Flyers vs Bruins | Game 3 Prediction & Pick

vs.

Philadelphia Flyers at Boston Bruins

Line: Boston Bruins -1.5
Money Line: Philadelphia +120 / Boston -140
Over/Under: 5.5

The Philadelphia Flyers will try and climb out of a 0-2 series hole when they travel to the TD Garden on Wednesday night for Game 3 of their best-of-seven Eastern Conference semifinal matchup against the Boston Bruins. Game time is set for 7 p.m. (ET) and it will be broadcast nationally on VERSUS.

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Philadelphia finds itself in familiar territory with Boston after losing the first two games of this series. Last year in the playoffs it fell behind 0-3 before rallying for four straight victories to win the series in seven games. The main difference this year is that both losses came at home. This past Saturday, the Flyers were hammered 7-3 as a 131 favorite and Monday night they fell 3-2 in overtime as a 123 favorite. The total was split 1-1 in the two games.

Danny Briere and James Van Reimsdyk lead the team in scoring in the postseason with seven goals apiece and Claude Giroux leads in assists with 11, but Philadelphia has been unable to score when they needed to the most, especially in Game 2. Van Reimsdyk’s back-to-back first period goals gave the Flyers an early 2-0 lead, but that was all the scoring they could muster in the loss. Briere and Van Reimsdyk along with Mike Richards each tallied goals in Game 1 but it was too little, too late to keep the game close. Jeff Carter, the Flyers’ leading goal scorer in the regular season, remains questionable for this game with a knee injury.

Goalie Brian Boucher has seen the majority of the action in this series. He stopped 18 of 23 shots in Game 1 and 32 of 35 in Monday night’s game for a save percentage of .909 as compared to his .934 percentage against Buffalo in the first round. He has given up eight goals in his last two games after allowing an average of 2.10 in his first seven.

Boston fell into its own 0-2 hole in its opening round series against Montreal, but has now won six of its last seven games. The Bruins are 4-1 as a favorite and 2-0 as an underdog and have averaged 3.71 goals a game over this span. They are 3-1 on the road and 2-0 at home.

Center David Krejci scored the game winning goal in overtime in Game 2 and is one of four Bruins with four goals in these playoffs. Center Patrice Bergeron leads the team in assists with nine and total points with 11. Former Flyer Mark Recchi has also come up big with two goals and four assists including one in Saturday’s romp.

The real man of the hour for Boston has been goalie Tim Thomas, especially in the third period of Game 2 when he stopped 22 shots. All told in that game, he turned away 52 of 54 shots to preserve the win. He now has a goals-against-average of 2.24 and a .931 save percentage in nine playoff games. Defenseman Adam McQuaid remains questionable for Wednesday night after hitting his head in Monday’s win.

Philadelphia is 2-1 in the playoffs as an underdog and the total has gone ‘over’ in six of its last nine games. Boston is 4-2 as a favorite and the total has stayed ‘under’ in five of its last nine games. Head-to-head, the Bruins have now won five of six games this season and the last four straight. They are 1-1 at home and the total has stayed ‘under’ in four of the six games.

The odds makers have the Boston Bruins as a -1.5 point favorite with an over/under of 5.5.

Check out the latest NHL Hockey Odds here.

Prediction: This time around, stick with the Flyers as a road underdog as they find a way to get enough pucks past Thomas to secure the win.

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