By: Julia Simone | Follow me on Twitter / X @j_simone40
The Boston Bruins will face the Vancouver Canucks tonight at TD Garden for the first time this season. The Canucks are currently the best road team in the league with a 7-1-0 record on the road. This is the team’s second game of a six-game road trip. Tonight marks Jake Debrusk’s return to Boston for the first time this season since being traded to the Canucks this past summer.
Boston Bruins
The Bruins will seek their third straight win under interim head coach Joe Sacco. Marc McLaughlin will make his season debut tonight after being called up from Providence over the weekend. He will play alongside Charlie Coyle and Trent Frederic on the third line. The Billerica, Mass native played 11 games with the Bruins in the 2021-2022 season and scored three goals. Head coach Joe Sacco had this to say about McLaughlin, “it’s an opportunity tonight to look at Marc…he deserves an opportunity. He’s played really well down [in Providence]…hopefully, some of that can carry over into our lineup tonight.”
Bruins defensemen Nikita Zadorov and center Elias Lindholm will be familiar faces for the Canucks tonight. Both players were traded from Vancouver this past summer in exchange for Jake Debrusk. Lindholm has three goals on the season while Zadorov has zero goals on the season. The B’s are 6-4-2 on home ice this season with the club’s power play continuing to struggle, registering a league-worst 12.8% on the man advantage. Jeremy Swayman will be in between the pipes tonight.
Vancouver Canucks
The Canucks presently hold the best road record in the NHL. The club allowed the fewest goals five-on-five averaging just 1.47 GA per 60 minutes and outscored their opponents 29-17. Vancouver also possesses the second-best offense on the road, scoring 3.43 goals per 60 minutes. Canuck’s forward, Conor Garland, has 114:36 of five-on-five ice time on the road this season. Garland is significantly above the rest of the league for minutes played while not allowing a goal-against on the road.
Canuck’s head coach Rick Tocchet praised former Bruin Jake Debrusk on Monday after practice about his game heating up. Debrusk leads the Canucks in road games scoring in five of the past eight. The Canucks will have forward Brock Boeser in the lineup tonight. Boeser returns tonight after missing the past seven games. He took a hit from Tanner Jeannot of the Kings on November 7th and sustained an upper-body injury.
Brad Marchand is expected to play in his 1,052nd career game tonight, tying him with Don Sweeney for the fourth-most games played in Bruins history. The Bruins will have to get out to a strong start tonight if the club wants to hold off the Canucks and take away two points.
Leave a Reply