Bruins vs. Flyers: NHL's Two Hottest Teams Face Off with Conference's Top Spot on the Line

by Cup of Chowder Staff on Dec 17, 2011 11:00 AM EST

BOSTON, MA - MAY 06: Milan Lucic #17 of the Boston Bruins celebrates his goal at 15:03 of the third period against the Philadelphia Flyers in Game Four of the Eastern Conference Semifinals during the 2011 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs at TD Garden on May 6, 2011 in Boston, Massachusetts. The Bruins defeated the Flyers 5-1 and swept the series 4-0. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)

Remember that time that the Bruins didn't lose in November? The Philadelphia Flyers are attempting to best them in December.

The Flyers, 7-0-0 in December, have a narrow lead on the Bruins (17-2-1 in their last 20) for first place in the Eastern Conference, which makes Saturday's matinee at the Wells Fargo Center more meaningful a game than the tilt between budding archrivals would have been anyway.

The Bruins should get captain Zdeno Chara back after he missed two games while recovering from a lower-body injury suffered in a Saturday night win at Columbus. Whether or not they'll have Gregory Campbell, who's recovering from a foot injury after blocking a shot in the same game, remains to be seen.

But the Flyers won't be so fortunate. It seems they'll be without leading scorer Claude Giroux for another game, and they'll be missing Captain Chris Pronger for the rest of the season after Pronger was diagnosed with serious post-concussion symptoms.

The Flyers come into the game off of a 4-3 win on Thursday at Montreal, and should have Ilya Bryzgalov back between the pipes. The Bruins will have Tim Thomas minding the net, and assuming everyone's healthy, will look like this:

Milan Lucic - David Krejci - Nathan Horton

Brad Marchand - Patrice Bergeron - Tyler Seguin

Benoit Pouliot - Chris Kelly - Rich Peverley

Shawn Thornton - Gregory Campbell (Zach Hamill) - Daniel Paille

Zdeno Chara - Johnny Boychuk

Dennis Seidenberg - Joe Corvo

Andrew Ference - Adam McQuaid

Tim Thomas

Tuukka Rask

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