What is the story about?
Just the facts
- When: Tonight, 11 PM
- Where: SAP Center – San Jose, CA
- How to follow: ESPN, 98.5 The Sports Hub
- Opposing perspective: Fear the Fin
Know your enemy
- 3-2-0, 6PTS, 5th in the Pacific Division
- Macklin Celebrini: 1G-5A-6PTS; Tyler Toffoli: 2G-2A-4PTS; Will Smith/Igor Chernyshov: 2G-1A-3PTS
- Yaroslav Askarov: 2-2-0, 3.71 GAA, .860 save percentage
Game notes
- The Bruins begin their annual West Coast (of the United States, that is) swing by visiting the up-and-coming San Jose Sharks, who are off to an up-and-down start this season.
- The B’s, of course, will be boosted by the return of Charlie McAvoy, who will make his season debut tonight after serving a six-game suspension for his actions against the Buffalo Sabres in last spring’s season-ending defeat.
- The Sharks are 2-1-0 at home on the young season, with that lone loss coming last time out against the Edmonton Oilers.
- Named captain before the season started, noted Boston University Terrier Macklin Celebrini has picked up where he left off last season. The young forward has six points in just three games, and he scored in the aforementioned loss to Edmonton. Celebrini opened the season with five assists (yes, five) in two games before missing two games due to a lower-body injury.
- While Yaroslav Askarov has assumed the bulk of goaltending responsibilities thus far, Alex Nedeljkovic has outperformed him in an admittedly small sample size. Nedeljkovic won his only start and has a 1.97 GAA and .923 save percentage, both significantly ahead of Askarov.
- Ivar Stenberg, the 19-year-old Swede who San Jose selected second overall back in June, has two assists on the young season. After recording just one shot on goal in his first three games, he has four in his last two, so maybe he’s growing into the NHL game a bit.
- In browsing through the comments at Fear the Fin, one commenter noted that the Sharks allow access to the inner slot relatively easily, which could be something to watch for the B’s tonight.
- The Sharks beat the Bruins twice last season, a 3-1 loss in San Jose and a 4-2 loss at TD Garden.
- A reminder that this game is on ESPN tonight, part of the network’s “Frozen Frenzy” tripleheader. New Jersey will play Detroit at 6, followed by Colorado vs. Dallas at 8:30, so there’s a pretty decent chance this game starts well after 11 PM Eastern.
See
ya tonight!
