Who: Pittsburgh Penguins (21-13-9, 51 points, 5th place Metropolitan Division) @ Boston Bruins (24-19-2, 50 points, 5th place Atlantic Division)
When: 5:00 p.m. eastern
How to Watch: Broadcast locally Sportsnet Pittsburgh and NESN, streaming on ESPN+
Pens’ Path Ahead: The Pens return home next week for games at PPG Paints Arena against Tampa (Tuesday), Philadelphia (Thursday) and Columbus (Saturday).
Opponent Track: The Bruins put a 10-2 beating on the Rangers yesterday in New York, helping them to a fourth
win in the last five games. Before that, Boston had lost six in a row (0-5-1) and prior to that they had won the previous four games. Like many other in the East and NHL at-large, the Bruins are riding the waves of alternating good and bad streaks like that as they make their way through the season.
Season Series: This is the first PIT/BOS game of the season. The teams will meet up again in Boston on March 3rd, quickly followed by the Bruins’ only visit to Pittsburgh this season on March 8th for the third and final game.
Getting to know the Bruins
Projected lines
FORWARDS
Murat Khusnutdinov – Elias Lindholm* – David Pastrnak
Casey Mittelstadt – Pavel Zacha – Viktor Arvidsson
Alex Steeves – Fraser Minten – Connor Geekie*
Tanner Jeannot – Sean Kuraly – Mark Kastelic
DEFENSEMEN
Jonathan Aspirot / Charlie McAvoy
Nikita Zadorov / Henri Jokiharju
Mason Lohrei / Andrew Peeke
Goalies: Joonas Korpisalo (Jeremy Swayman played yesterday)
Potential scratches: Jeffrey Viel, Michael Eyssimont, Vladislav Kolyachonok
Injured Reserve: Hampus Lindholm, Jordan Harris
- As is the case coming off a 10-2 win, lots of players riding high lately. Pastranak notched six (count ‘em, six!) assists. Zacha had a hat trick, Khusnutdinov did him one better with a four-goal game. Minten chipped in 2G+1A.
- *Geekie and Lindolm both left yesterday’s game early, both are officially gametime decisions for today. Geekie had a family emergency that coach Marco Sturm said is “all good” now, Lindholm is dealing with a nagging injury.
Season stats
via hockeydb
- Khusnutdinov, who was involved in the MIN->BOS trade for Justin Brazeau last season, is having a sort Brazeau-esque glow up this season, funny enough for two players in the same deal to both improve their lot significantly this year. The 23-year old only had six goals and 16 points in his first 91 games entering this season, he already has blown by both of those totals already (a five-point game yesterday helps there).
- Geekie started out red hot, as late as November 29th his 20 goals in 27 games to start the season were tied for the league-lead. He’s slowed down since then, and in fact has not scored a goal in nine-straight games going back to December 20th.
- The Bruins boast the NHL’s two highest penalty minute leaders so far this season between Zadorov (113) and Jeannot (97).
Key matchup: Pittsburgh offense vs. Boston defense
The Penguins and Bruins are similar in that both have good power plays, they both finish well, their offensive 5v5 process is strong, their goaltending and penalty kills are similar.
The big difference of what stands out is when you get to Boston’s 5v5 defensive outputs. That’s the one major weak link involved, the Bruins will give up chances against. Having Lindholm out as one of their top defenders doesn’t help in that regard. It’s the second game in a row for both teams and presumably the B’s will be playing their weaker goalie, they haven’t shown much by way of insulating him. That opens the door for the Penguins to potentially have an edge.
And now for the Pens
Projected lines
FORWARDS
Tommy Novak – Sidney Crosby – Rickard Rakell
Ben Kindel – Evgeni Malkin – Yegor Chinakhov
Anthony Mantha – Kevin Hayes – Justin Brazeau
Connor Dewar – Blake Lizotte – Noel Acciari
DEFENSEMEN
Parker Wotherspoon / Erik Karlsson
Brett Kulak / Kris Letang
Ryan Shea / Jack St. Ivany
Goalies: Stuart Skinner (Arturs Silovs played yesterday)
Potential Scratches: Bryan Rust (day-to-day injury), Connor Clifton, Rafael Harvey-Pinard
IR: Filip Hallander, Caleb Jones, Rutger McGroarty
- Rust’s injury managed to shake up the lines just enough to seemingly throw them off yesterday. The only goal the Pens generated came from their second line, which was left unchanged. The new lines couldn’t find immediate success, we’ll see if it just needed a day to gel and come together.
Looking for a better start
Over their recent six-game winning streak, the Penguins came flying out of the gates by scoring 13 total goals in the first period. That put them ahead after 20 minutes in five out of the six games. Pittsburgh was losing 1-0 to Calgary yesterday at the first break, managing only six shots and not looking at the start as they have been of late.
That was top of mind for Anthony Mantha yesterday speaking after the game about what the team will be looking to do today.
