Free Picks: Philadelphia Flyers vs. Boston Bruins

The Flyers and Bruins are at different ends of the standings, but these teams aren’t so different. With their defensive strengths, both teams have been able to capture victories in low scoring affairs. After combining for 9 goals on Thursday, I can see these two teams creating an offensive encore on Saturday. The Bruins may have broken their offensive curse and the Flyers are talented enough to keep pace.

With the NHL rearranging divisions for the 2021 season, it’s no secret that the East division is stacked. Even so, the Bruins were projected to be one of the league’s best this season. While they didn’t dominate NHL Stanley Cup odds, the Bruins were a respectable pick to win the holy grail of hockey.

Boston are a modest 2-1-1 to open the 2021 campaign. While any team would be happy to be above .500, a 2-1-1 record has Boston near the bottom of the East standings. Saturday night, their season won’t be any easier when they take on the Philadelphia Flyers.

The two teams met on Thursday, which resulted in a shootout victory for the Bruins. Philadelphia led for the majority of the game until the Bruins tallied 4 goals in the final period to secure a point and push the game into an extra frame.

Despite scoring a total of 9 goals on Thursday, I don’t know if I can trust these teams to have another high-scoring affair. Scoring has not come easy for the Bruins. If we see another huge offensive surge by the Bruins on Saturday, I might look at selecting them to hit the over for future selections on BetPicks. Right now, this team is struggling to score goals.

The Bruins rank as one of the worst offensive teams in the league, scoring only 1.75 goals per game. That has them second to last in the NHL ranks, only above the Anaheim Ducks.

With that being said, I think the 60-minutes total goals is relatively low. Listed at 4.5 (888Sport), I can see Boston and Philadelphia reaching that total with ease.

Even with the Bruins being horrendous on offense, they still have a lot of talent that can bury goals. Yes, they are missing David Pastrnak, but what if Thursday’s contest against the Flyers was the opening of the Bruins’ offensive floodgates? I think the total goals is just too low to NOT hammer.

We all know how elite the Flyers’ offensive has been this season. With the firepower from Philadelphia and the high-ceiling of Boston’s offense, I am confident in this NHL prediction.

• The total has gone OVER in 4 of Philadelphia’s last 5 games.
• Philadelphia are 9-3 SU in last 12 games on the road.
• Boston are 2-4 SU in last 6 games played on a Saturday.
• The Bruins allow 24 shots against per game.