Patrice Bergeron

Garnet Hathaway has learned from leaders on contending teams his entire career. Now on the rebuilding Flyers, he'll be leaned on as a leader.

The Flyers face the Boston Bruins on Sunday evening, as Boston goes for a single-season, NHL-record 63rd win of the season.

The Flyers have won seven of their last eight games since the holiday break and get a test in the NHL's leading team, the Boston Bruins, on Monday afternoon.

One day, you could be where the Flyers were to start the season, seven wins in the first 12 games. The next though, you can be where the Flyers are right now, mired in a five-game losing streak that is halfway to a mark that has become an identifier of where the franchise currently is.

The Flyers enter Thursday's game in a four-game losing streak though, and now get the test of facing the NHL's best team in the standings. The Boston Bruins come in with a 14-2-0 record and wins in four straight games.

Thursday's 3-2 Flyers loss to the Bruins was one final game in a calendar year that has been as frustrating and disappointing as ever. Another loss in regulation brought the team’s current losing streak to six, and put a fitting conclusion to a 365-day period to forget.

This is a game with two teams going in opposite directions. The Flyers have lost five straight games going back to Dec. 30. The Bruins are fresh off a 5-1 win over the Montreal Canadiens on Wednesday night and have won five of their last six games since New Year's Day.

The Flyers are 6-0 after a loss this season. They face another of those situations, as the Flyers welcome the Boston Bruins back to Philadelphia for the second time this season on Saturday night.

You can imagine how the result looked when the Boston Bruins, playing in their first preseason home game, took the opportunity to load up with roughly 90 percent of the NHL roster. It's hardly a way to evaluate how one team looks against another. It did present some early warning signs that need to be addressed and cleaned up with exactly two weeks remaining until the regular season opener.

The Flyers got a regulation win on Saturday, scoring the only goal of the third period to claim a 3-2 win over the Boston Bruins at Wells Fargo Center.