Shorthanded Flyers face long odds as they try to beat Boston for first time in five games this season

The Flyers are hoping a change of scenery — playing a hockey game Sunday on a pristine golf course, 6,222 feet above sea level, surrounded by Lake Tahoe and the Sierra Nevada Mountains certainly qualifies — will change their fortunes against the Boston Bruins.

“It looks like a beautiful place,” center Sean Couturier said after practice Friday in Voorhees. “It’s exciting going there and hopefully we can get two points and get going.”

The Flyers have lost all four games (0-2-2) this season against the Bruins — two in Boston, two at the Wells Fargo Center. Three of the games were decided by one goal — one in overtime, another in a shootout — and the other matchup produced a 6-1 loss that caused a stick-slamming/throwing meltdown by Carter Hart when the final horn sounded.

» READ MORE: If Carter Hart squints hard enough, Lake Tahoe will be a perfect site for the Flyers against Boston

Now they get to face the B’s (10-3-2) in Sunday’s made-for-TV outdoor game at 2 p.m.

Hart, who played very well in a 3-2 shootout loss Thursday to the New York Rangers, will get the call, the first outdoor game in his NHL career though he did play in one in Buffalo with the World Juniors.

The Bruins “come hard and have some skilled players,” Hart said. “We just have to compete hard against them and limit their chances, especially with that top line, and just outwork them.”

Once again, the Flyers (8-3-3) will be without six regulars sidelined by the league’s COVID protocol: forwards Jake Voracek, Claude Giroux, Travis Konecny, Oskar Lindblom, and Scott Laughton, and defenseman Justin Braun.

“We definitely miss those guys, for sure, but we had a lot of guys step up [Thursday] and we’ll have the same thing for Sunday,” Hart said. “We’re going to need guys to step up in different roles, and we have the guys who can do that.”

» READ MORE: Amid a COVID-19 outbreak, all the Flyers can do is what all of us do: plow ahead and hope | Mike Sielski

Minus four of their top seven scorers, the Flyers will be a heavy underdog in a nationally televised game that may not come close to being as picturesque as the scenery.

With Hart pulled for an extra attacker, the Flyers tied Thursday’s game at 2-2 on Joel Farabee’s goal with 74 seconds left in regulation. The shorthanded Flyers played hard and showed grit with a makeshift lineup, but they were outshot, 33-22, and they had more shots blocked (27) than they put on goal.

They also squandered all five power-play chances, making them 2-for-23 in their last seven games.

In the four games against each other this season, special teams have been a major factor. Boston is 7-for-13 on the power play in those games, and the Flyers are 3-for-14.

“Their top line has obviously been one of the best lines in the NHL for quite a while now,” Couturier said of a unit composed of Brad Marchand, Patrice Bergeron, and either David Pastrnak or Jake DeBrusk. “They’re tough to play against and they’re a big challenge, and obviously they have some good goaltending. … And they’re a pretty well-coached team and a balanced team. We’ll have to bring our A-game and show them what we’ve got.”

Even if their B-team brings its A-game, beating the Bruins is going to be a monumental task.

“Boston, without a doubt, is one of the top teams in the NHL,” coach Alain Vigneault said. “They’ve played extremely well against us. I felt for the most part, other than that one game, they have been very competitive and hard-fought [games]. It goes down to, at the end of the game, can you make a defensive play? Can you make an offensive play? Are you getting that save?”

And …

Can you keep the game close with six key players missing?

Vigneault is contemplating a lineup change, perhaps using seven defensemen and 11 forwards. If that happens, defenseman Mark Friedman might replace winger Maksim Sushko, who only played 5:55 in his NHL debut Thursday. … Vigneault said Voracek, who has not had any coronavirus symptoms, was “champing at the bit” to get back into the lineup. “It’s not easy spending 14 days at home; it’s a challenge,” the coach said about the players on the COVID protocol list. “And that’s what those guys have been asked to do. … Once they are cleared to come back, hopefully, it won’t take them long to get back into stride and rhythm.” … Traveling to Nevada to help the NHL grow its game, even in a pandemic, doesn’t bother Vigneault. “If the NHL thinks this can help the game … I’m in,” he said.