Marchand makes the trip back to Boston to say goodbye.
Just the facts
When: Tonight, 7 PM
Where: TD Garden — Boston, Mass.
How to follow: NESN, 98.5 The Sports Hub
Opposing perspective: Litter Box Cats
Know your enemy
- 40-21-3, 83PTS, 1st in Atlantic Division
- Sam Reinhart: 32G-36A-68PTS; Aleksander Barkov: 17G-43A-60PTS; Matthew Tkachuk: 22G-35A-57PTS
- Sergei Bobrovsky: 27-13-2, 2.49 GAA, .907 save percentage; Vitek Vanecek: 4-10-3, 3.66 GAA, .886 save percentage
Game notes
- The Boston Bruins are back for their second game since the trade deadline with a game that was circled right as the clock hit 3 p.m. last Friday — the Florida Panthers, but it would be more climactic if Brad Marchand was suiting up.
- It’s a good thing Marchand got used to the visitor’s locker room during the 4 Nations Face-Off, because when he returns tonight, that’s where he’ll be heading. He spoke to Florida media for the first time yesterday as a Panther and had this to say about heading back to Boston post-trade: “It’s bittersweet. It’ll be great to go home, and the guys were all on the road when I got traded, so I didn’t see a lot of the guys before I left. It’ll be nice to be able to see guys and kind of say goodbye. Great to see the family again and get a bunch of my stuff. It’s great to go home, it’ll be very weird to be there as an opposing team. I guess it’s nice, but it’ll be sad a bit, too.”
- “The Tampa game was a great step one,” David Pastrnak said after yesterday’s practice. The Bruins defeated the Tampa Bay Lightning, 4-0, on Saturday as Cole Koepke scored twice and Mark Kastelic and Nikita Zadorov added the others. But it will be another big, and challenging, week for the Bruins with not only the Panthers, but Ottawa Senators who have held onto the last wild card spot, and then another match against the Lightning.
- The Bruins are three points out of a playoff position, but have played two to three games more than several teams in contention.
- This is the Bruins’ fourth and final meeting of the regular season with the Panthers. They are 1-2-0 against them, with a 4-3 OT win in the two’s last game on Jan. 11. The Panthers come to Boston on a six-game winning streak.
- Barkov and Pastrnak both have six points in their last five games with their teams. Pastrnak’s six points is one goal and five assists. Barkov and Morgan Geekie both have three goals in that time.
- Yesterday, Ekblad was suspended for 20 games without pay for violating the terms of the NHL/NHLPA Performance Enhancing Substances Program, per the NHL.
- See ya tonight!