The homestand continues as the B’s welcome the league-leading Canucks.
Just the facts
When: Tonight, 7:00 PM
Where: TD Garden — Boston, Mass.
How to follow: NESN, 98.5 The Sports Hub
Opposing perspective: Nucks Misconduct
Know your enemy
- 34-11-5, 73PTS, 1st in Pacific Division
- J.T. Miller: 22G-46A-68PTS; Elias Pettersson: 27G-38A-65PTS; Quinn Hughes: 12G-52A-64PTS
- Thatcher Demko: 27-8-1, 2.43 GAA, .920 save percentage; Casey DeSmith: 7-3-4, 2.65 GAA, .911 save percentage
Game notes
- The Boston Bruins are back and hopefully ready to give a full effort tonight as the league-leading Vancouver Canucks roll into town. The B’s and Canucks have the two best records in the NHL.
- It will be the first meeting between the two this season. They’ll wrap things up on Feb. 24 against each other.
- It wasn’t the best showing from the Bruins to say the least on Tuesday night, as the team fell to the Calgary Flames, 4-1, in their first game back from the All-Star Break. Really dismal effort so we are going to try to forget about that one as much as possible and turn our attention to what is sure to be a battle tonight as well.
- The Canucks are 10-0-2 in their last 12 games and haven’t lost in regulation since Jan. 4. They last played on Tuesday, beating the Carolina Hurricanes, 3-2. Hughes comes into the game on a hot streak to say the least. He’s on a seven-game point streak with one goal and 12 assists. He has 10 assists in his last five games alone.
- Head-to-head, the Bruins’ and Canucks’ power plays are pretty evenly matched. The B’s man-advantage stands at 26.0% while the Canucks are at 25.8%. The Bruins hold a slight edge on the PK.
- The Bruins will look to get their special teams going and up to par as they struggled on Tuesday, with the PK allowing two power play goals. The power play did strike on a 5-on-3, but they negated the advantage by taking a too many men on the ice penalty.
- The team was off yesterday so there are no updates with line shuffling or defensive pairings. They will hold a morning skate at the TD Garden so there should be some answers on what this will look like in a few hours.
- Injury update: Well, Matt Poitras’ season has come to an end. The B’s announced yesterday that he underwent surgery on his right shoulder and will be out for five months.