Who: Boston Bruins (11-4-1, 23 points, 1st place Atlantic Division) @ Pittsburgh Penguins (5-8-2, 12 points, 7th place Metropolitan Division)
When: 7:00 p.m. eastern
How to Watch: Locally televised game on Sportsnet Pittsburgh and NESN, streaming for out of market at ESPN+
Pens’ Path Ahead: California awaits, the Pens head out west for the next three games against all the CA teams. First up will be Los Angeles on Saturday, then a quick turn over to nearby Anaheim on Sunday night. After that, they’ll
head north to San Jose for a game next Wednesday.
Opponent Track: The Bruins hosted and defeated Vegas 3-2 in a shootout on Monday in their last game, their second win in a row. Before that they lost two games, and before that they won two games. Overall it’s been a great start to the season with a 9-2-1 record in their last 12 games and an aggregate score of 48-27 in that stretch.
Season Series: These two teams won’t see each other again after tonight until March 6th, when the Pens take their lone trip of the season to Beantown. The Bruins then come back to Pittsburgh on March 11th to finish out the three game set.
Hidden Stat: Per Pens PR, Tommy Novak has four points (3G-1A) in his last five games versus Boston, including a two-point performance (1G-1A) in the team’s last matchup with the Bruins on March 8, 2026. Novak also recorded a goal and an assist last game against Vegas.
Getting to know the Bruins
Projected lines
FORWARDS
JJ Peterka – Pavel Zacha – David Pastrnak
Marat Khusnutdinov – Fraser Minten – Morgan Geekie
Casey Mittelstadt – Elias Lindholm – James Hagens
Tanner Jeannot – Sean Kuraly – Mark Kastelic
DEFENSEMEN
Hampus Lindholm / Charlie McAvoy
Nikita Zadorov / Will Borgen
Frederic Brunet / Mason Lohrei
Goalies: Jeremy Swayman and Michael DiPietro
Potential scratches: Matthew Poitras, Connor Clifton, Jonathan Aspirot
Injured Reserve: None
- On the injury front it looks like Kuraly will set to return after a minor injury kept him out last game. Poitras is travelling with the team but a little further behind and not expected to play tonight. Frederic Brunet appears ready for a return of his own on the blueline.
- Old friend Connor Clifton, who signed a two-year contract worth $2.25 annually, has been a healthy scratch lately and only appeared in one game since October 10th.
- On paper, the rumored pursuit of Dylan Larkin makes a lot of sense for the Bruins, though Larkin reportedly isn’t willing to go to Boston at this time. Add him as some center help and this team could really be cooking with gas, depending on what they’d have to subtract from the playing roster to get a trade done.
Season stats
via hockeydb
- A run of good health has led to a lot of stability so far in Boston. 15 of their 18 skaters have played in at least 15 of the team’s first 16 games. Add in Charlie MacAvoy, who has played all 10 games he has been eligible after serving a six-game suspension incurred last season, and that means pretty much every key player has appeared in every game so far.
- James Hagens (2G+3A in the last five games) looks like he’s coming along nicely as a rookie. Hagens played a season-high 17:27 and scored a goal last game against Vegas.
- Nice to see DiPietro getting his first sustained NHL chance and making the most of it at age 27. He’s been in the AHL since 2019 and one of the league’s best goalies down there for quite a while. Swayman is the unquestioned No. 1 (and no slouch himself as one of the league’s top goalies) and quietly the Bruins have a very good netminder behind him for depth.
Key to the game: Can the Penguins stack up against one of the league’s best early season teams?
It’s still early but it’s hard to look stronger under the hood than the Bruins do. They control play enough to be top-10 in both expected goals for and against. Their goaltender is awesome and has elevated them to some of the stingiest results around, helping them to a literally off-the-charts 65.5% 5v5 goal differential there in the top righthand corner (38 for to 20 against) that is tops in the whole NHL right now. Their finishing has been sufficient, driven by players like Pastrnak who can create and convert on chances.
Based on how this first month or so has gone, Boston is one of the top-performing teams right now in the NHL. This is going to be a very tall task for the Pens tonight to try and measure up with a quality club that is backed by a top goaltender.
And now for the Pens
Projected lines
FORWARDS
Tommy Novak – Sidney Crosby – Rickard Rakell
Egor Chinakhov – Ben Kindel – Evgeni Malkin
Ville Koivunen – Hendrix Lapierre – Justin Brazeau
Connor Dewar – Blake Lizotte – Nick Robertson
DEFENSEMEN
Sam Girard / Erik Karlsson
Spencer Stastney / Kaeden Korczak
Declan Carlile / Kris Letang
Goalies: Arturs Silovs and Sergei Murashov
Potential Scratches: Andrei Kuzmenko, Ilya Solovyov, Jake Livanavage
IR: Ryan Graves, Trevor van Riemsdyk, Elmer Soderblom, Bryan Rust
- Based on comments madeby Dan Muse yesterday, it looks like the Pens are hopeful that Malkin will be retuning to the lineup tonight.
- That would mean one of Koivunen or Kuzmenko, who rotated on the third line in practice yesterday, will be coming out of the lineup as a result.
- Defensively there were no indications that the six who played on Tuesday won’t be used in the same manner again tonight, which, yeah feels frustrating after seeing the struggles for that group. Muse launched a thoughtful defense of Carlile when asked about why that player has been keeping his spot in the lineup.
Sidney Crosby passes Marcel Dionne to claim full ownership of sixth in all-time scoring with one more point. Crosby was on the ice for two goals last game and had an influence on both but did not record a point out of last game.
