Wednesday NHL Odds, Picks & Predictions: Bruins vs. Flyers Betting Preview

Bruins vs. Flyers Odds

The Bruins will come to the Wells Fargo Center to take on the Flyers in a battle between two Eastern Conference rivals on Wednesday Night Hockey.

It's hard to predict what we will see from a Flyers roster that underachieved last year due to treacherous goaltending and porous defensive play. Wednesday will offer a big glimpse into any potential progress as they play an elite Bruins squad.

Boston Bruins

The Bruins looked very true to form during their home opener, limiting the Dallas Stars mainly to low-quality looks en route to a 3-1 victory. Boston should again be one of the league's stingiest groups, which does go against my thinking here to some extent.

The Bruins will need to continue to see improvement with regards to their depth scoring behind the perfection line of Patrice Bergeron, David Pastrnak and Brad Marchand should they hope to go deeper in this year's playoffs.

A big part of this will come down to the kind of play the team receives from Taylor Hall, as the former Hart Trophy winner will be tasked with carrying a less-talented second line trio with Charlie Coyle and Colin Smith, compared to what other cup contenders are offering.

Tomorrow will offer the Bruins a good chance to put together a better offensive effort, as they will face a Flyers team that was simply abysmal at keeping the puck out of their net last season.

Philadelphia Flyers

Behind some very poor goaltending and shaky defensive play, the Flyers missed the playoffs by a fairly large margin while allowing the league's worst goals against total.

The Flyers would trade for Robert Hagg for Rasmus Ristolainen in an effort to help sort out the defense, however realistically this could be a downgrade. The team also brought in Ryan Ellis, who certainly should help, but I still question how much the defensive core can improve their play in front of Carter Hart and Martin Jones.

Tomorrow night the Flyers have confirmed Martin Jones will start. Jones allowed -18.9 goals saved above expected last season over 34 games with an .896 save percentage in another very poor season in San Jose, although the Sharks were admittedly porous in front of him.

The team has played aggressively and with lots of energy over their opening two contests this season, collecting three out of four points while scoring 10 goals from a number of players.

The Flyers should score at a reasonable rate this season, but the question will be how much they are able to clean up their defensive play and the quality of goaltending the team will see from Hart and Jones, as even NHL average numbers would go as significant bounce-back seasons compared to last year.

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Bruins vs. Flyers  Pick

Some shops still have this one posted with a total of 5.5 at a reasonable price, like bet365, and I see some value with the over and would do so now as I believe if anything the line will get worse.

The Bruins will strive to win low scoring games again this year, and certainly that works against us here. But with Jones taking the cage for a Flyers team that finished dead last in goals against per game last season, I think Boston will certainly have a good opportunity to put up a reasonable total themselves.

That means I see value with this lower total.

However, the Flyers could shape up to be relatively deep up front this season, and I have really liked their aggressive play throughout two contests that led to an eye-opening nine goals through two contests. Obviously, Philadelphia won't keep up that ridiculous pace, but I think it is likely they are able to build on last season's offensive production which saw them post the league's 14th-best goals tally.

I feel that even against a stingy Bruins defense, Philly will be able to generate a solid number of looks.

Pick: Over 5.5 (-120, play to -140)