And then there were five games!
Just the facts
When: Today, 3:30 PM
Where: TD Garden – Boston, Mass.
How to follow: ABC, ESPN+, 98.5 The Sports Hub
Opposing perspective: Litter Box Cats
Know your enemy
- 48-24-5, 101PTS, 2nd in Atlantic Division
- Sam Reinhart: 53G-36A-89PTS; Matthew Tkachuk: 24G-59A-83PTS; Aleksander Barkov: 22G-53A-75PTS
- Sergei Bobrovsky: 34-17-3, 2.42 GAA, .913 save percentage; Anthony Stolarz: 14-7-2, 2.12 GAA, .922 save percentage
Game notes
- The Boston Bruins are back home for one last match against the Florida Panthers this season.
- The Bruins are 3-0-0 against them in the previous three games — a 3-2 OT win on Oct. 30, a 3-1 win on Nov. 22, and most recently, beating them 4-3 on March 26.
- We’re now in the final five games of the regular season. Jim Montgomery said after yesterday’s practice that he’s overall happy with the Bruins’ play in this stretch and heading into playoffs. He said it will be a good test today facing the Panthers who are right behind the B’s in the standings.
- The B’s are back home after their six-game road stint, going 4-2-0 in that time. And all things considered, these were all teams locked into playoff positions or on the cusp of the Wild Card. Today will be no different with the Panthers.
- In the Atlantic Division, the Bruins are four points ahead of the Panthers. They’ve both played the same amount of games at 77 heading into today.
- The Panthers are 2-3-0 since they last saw the B’s. They last played on Thursday when they blanked the Ottawa Senators, 6-0, after a two-game skid.
- For Florida, Barkov is on a six-game point streak with four goals and five assists. Bobrovsky earned his five shutout this season in their Thursday night win, making 30 saves.
- Florida will be without Aaron Ekblad this afternoon who appeared to get injury on Tuesday against Montreal. The Panthers did not disclose his injury, but predict he’ll be out the remainder of the regular season.
- For the Bruins, Pavel Zacha is on a five-game point streak with eight points on two goals and six assists. David Pastrnak is on a three-game point streak with five points.
- Zacha, Pastrnak and Danton Heinen have been a powerhouse of a line for the team. The line has accounted half of the Bruins goals in the past five games, netting seven goals since March 26.
- On the backend, Mason Lohrei and Kevin Shattenkirk sat out last game — and they were the fourth defensive pairing at practice yesterday. Matt Grzelcyk and Parker Wotherspoon had subbed back into the lineup on Thursday. So we could see similar pairings this afternoon based on practice.
- Injury update: Justin Brazeau remains week-to-week after an upper body injury during the Nashville game.
- See ya tonight!