BOSTON - Can the NHL's hottest team keep it cooking in the ice-cold bitter conditions of Boston?
The Flyers (21-23-6) will shoot for a sixth straight win Thursday as they take on the Bruins (27-17-6), who currently occupy the first wild-card position in the Eastern Conference.
The Flyers enter this game 11 points behind the Blue Jackets for the second wild-card spot in the East with Columbus playing in Winnipeg.
Let's take a look at tonight's essentials:
• When: 7 p.m. ET with Flyers Pregame Live at 6:30 p.m.
• Where: TD Garden
• Broadcast: NBC Sports Philadelphia+
• Live stream: NBCSportsPhiladelphia.com and the NBC Sports MyTeams app
• Since winning the 2011-12 season opener, it's been a rough ride for the Flyers in Beantown. They're 1-7-2 in their last 10 games at TD Garden and have been outscored 34-18. However, six of those 10 games have been decided by a single goal.
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• Over the course of their five-game winning streak, the Flyers have been widely outshot by a 185-118 margin, an average of 37-24 per game (see story).
Apparently, being outshot seems to work for the Flyers this season. They're 6-18-2 when they outshoot their opponent and 12-5-4 when they've been outshot by the opposition.
• Tuesday, Anthony Stolarz became the third different Flyers goaltender to post a shutout this season, joining Calvin Pickard and Brian Elliott. In their history, the Flyers have never had shutouts from four different goaltenders in the same season.
Have you checked out Stolarz's new "Wrath of Gritty" inspired mask?
Stolarz gave the new look a thumbs-up after Thursday's morning skate, but isn't sure when the mask will be in circulation as it's being shipped from Sweden.
• Carter Hart can not only become the fourth Flyers goalie to post a shutout, but he will try to become the first goaltender under the age of 21 to win five consecutive starts since Montreal's Carey Price reeled off seven straight wins in 2008.
To further exemplify Hart's maturity in trying to block out distractions, the Flyers' rookie goaltender returned to Allentown to pick up some of his belongings that he had left there previously. Hart elected to keep his Sony PlayStation behind to keep the focus on hockey over the final months of the regular season.
Oskar Lindblom scored the Flyers' only goal just 1:40 into the game against the Rangers. Lindblom has been a strong contributor over the current five-game winning streak with two goals, two assists and a plus-7 rating.
• Defenseman Shayne Gostisbhere will miss his third straight game with a lower-body injury. The Flyers were hopeful for Saturday's game against the Oilers but interim head coach Scott Gordon said that doesn't look realistic. With very little ice time since his injury, it appears "Ghost" may not be ready to return until next Thursday against the Kings.
Gordon, a Brockton, Massachusetts, native, will be coaching his first NHL game in his hometown since Nov. 16, 2009, when he was behind the bench of the New York Islanders.
• Tuukka Rask will return to the Bruins' net after missing one game with a concussion he suffered Jan. 19. With a win, Rask would become the Bruins' all-time wins leader with 253, surpassing Tiny Thompson, who backstopped the B's from 1928-38.
Rask said the best thing for his concussion was basking in the sun and doing nothing during his trip to the Caribbean over the bye week.
Projected lineup
Forwards
James van Riemsdyk-Claude Giroux-Travis Konecny
Oskar Lindblom-Sean Couturier-Jakub Voracek
Scott Laughton-Nolan Patrick-Wayne Simmonds
Michael Raffl-Mikhail Vorobyev-Phil Varone
Defensemen
Ivan Provorov-Travis Sanheim
Andrew MacDonald-Christian Folin
Robert Hagg-Radko Gudas
Goalies
Carter Hart
Anthony Stolarz
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