Matt Carle blog: Getting ready for Game 1

Flyers defenseman Matt Carle will blog regularly, and exclusively, for the Daily News during the NHL playoffs.

Carle, 25, is in his fourth NHL season and his second as a Flyer. Carle captured two NCAA national titles in three seasons at the University of Denver, where he became the only junior defenseman to ever win hockey's Heisman Trophy, the Hobey Baker Award, in 2006. Carle is just one of 11 players in NHL history from Alaska and resides in Minnesota in the offseason.

Here is Matt's blog for today:

Our flight for Boston leaves at 2 o'clock today. You'd like to have home-ice advantage but I think starting a series on the road isn't as tough. I think it's those later games in the series, Games 5 and 7, when you wish you were at home.

There definitely isn't as much pressure on us starting the series on the road. If you can steal one of those games, it really puts a lot of pressure on the other team – that's one of the advantages of being the road team.

The Bruins are a good defensive team. They play a pretty physical game. They had a lot of success in the playoffs and regular season last year – they were a No. 1 seed. They have a lot of skilled players.

We'll go to a team dinner tonight. I think that's something every team does in the playoffs to make sure everybody gets a good meal in them. We did that last series, eating together the night before road games, and I think it's something that we'll continue to do as long as we're in the playoffs.

After that, I'll probably watch the Pittsburgh game and lay low at the hotel. My roommate on the road is Oskars Bartulis. I know it's also the last episode of the Shane Mosley / Floyd Mayweather 24/7 show tonight. I'll probably catch that and maybe we'll be able to watch the fight tomorrow night. I don't have kids so I don't normally have to be awake too early in the morning. I'll probably turn the TV off around 11:30 or midnight tonight to get a good night's sleep.