NESN

Bruins Look to Finish Off Flyers at Home to Advance to Conference Finals

The Bruins will try to close out the Flyers again in Game 5 on Monday after failing in their first attempt, which resulted in a 5-4 overtime loss in Philadelphia on Friday.

Now, the Bruins are back at the TD Garden where they’re 5-0 in the playoffs and will try to feed off 17,565 raucous fans draped in black and gold. The B’s will try to go 2-for-2 in possible series-clinching games on Causeway St. during the 2010 Stanley Cup playoffs and avoid another trip back to Philly.

"We’ve played great at home and the fans have been awesome," forward Shawn Thornton told NESN.com on Sunday. "Now we need to clinch another in front of them."

WHEN AND WHERE

Philadelphia Flyers vs. Boston Bruins
Game 5 Eastern Conference semifinals
May 10, 7 p.m. (NESN)
TD Garden, Boston

HEAD TO HEAD

The Bruins lead the series 3-1 after a 5-4 overtime loss in Game 4 at Philadelphia.

The Bruins beat the Flyers 3-2 in overtime in the 2010 Winter Classic and were 2-1-1 against them this season. Philadelphia won 4-3 in a shootout at the Wachovia Center on Oct. 22 and 3-1 at TD Garden on Dec. 14. The Bruins' other win over the Flyers was a 5-1 victory at Philadelphia on March 11.

The Bruins and Flyers are meeting in the playoffs for just the fifth time, and it's the first time since 1978. Each team has won two of the previous four series, which all took place over a five-year span in the 1970s (1974, 1976, 1977, 1978).

GOALTENDING MATCHUP

Bruins
Tuukka Rask is 7-3 with a 2.39 GAA and .920 save percentage. Rask made 29 saves in a 5-4 overtime loss in Game 4. He had a four-game win streak snapped with the loss. Rask was 22-12-5 this season with a league-leading 1.97 goals-against average and .931 save percentage to go with five shutouts.

Tim Thomas has not played in the playoffs so far. He was 16-18-8 with a 2.55 GAA, .915 save percentage and five shutouts this season.

Flyers
Brian Boucher is 5-4 with a 2.43 GAA and .913 save percentage in the playoffs. Boucher was 9-18-3 with a 2.76 GAA and .899 save percentage. He had one shutout.

Michael Leighton has not played in the playoffs due to ankle surgery but practiced with his team this weekend and could back up Boucher. Leighton was 17-9-2 with a 2.83 GAA and .903 save percentage in the regular season.

Johan Backlund has not played in the playoffs. He was 0-1-0 with a 3.00 GAA and .917 save percentage this season.

PROJECTED LINEUPS

Bruins
Forwards
Daniel Paille–Patrice Bergeron–Mark Recchi
Milan Lucic–Marc Savard–Miroslav Satan
Blake Wheeler–Vladimir Sobotka–Michael Ryder
Steve Begin–Trent Whitfield*–Shawn Thornton

Defensemen
Zdeno Chara–Johnny Boychuk
Matt Hunwick–Dennis Wideman
Andrew Ference–Mark Stuart

Goaltenders
Tuukka Rask
Tim Thomas

Flyers
Forwards
Simon Gagne–Mike Richards–Dan Carcillo/Jon Kalinski*
Scott Hartnell–Danny Briere–Ville Leino
James van Riemsdyk–Claude Giroux–Arron Asham
Daroll Powe–Blair Betts–Andreas Nodl

Note: Daniel Carcillo (knee) was not on the ice Sunday and Jon Kalinski skated in his spot.

Defensemen
Matt Carle–Chris Pronger
Kimmo Timonen–Braydon Coburn
Ryan Parent–Lukas Krajieck

Goaltenders
Brian Boucher
Johan Backlund/Michael Leighton

STAT SHEET

Bruins

• Mark Recchi scored two goals (including the game-tying goal with 31.5 seconds left) in Game 4 and now has six goals and nine points in the playoffs.
• Milan Lucic scored a goal in Game 4 and is riding a five-game point streak, where he has six points during that span.
• Patrice Bergeron and Dennis Wideman each had two helpers in Game 4. Bergeron now has a five-game point streak going and leads the team with 11 playoff points.

Flyers

• Daniel Briere and Chris Pronger had a goal and an assist each in Game 4.
• Simon Gagne scored the game-winner in overtime in his first game back from a foot injury. Gagne has three points in five playoff games.
• Matt Carle had four assists, including one on the OT winner by Gagne, and was a plus-5 in Game 4. Carle has six helpers in the playoffs.

BLACK AND BLUE

Bruins

• David Krejci is out for the playoffs with a dislocated right wrist suffered in Game 3.
• Adam McQuaid suffered a lower-body injury in Game 3 and according to Claude Julien, is day-to-day.
• Dennis Seidenberg had surgery for a lacerated flexor carpi radialis tendon in his left forearm in early April and is out for 3-4 more weeks. Seidenberg skated Saturday and Sunday but is still looking at the same timetable for a return.
• Marco Sturm suffered a torn ACL and MCL in his right knee 21 seconds into Game 1 and will miss the remainder of the playoffs.

Flyers

• Daniel Carcillo did not skate the last two days and is questionable for Game 5 with a knee injury.
• Jeff Carter is out indefinitely after foot surgery.
• Mike Rathje is out for the season with hip and back injuries.
• Ian Laperriere is out for the playoffs with a brain contusion and concussion
• Ray Emery is out for the season after hip surgery.

OUTLOOK

The Bruins will try to squash any momentum the Flyers have Monday night and the best way to do that will be to get the first goal early.

"We need to just come out and kill any thoughts they have that they can get this back to Philly," center Marc Savard said.

The key to that will be to eliminate the traffic in front of Tuukka Rask that led to the Flyers five goals in Game 4 and create traffic of their own in front of the Flyers’ net. Look for some crash-and-bang hockey from the B’s as they try to close this series out in Game 5.