The Boston Bruins closed out their six‑game stretch without Charlie McAvoy on a high note, rolling past the Philadelphia Flyers 5–1 in a Saturday afternoon matinee at TD Garden. Boston finished the suspension window at 4–2, and while the performance wasn’t flawless, there were plenty of encouraging signs to take away as the team settles into its early‑season rhythm.
The reeling Flyers, now 0‑4‑2, offered little resistance from the opening puck drop. Boston dictated the pace immediately, and by the midway mark of the afternoon they had held Philadelphia to just five shots on goal. The toughest task Jeremy Swayman faced was staying engaged—he faced long stretches with nothing coming his way as the Bruins smothered the Flyers in every zone.
All four lines had their moments driving play and generating chances, and early returns suggest the combinations Marco Sturm put together before Thursday’s win over the Utah Mammoth might be exactly the spark this group needed.
With McAvoy no eligible to join the team, decisions loom before the team sets out for a western road trip beginning Tuesday night in San Jose.
For McAvoy to rejoin the lineup, someone on the back end is inevitably coming out. With Jonathan Aspirot already serving as the extra defenseman, the Bruins may have to consider a tougher roster move—waiving a defenseman to open a spot for a forward and return to the more traditional 14‑and‑7 roster construction. It’s the kind of decision that tests depth and how confident the staff feels about its blue‑line hierarchy heading into the next stretch.
On the right side, the picture is crowded. Will Borgen, Mason Lohrei, and Connor Clifton have all been holding down spots—and now McAvoy is set to return. Borgen has been steady, if unspectacular, and remains a safe bet to stay in. Lohrei has done everything asked of him, with only one off night in a game where the entire group struggled.
That leaves Clifton, whose supporters point to his penalty‑killing value, an area where he’s generally been reliable. But with McAvoy stepping back in, those PK minutes can—and almost certainly will—shift his way, whether anyone likes the idea or not.
The only real path to keeping Clifton in the lineup would be shifting Lohrei back to the left side and sitting Frederic Brunet. Boston isn’t taking Nikita Zadorov or Hampus Lindholm out, and Brunet hasn’t played himself out of a job. It’s a tight squeeze, and that adjustment is the lone scenario that preserves Clifton’s spot without disrupting the established left‑side hierarchy.
The next question is whether Matthew Poitras has shown enough to keep his spot, or if Sean Kuraly is ready to draw back in and reclaim a role.
Many point to Kuraly’s value on the penalty kill, but the numbers tell a different story. The PK had been a trouble spot earlier, yet since he came out of the lineup it strung together 13 straight kills before finally giving one up today. The other argument centers on his faceoff ability, and while that’s a fair consideration, you have to ask: if draws are the only reason to put him back in, is that really enough to justify taking someone else out of the lineup?
Defensively, both players have been essentially neck‑and‑neck with a slight decision to Kuraly when paired with Tanner Jeannot and Mark Kastelic. The real separation comes on the offensive side of the puck. It’s not a straightforward decision, and it’s one that’s going to require a deeper conversation before the staff makes a call.
I’ll take a deeper dive into all this on tomorrow’s podcast. You can find it live on YouTube at 9 am or watch it later.
