The Boston Bruins and Philadelphia Flyers are experiencing the Eastern Conference wild-card race from very different perspectives.

In either case, both teams are hungry for a win Sunday afternoon when the Bruins visit the Flyers in a late-season clash.

Boston (43-26-8, 94 points) currently sits atop the East wild-card standings with five games remaining. There is a four-way tie for the second and final wild-card spot that includes Philadelphia (38-26-12, 88 points), with all four teams having five or six games to play.

“It’s awesome. It’s the best time of the year, just trying to make the playoffs and just the playoff push,” Flyers rookie Alex Bump said. “It’s the best time of the year. It’s fun hockey. It’s kind of the situation you want to be in.”

Bump was in a good mood Friday after Philadelphia notched a 4-1 road victory over the New York Islanders, who sit one point ahead of the Flyers for third place in the Metropolitan Division. The top three teams in each division earn automatic playoff spots.

Bump joined defenseman Travis Sanheim with a goal and an assist against the Islanders, while Matvei Michkov had one and two, respectively. The Flyers had lost their previous two games — both against wild-card contenders — and desperately needed a crisp performance on Long Island.

“Obviously, a lot of resilience from our team,” Philadelphia coach Rick Tocchet said. “(We’ve played) three in four, four in six. I just love the energy, especially early. It’s a tough building to come into and they had a couple of days’ rest. … Everyone contributed tonight.”

Dan Vladar made 21 saves as the Flyers avoided their first three-game losing streak since late January.

“The guys played an unbelievable game today,” Vladar said.

The Flyers have a day of rest heading into Sunday’s affair, while the Bruins are facing a challenging back-to-back after losing 3-1 at Tampa Bay on Saturday. The Bruins led 1-0 in the third period before the Lightning scored three times to drop Boston to 0-2-0 on its four-game road trip.

“We played a pretty good game. We really did,” Boston coach Marco Sturm said.

Casey Mittelstadt scored the only goal for the Bruins, while Jeremy Swayman made 20 saves on 22 shots.

“I thought we had a lot of positives for our group. Sometimes you don’t get the results,” said Swayman, who has allowed three goals or fewer in each of his last nine starts. “Our team shouldn’t be hanging their heads. A lot of great things came out of tonight’s game and that’s what we should be focused on.”

The Bruins have one of the top-10 power-play units in the NHL but went 0-for-4 with the man advantage against Tampa Bay. They also failed to score with the extra skater (0-for-2) in Thursday’s 2-1 loss to the Florida Panthers.

“We had a few chances, even in the first, but I also thought the power play needed to step up,” Sturm said. “It didn’t really give us a whole lot of Grade-A chances. We were fine, though. We were still good enough today. But those little details, they matter, and those details have been hurting us for two games in a row.”

This is the third and final meeting this season between Philadelphia and Boston. The Bruins defeated the Flyers 6-3 on Jan. 29 before Philadelphia returned the favor with a 3-1 home victory on Feb. 28.

–Field Level Media

The future may be now for Cincinnati Reds right-hander Chase Burns.

The 23-year-old took a no-hitter into the fifth inning in his first start of the season before giving up one hit, walking three and striking out seven in a 2-0 win over the Pittsburgh Pirates on Monday. It was his first major league win after going 0-3 in 13 appearances last season.

Burns (1-0, 0.00 ERA) threw 78 pitches and will take the mound again Sunday when the Reds try to sweep the Texas Rangers in Arlington, Texas.

“I have said probably a million times, if he works ahead, and he will get better at it, it gets very exciting,” Reds manager Terry Francona said. “Our plan this spring was to get him in position to make these starts. We want him to make every start and pitch a lot. His future is bright, but I think the present will be OK, too.”

Burns, the No. 2 overall selection in the 2024 MLB Draft, has never faced the Rangers.

The Reds are struggling at the plate, hitting only .203 as a team, but Sal Stewart is off a great start with a .407 average.

He had an RBI single in the Reds’ two-run first inning Saturday. It turned out to be the hit of the game as Cincinnati was shut out from then on.

Stewart’s fast start is needed as stars Elly De La Cruz (.219) and Eugenio Suarez (.226) are struggling. Both have struck out 13 times.

Suarez does lead the team with six RBIs and Cruz leads the team with three home runs but has driven in only four runs.

The Rangers are hitting .243 as a team, but Texas has some key starters who are languishing.

No. 2 hitter Wyatt Langford is hitting .167 with 10 strikeouts, adding three on Saturday.

Josh Jung is hitting .143 and Joc Pederson is 0-for-14 after an 0-for-4 Saturday.

After Jake Burger walked to lead off the ninth inning, Pederson hit into a double play.

“We just couldn’t get anything together after a couple of hits or a walk or whatever,” Rangers manager Skip Schumaker said. “We just couldn’t string anything together.”

Schumaker isn’t too worried about his young sluggers, especially Langford.

“It is a 162-game schedule,” he said. “I told him those balls will start falling. It is frustrating to hit the ball hard and not get anything for it, but he will be all right.”

Evan Carter is hitting .273 and Schumaker is looking to play the left-handed hitter more against left-handed pitching.

“I gotta give him a chance against lefties and see how it goes,” Schumaker said. “He will get his chances and he will get better.”

The Rangers will send right-hander Jack Leiter to the mound Sunday.

The 25-year-old is 1-0 with a 3.00 ERA after beating the Baltimore Orioles 5-2 in his first start. He allowed two earned runs in five innings and struck out eight.

Schumaker was impressed by what he saw in that outing from Leiter, who was the No. 2 overall draft pick in 2021.

“The changeup was elite,” Schumaker said after the game. “Righty, lefty didn’t really matter. It just seemed like a carryover from his last start last year. And I think this is who he’s going to be. You are going to see more of this version of Jack throughout the year.”

Leiter is 1-0 against the Reds with a 0.00 ERA after beating Cincinnati in his only career start against them last April. He allowed one hit over five innings.

–Field Level Media

The Philadelphia Phillies started their first road trip of the season with a pair of impressive wins over the Colorado Rockies. They will go for the sweep when the teams wrap up the three-game series in Denver on Sunday.

Philadelphia, which squeaked out a 2-1 win Saturday night, will send Taijuan Walker (0-1, 11.57 ERA) against Colorado’s Tomoyuki Sugano (0-0, 1.93 ERA) in a matchup of right-handers.

Walker struggled in his first start of the season for the Phillies, allowing seven on 10 hits in 4 2/3 innings against Washington on Monday, but he can turn things around against the Rockies. In 10 career starts against Colorado he is 5-1 with a 2.36 ERA.

He went 2-0 with a 2.45 ERA in two outings against the Rockies in 2025.

Walker can build on the first two starts of the weekend by the Phillies. Aaron Nola and Jesus Luzardo combined to strike out 20 batters and give up just one run each in their outings. Nola benefited from strong run support in a 10-1 win Friday but Philadelphia scored just a pair Saturday night.

The Phillies have struggled to score runs, outside of the 10 runs on Friday, but the players aren’t worried about the offense.

“That’s kind of how seasons go sometimes,” Bryce Harper said. “Some guys have good first months and then have a terrible rest of the season. Or they have a really bad first month and then they win an MVP. That’s why you play the whole season.

“You don’t put too much stock in the first couple games. You just play your game, understand it’s a long season and you’ve just got to find value in playing a full season.”

Philadelphia will go against a pitcher it has never faced. Sugano was sharp in his debut with Colorado on Monday when the Rockies routed Toronto, 14-5. He allowed just a run on two hits but an elevated pitch count limited him to 4 2/3 innings.

Colorado brought in Sugano, 36, to help shore up a rotation that struggled in 2025. The Rockies have pitched better this year but their offense, like the Phillies’, has struggled. Colorado has scored five runs over its last four games.

The Rockies fanned 15 times in their home opener on Friday and 13 more Saturday night.

It has been a factor in the Rockies starting 1-4 in one-run games.

“The big thing (Saturday) with the strikeout is we missed too many pitches in the zone, early in the count,” manager Warren Schaeffer said after the 2-1 loss. “You can’t miss pitches early and chase late, it’s a bad combo.”

Even with the strikeout issues, there have been some bright spots. Rookie TJ Rumfield is batting .360 with a home run, Ezequiel Tovar is hitting .294 after going 1-for-4 Saturday night and Troy Johnston, who played 44 games with Miami last season, is batting .333 with one of Colorado’s five home runs through the first eight games.

–Field Level Media