By: Jack Studley | Follow me on Twitter/X @jackstudley13
The Boston Bruins (12-9-0) are on the West Coast to close out the season series with the Anaheim Ducks (12-6-1) tonight in Anaheim. In the first of a four-game road trip, the injury-plagued Bruins will look to make up for the 7-5 loss the Ducks handed to them at the TD Garden, while also bouncing back from the “slow day” that the Bruins had on Monday. The game is scheduled to start just after 10:00 PM at the Honda Center in Orange County, California.
Marco Sturm shuffled the defense pairings at Wednesday’s morning skate. Nikita Zadorov remains on the top pair for the black and gold; Jonathan Aspirot will join him. Hampus Lindholm, who was long paired with Andrew Peeke, will now skate alongside Henri Jokiharju on the second pair. That leaves Peeke with Mason Lohrei, and they will make up the third pair.
Up front, the Bruins have made a few subtle changes. Late in the second period on Monday, Marco Sturm made an in-game change, swapping Marat Khusnutdinov and Fraser Minten, but that switch was only for Monday. For tonight’s game, Khusnutdinov will return to the first line and play between Morgan Geekie and David Pastrnak. The second line remains untouched; Alex Steeves and Matej Blumel are the wingers alongside Pavel Zacha. Fraser Minten will center the third line with Tanner Jeannot and Mark Kastelic. Jeffrey Viel, who is looking for his first point of the season, will also slide back into the lineup and replace Riley Tufte.
On Tuesday afternoon, the Bruins announced that Michael Callahan had been called up and would join the team on its road trip. Callahan, a native of Franklin, MA, has posted two assists and a plus-four in 12 games with the Providence Bruins this season. After the Bruins’ practice on Wednesday, Fluto Shinzawa of The Athletic reported that Charlie McAvoy underwent surgery and there is no timetable for his return.
Anaheim has caught fire to start the season and currently leads the Pacific Division with 25 points through 19 games. They are scoring the second-most goals per game (3.63) and are led by breakout seasons from Leo Carlsson (11-15–26), Cutter Gauthier (12-10–22), and a resurgence from Boxford, MA native Chris Kreider (10-4–14). An area where the Bruins can capitalize on is the special teams battle; Anaheim’s power play ranks 16th (20.9%) and their penalty kill is 23rd (77.6%), compared to Boston’s top-five power play (25.4%) and eighth-ranked penalty kill (82.5%). The Bruins went two-for-two on the man-advantage in the first meeting between these teams.
The Boston Bruins will be going with Joonas Korpisalo in goal tonight, according to Zach Cavanagh of the Sporting Tribune. Korpisalo has pitched a .500 record in his eight starts, one of them being the 7-5 loss against the Ducks in October. On the other end, Derek Lee of The Hockey News reported that Lukas Dostal will be in goal for the Ducks. Dostal has allowed 16 goals over his last five starts, or 3.2 goals per game. The Bruins have scored an average of 3.24 goals per game throughout the 2025-26 campaign.
It’s a late start on the East Coast, with the Bruins and Ducks happening shortly after 10:00 PM on NESN and 98.5. For coverage of tonight’s contest, consider following my BNG colleague, Chad Jones (X/@ShutUpChadJones), who will be on-site to provide Bruins fans with the happenings from SoCal. If you are in the area, please check out our StubHub Ticket-affiliated link HERE for the most competitive concert and sporting event tickets in the North American region.
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