What is the story about?
Just the facts
- When: Tonight, 7 PM
- Where: TD Garden – Boston, MA
- How to follow: NESN, 98.5 The Sports Hub, TNT, TruTV, HBO Max
- Opposing perspective: Die by the Blade
Know your enemy
- 1-1-0, series tied 1-1
- Tage Thompson: 2G-1A-3PTS; Alex Tuch: 1G-2A-3PTS; Peyton Krebs: 1G-1A-2PTS
- Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen: 1-1-0, 4.19 GAA, .825 save percentage
Game notes
- After earning a hard-fought split in two games in Buffalo, this first round series shifts to Boston, where the Bruins will look to build on a strong effort in Game 2.
- The Bruins were the second-best road team in the NHL during the regular season, winning 29 of their 41 home games. Carolina also won 29 games, but had two OT losses to the Bruins one, so they had a one-point edge in overall performance on home ice.
- The shift to TD Garden will give Marco Sturm and the Bruins a chance to have the second change during all stoppages, which could allow Sturm to try to go for some more favorable match-ups. For example, he could try to deploy some line-matching on Tage Thompson’s line, or could elect to put his speedy third line out against more opportune opposition. It’s probably not something worth overthinking too much, but could be a slight advantage.
- At this point, it looks like a case of which team blinks first in terms of lineup changes. Barring injury, the Bruins aren’t likely to shake things up yet on the back of two (mostly) strong performances. On the Buffalo side, however, there’s some clamoring for a change in net, something Lindy Ruff wouldn’t comment on yesterday. Gaffe on Morgan Geekie aside, I don’t think Luukkonen has been terrible, and if you pull him now, you likely can’t go back to him in the series. Still, it’s a move Ruff will probably make tonight.
- Noah Ostlund may be available for Buffalo tonight. The forward has been out since the end of March and could rotate into the lineup to give Buffalo a bit of a boost. The rookie had 11G-16A-60PTS totals in the regular season.
- Game 2 was more physical than Game 1, a trend the Bruins would likely want to continue in Game 3. I’m not sure we’ll see Pittsburgh-Philly Game 3 levels of shenanigans, but you never know. The Sabres, as a team, are faster than the Bruins, so it benefits the B’s to make the game more of a grind instead of a track meet.
- However, Ruff is already delving into the Craig Berube School of Coaching manual, accusing the Bruins of “clutching and grabbing” to “slow things down.” If the Bruins get called for a holding penalty five minutes into the game, don’t be surprised.
- As another reminder, this game will start at 7 PM, not 7:30 PM, though that might be more of a “7ish” because the game is on TNT.
See
ya tonight!
