Flyers-Bruins scouting report

FORWARDS

 Flyers: It is impossible to overestimate how much the Flyers miss having Jeff Carter - their leading goal scorer in the regular season. Still, the Flyers have plenty of depth to outlast the Bruins. Against Buffalo, Ville Leino netted three goals, including one game-winner in OT, but had a relatively quiet series along with Scott Hartnell (four points). The Flyers scored 22 goals against Buffalo and 10 of them came from Danny Briere and James van Riemsdyk. They are a more balanced team than that.

Bruins: Boston's series-winning goal in Game 7 came off the stick of a player, Nathan Horton, who had a relatively disappointing season after coming over from Florida in an offseason trade. Horton is just one of three new players who have made a big impact for Boston, including Rich Peverley (five points vs. Montreal) and Chris Kelly (three goals, three assists vs. Montreal). They give the Bruins the scoring depth that was missing last year.

EDGE: Flyers

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DEFENSE

 Flyers: Suffice to say, the Flyers look like a different team with Chris Pronger roaming the corners - even though they got along just fine without him. Pronger played 17 minutes in Game 7 and has continued to look stronger and stronger in the days following the first round. As Pronger continues to get healthy, Sean O'Donnell's minutes will wane a little bit and the Flyers will likely move toward a five-defensemen rotation with Pronger, Matt Carle, Andrej Meszaros, Braydon Coburn and Kimmo Timonen.

Bruins: Last year, the Bruins were struggling to keep their blue line healthy. Other than Zdeno Chara's dehydration scare last round, forcing Shane Hnidy into the lineup, the Bruins have been relatively healthy. Tomas Kaberle, acquired from Toronto at the deadline, is not the force he once was in the NHL but he helps round out a solid unit. Top to bottom, though, guys like Adam McQuaid probably wouldn't crack the Flyers' lineup.

EDGE: Flyers

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GOALTENDING

Flyers: When Peter Laviolette drew up his game plan for Buffalo back on April 14, do you think he really included starting three different goaltenders? Despite the circus, Brian Boucher did not have an awful series for the Flyers. He gave up 10 goals in more than 14 periods worth of work, including two brutal goals in a span of 3 minutes. Erase those goals - scored from the corner and behind the net - and his goals against-average is under 2.00 and his save percentage jumps to 94.7 percent. You can't argue with those numbers. Boucher, a New England native, is now Laviolette's guy unless he proves otherwise.

Bruins: Tim Thomas is consistently inconsistent. He is easily the NHL's most unorthodox goaltender, making saves in a variety of ways that make coaches and players scratch their heads. Thomas, who has again reinvented himself after a mediocre season last year following his 2008-09 Vezina Trophy-winning campaign, somehow finds a way for the puck to hit him. There is little technical work involved. The knock on him, though, is that teams can figure out a way to beat him when steadily facing his tendencies throughout a series.

EDGE: Bruins

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SPECIAL TEAMS

Flyers: Despite a brutal start (2-for-26) to the first round on the power play, the Flyers' power play went 3-for-9 with Chris Pronger in the lineup - not including an even-strength goal that was scored just seconds after a Sabres penalty expired. That's a positive sign. Still, it's not enough to be an advantage. It's something they put a lot of work into over these last 2 days off at practice. Both teams were 77 percent on the penalty kill in the first round.

Bruins: Two weeks ago, it would have been hard to imagine the Flyers facing a more inept power play than their own, which started the series 1-for-20 at the Wells Fargo Center with the man advantage. Hello, Boston. The Bruins were 0-for-21 in the entire first round against Montreal. The bad news, for the Flyers, is that it would be nearly impossible for it to continue. Even a blind squirrel finds a nut sometimes.

EDGE: Pick 'em

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COACHING

Flyers: Peter Laviolette, the coach who could do no wrong in the City of Brotherly Love, was beginning to draw a lot of criticism for his handling of the goaltenders against Buffalo. He had little choice in the matter - and he kept with his style from the previous playoff runs. When he has a chance to make a switch, he does so. Last year, with one goaltender hurt most of the time, he didn't have that option. Still, Laviolette (18-12 in playoffs with Flyers) has his players believing in themselves - and his gut instinct moves this time last year against Boston should have earned him a statue in South Philly. That's enough to win this battle.

Bruins: Claude Julien, a previous Jack Adams Award winner as NHL Coach of the Year, certainly has accumulated a lot of accolades in his four seasons as the Bruins' head coach. None of those, however, include a berth in the Eastern Conference finals. He has a nearly .600 winning percentage in the regular season. But he has never been able to get his team over the hump in the playoffs to win eight games.

EDGE: Flyers

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INTANGIBLES

Flyers: The Flyers know they will be in for a dog fight in this series. Boston is a talented team. One player in the Flyers' locker room yesterday said to "take last year's playoff win and throw it out the [bleeping] window. It means nothing." Truthfully, it could have an adverse effect with overconfidence. In this sport, historically, seeding, home-ice advantage and momentum mean nothing. But "die" just doesn't seem to be a part of the Flyers' vocabulary.

Bruins: We will never know for sure what kind of mental impact last year's collapse will have on the Bruins' psyche this series. It could be none at all. Or it could cloud their judgment. At least at the start, it is the 800-pound gorilla in their locker room. They're going to try to use it as motivation to knock off the Flyers. But it just may be some really heavy baggage they are lugging around with them. We'll find out soon.

EDGE: Pick 'em

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3 KEYS TO SERIES

1. Goaltending: There is probably a reason why the Flyers just became the first team since 1988 to win a playoff series by starting three different goaltenders: It usually doesn't dictate success. Clearly, the Flyers would be in a much better position if they could ride Brian Boucher throughout the series.

2. Wear down defense: The Flyers caught a break against Buffalo's inexperienced defensemen, who turned the puck over at will during the latter part of the series. The Flyers need to use their scoring depth to attack in waves, as they did in Game 7, to wear down Boston's much more rugged defense corps.

3. Mike Richards: While Richards does not get the credit he deserves for his defensive role with the Flyers, he matched up against Zdeno Chara last year in the playoffs and took the heat off his other teammates to allow them to produce. Even with Chara draped on his back, Richards still found a way to net nine points in the seven-game series last May.