The Bruins host the Flyers to kick off the 2011-12 NHL Season

Tonight in front of what will be a sold-out ruckus TD Garden crowd, the Bruins will raise their first Stanley Cup banner since 1972. After the banner is settled in it’s new the home the Bruins will need to close the door on the 2010-11 season, and focus on defending their title, and the 2011-12 season.

Game Details:
Philadelphia Flyers @ Boston Bruins.
TV: Versus Radio: 98.5 The Sports Hub
2010-11 Season Series: Bruins 3-1 (Bruins defeated the Flyers 4-0 in the Stanley Cup Playoffs)
2011-12 Season Series: Tied 0-0
Expected Goalies: Bruins: Tim Thomas. Philadelphia Flyers: Ilya Bryzgalov

What to watch for Bruins:

As the defending Stanley Cup Champions, the Bruins should expect to see every teams “A” game, it will be interesting to see how the Bruins respond to that. The atmosphere at the Garden tonight should be like none other, look for the Bruins to feed off the crowd and use it to help them out on the ice.

Tyler Seguin has been the best Bruin on the ice during the preseason. It would be nice to see Seguin come out tonight and get his sophomore ccampaign off to a good start.

The big question during the preseason was who would fill Mark Recchi’s spot on the Bruins second line with Brad Marchand, and Patrice Bergeron. Rich Peverley has seen the most time in that spot, and when doing so has fit in very well with Marchand and Bergeron.

What to watch for Flyers:

The Flyers completely revamped their roster this offseason. Out the door went Jeff Carter, Brad Richards, Ville Leino, Brian Boucher, and Daniel Carcillo among others. In came Bryzgalov, Jaromir Jagr, Jakub Voracek, and Brayden Schenn, among others.

It will be interesting to see how the Flyers react with a bunch of new players as opposed to the core they have had over the previous several seasons.

If you are attending tonight’s game make sure to be in your seats by 6:30, you wouldn’t want to miss the banner ceremony.

Bruins gameday links:

Jessica Camerato of CSNNE.com talks about how winning the Stanley Cup has given Andrew Ference a new outlook.

James Murphy and Joe McDonald of ESPNBoston.com answer six questions about the Bruins.

Flyers Gameday links:

Flyers seek revenge for last year’s playoff elimination. (Sam Carchidi/ Philly.com)

Bryzgalov ready to get his Flyers career going (Teemu H/ Broadstreehockey.com)