PHOTO CREDITS: (AP Photo)
By: Max Mainville | Check me out on Twitter @tkdmaxbjj
Points in sixteen straight games, three game-winning streak. That is the reality for the Boston Bruins ahead of tonight’s game against the Carolina Hurricanes. The Bruins have had support from all four lines, all three defensive lines, and both goalies during this extended streak of wins and points, pushing them to the second Atlantic division spot, only one point ahead of the Maple Leafs.
For Carolina, they too have been on an incredible run as of late. The Hurricanes have boosted themselves out of the wild-card to have the third Metropolitan divisional spot in their possession, only one point ahead of Pittsburgh who is currently in the wild-card. Carolina is riding on a five-game winning streak and are 21-6-1 since December 30th, 2018.
Starting Goaltenders:
BOS: Jaroslav Halak 17-9-4 2.29 GAA .924 SV% Last Game: 19 Saves in 4-1 win vs SJS
CAR: Curtis McElhinney (Likely) 2.24 GAA .923 SV% Last Game: 21 Saves in 5-2 win vs STL
Who’s Hot
Jaroslav Halak will be one of the favorites to win the 2019 NESN 7th Player Award, awarding the Bruin that has exceeded expectations this season and exceed expectations is what he has done. Halak has wins in each of his last four starts, three of which had him stopping thirty or more shots. In the last six games, Jaroslav has a .946 save percentage and has not lost in regulation. He has been a big member to the team, taking off some of the pressure from starting goaltender, Tuukka Rask. Even so much so that there is the chance that Bruce Cassidy runs both Rask and Halak in the 2019 Stanley Cup Playoffs as fellow BNG writer Evan Michael mentions here.
Sebastian Aho is one of the best young players in the NHL today and he has proven that he should have gone higher than 35th overall in the 2015 NHL Entry Draft. Aho leads the Hurricanes this season with 27-46-73 numbers in 65 games this year and he is in the middle of a five-game point streak where he has accumulated six points in that span.
Brad Marchand scored the only goal in the win over the New Jersey Devils on Saturday night, making his 2018-19 season all the better. Marchand leads Boston in points with 24-49-76 numbers in 64 games and is well on the road to surpassing his career-high of 85 points that he reached in each of the last two seasons.
Teuvo Teravainen was once drafted by the Chicago Blackhawks, but was traded to Carolina in 2016 for a 2nd and a 3rd round pick. In response, Teravainen has had a phenomenal season, scoring eighteen goals and a career-high 43 assists for sixty-one points in only 65 games. He will break his career-high of 64 points, a mark he hit last season in a full 82 games. The 24-year-old has nine points in his last five games.
Who’s Not
Trevor van Riemsdyk is not necessarily known as a point-producing defenceman, as he usually gets third-paring minutes on the Carolina blueline, but the 27-year-old has only one point in his last ten games and is still a -4 rating on the season. The Hurricanes would love a higher plus/minus rating for him and more points on the back-end as the battle in the Metro continues.
David Backes is getting time with newly-acquired Charlie Coyle, but the ex-St. Louis Blue has zero points in his last five contests for the B’s and has ten penalty minutes during that time as well. Backes has 5-9-14 numbers in 53 games played in 2018-19 and is not even close to the 14-19-33 totals he had in 57 games last season for Boston.
Michael Ferland was one of the biggest fish in the trade deadline market but for some reason, his play has fallen off. In the past six games, the Swan River, Manitoba, Canada native has only two points – both of which coming on February 26th against the Los Angeles Kings. Ferland has 17-18-35 numbers in fifty-six games during the campaign this season.
Milestone Watch
Boston Bruins:
- G Jaroslav Halak is one win away (249) from 250 career NHL wins and would tie Johnny Bauer (250) for 54th most wins in NHL history
- D Zdeno Chara is one goal away (199) from 200 career NHL goals
- F Brad Marchand is one short-handed goal away (25) from passing Rick Middleton (25) for sole possession of most SHG in Bruins history
- F Patrice Bergeron is one point away (793) from passing Wayne Cashman (793) for sole possession of 6th most points in Bruins history
Carolina Hurricanes:
- F Jordan Staal is one point away (499) from 500 career NHL points
Bruins vs Hurricanes Outlook
This is the final game of the season series between the Bruins and Hurricanes, with both teams taking one of the previous two meetings. Back on October 30th, the B’s took a 3-2 win, followed by a Carolina win on December 23rd with the final score being 5-3 Hurricanes. Once again, the Hurricanes will dawn the Hartford Whalers jerseys while the Bruins will wear their 2018-19 road sweaters on home ice.
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- PHOTO CREDITS: (Jamie Kellner)
Power-Play Percentage:
BOS: 26.8% – 2nd in NHL
CAR: 17.6% – 21st in NHL
Penalty-Kill Percentage:
BOS: 81.3% – 11th in NHL
CAR: 81.6% – 9th in NHL
Below are the Bruins practice lines from yesterday ahead of tonight’s game. Kevan Miller, Sean Kuraly and David Pastrnak are all out of the lineup.
Love the write up, nit picky formatting on these numbers. If less than ten you spell it out, over ten you use numbers. This sentence went randomly on all four numbers.
scoring eighteen goals and a career-high 43 assists for sixty-one points in only 65 games
To each their own, thank you for the kind words and the advice.