Tonight's Officials
Referees Dan O'Rourke (9), Brad Watson (23)
Linesmen Kory Nagy (97), Brad Kovachik (71)
TONIGHT’S GAME
The Bruins visit the Islanders tonight for the second of three games between these teams and the first of two at Barclays Center … The Bruins are 21-10-6 this season and are 8-5-3 on the road thus far … They are 5-3-3 against Metropolitan Division foes and 11-4-5 against the Eastern Conference.
The Bruins are concluding tonight a 3-game road trip … They will next return home to host Florida on 1/4 and Carolina on 1/6 … They will then face the Penguins in Pittsburgh on 1/7 before enjoying their 5-day bye break.
BOSTON vs NEW YORK, LIFETIME SERIES
The Bruins and Islanders are meeting for the 165th time in their histories with the Bruins having a 85-54-21-4 record and 556-477 scoring advantage in those contests.
The Bruins are 40-30-10-2 in 82 games played between the teams in New York with a 268-254 scoring edge.
The Bruins are 7-2-0 in their last 9 games vs. the Islanders, including a 3-1 win in Boston on 12/9 in the 1st game of this season’s series, and are 17-7-1 in their last 25 overall … They have won their last 5 games in New York with their last road setback a 3-1 loss on Nov. 2, 2013 and they are 13-2-1 on their last 16 visits to New York.
WAYBACK MACHINE
MILESTONES APPROACHING
Brad Marchand is one assist shy of the 200 NHL/Bruins assists milestone.
Torey Krug is two points short of his 200th NHL/Bruins point.
Patrice Bergeron is four points shy of his 700th NHL/Bruins point.
INJURIES (Total man-games lost in 2017-18: 152)
Adam McQuaid – Broken right fibula suffered 10/19 vs VAN, missed last 31 games
NUMBERS
4: Straight games entering tonight in which a Bruin has had a 2-goal game (Bergeron vs DET 12/23; Nash vs OTT 12/27; Backes at WSH 12/28; Spooner at OTT 12/30).
4: Straight multiple-point games by David Backes entering tonight with 3-5=8 totals in that stretch … He was named the NHL’s Third Star for the week of 12/25-31 with 3-3=6 totals in 3 games played.
7: Season series completed so far (ARI, 2-0-0; COL, 0-2-0; LA, 1-0-1; NSH, 1-1-0; SJ, 2-0-0; VGK, 1-1-0; WSH, 0-2-1).
7: Bruins who have scored their first NHL regular season goals this season (Jake DeBrusk, Charlie McAvoy, Anders Bjork, Danton Heinen, Sean Kuraly, Peter Cehlarik, Matt Grzelcyk) … Kuraly previously scored two goals in Game 5 in last year’s Eastern Conference Quarterfinals against OTT, including the overtime GWG.
11: Straight games with points in goal for Tuukka Rask at 10-0-1, a new career-best point streak … He has played in 12 of the last 14 games with a 1.29 goals against average, .950 save percentage & 2 shutouts in that span … He was named the NHL First Star for the week of 12/18-24 with a 3-0-0 record, 1.30 gaa and .954 save percentage over those games.