the semi-finals.
Thomas has been doing well so far when the two teams have met during the regular season. He has 1.95 goals against average and a 0.942 saves percentage. The Flyers did win their last game, even though at one stage they were behind the Buffalo Sabres in the
quarter-final series.
The Flyers had the daunting task of coming up with a strong performance against last year’s best goal-keeper, Ryan Miller, as they were up against the Buffalo Sabres. Now, they are up against Tim Thomas, who is another challenging goal-keeper in the NHL.
The Flyers will have to play well if they want to score goals against one of the strong performers’ in the sport.
Flyers’ Skipper, Richards said, "He's a great goaltender and is a little bit unorthodox. It's tough to watch video on him and try to see some of his tendencies, but we're going to do the same thing this series as we did against Ryan Miller last series. We're
going to try to get the puck to the net as much as possible and try to get tips and deflections. We're going to shoot to score, because at any point he can come flying across "Until that puck crosses the line, Tim is going to battle."
The Bruins, on the other hand, will be relying on David Krejci and Dennis Seidenberg, two players who missed last year’s play-offs. Seidenberg has not been in the greatest of touches as he scored only three points in the first round series against the Montreal
Canadiens. Krejci has not given his best yet, as he scored only one goal in the first round series against the Canadiens.
Both these players need to perform well and put in a strong performance, if they want the Bruins to win and progress into the Conference Finals.
Tags: