| 12:30 p.m. | ABC, ESPN+ | Los Angeles Kings at Boston Bruins The Kings (24-15-10) face the Bruins (32-11-9) for an interconference matchup at TD Garden. | Play-by-Play: Bob Wischusen Analyst: Ryan Callahan Reporter: Leah Hextall In Studio: Steve Levy, Mark Messier, P.K. Subban, Arda Öcal |
Officials
Referees Dan O'Rourke (9), Mitch Dunning (20)
Linespersons Matt MacPherson (83), Michel Cormier (76)
TODAY’S GAME-The Bruins host the Kings today in the second of two games between these teams this season and the Kings’ lone visit to TDGarden this year ... The Bruins are 32-12- 10 overall this season and they are 17-7-4 on home ice ... They are 13-4-5 in games vs.Western Conference teams this season.- The Bruins play today their seventh of 11 matinees this season (local time 4:00 pm or earlier) ... They have a 3-3-0 record in afternoon games so far.-The Bruins play game six today of their seven-game home stand (1-3-1) ... Following today’s game vs. Los Angeles, they will host Dallas on 2/19 ... They will then travel to Edmonton on 2/21, Calgary on 2/22, Vancouver on 2/24 and Seattle on 2/26
INJURIES (94 Man-games lost)- Matt Poitras: 2/7 right shoulder surgery (LTIR)
BOSTON vs LOS ANGELES, LIFETIME SERIES - The Bruins and Kings are meeting for the 150th time in their histories with Boston holding a 90-38-13-8 record and a 587-453scoring advantage in those games.- The Bruins are 49-13-6-7 vs. Los Angeles in Boston with a 319-213 scoring advantage in those 75 games.- The Bruins have taken points out of their last 12 games vs. Los Angeles at 8-0-4 in that span, including a 4-2 win on 10/21 in the first game of this season’s series.
Thursday's 4-1 loss to Seattle marked the Bruins' third straight setback and fourth in a five-game span (1-3-1), but it was not for a lack of effort.
Though they were rare for coach Jim Montgomery's club last winter, these types of streaks happen over the course of the marathon that is an 82-game regular season.
"Happy with a lot of parts of our game (on Thursday)," Montgomery said. "We're not getting the results right now, and sometimes you go through that during the season. We've got to stick together, we've got to keep working, keep grinding."
Boston piled up 38 and 37 shots on goal over their past two games but came away with just one point by taking the Tampa Bay Lightning to a shootout on Tuesday.
Against the Kraken, the Bruins recorded the first 11 shots of the game but could only muster David Pastrnak's team-leading 34th goal of the season at the 4:54 mark. The winger had actually been on a four-game goal scoring drought prior to Thursday.
How can Boston get over the hump? Montgomery believes it will take some grit.
"It's going to take some sandpaper goals where it goes off of us or stuff and that didn't happen," the coach said. "We had incredible looks. We hit posts. Those things happen. You have nights like that."
The Bruins have now gone since Feb. 8 against Vancouver without clinching two points.
"These kinds of games are tough when you think you deserve a better fate," forward Morgan Geekie said on Thursday. "But, it's a good league, (Seattle is) a good team, so we're just going to try and bounce back on Saturday."
The Kings, meanwhile, are 3-1-1 in their past five games, having bounced back from a 7-0 loss at Buffalo on Tuesday to edge past New Jersey 2-1 two nights later.
Thursday marked the season debut of Viktor Arvidsson, who missed the first 50 games following back surgery in October. Arvidsson recorded five shots on goal in 15:43 of ice time.
"He's just a ball of fire and plays with a lot of passion," Los Angeles coach Jim Hiller said of Arvidsson. "I didn't know how he was going to do. I knew he would show passion, but I thought he played very well for being off that long. Not only was he energetic, but he was dangerous and looked like he hadn't missed a beat."
That's all part of Arvidsson's plan.
"That's how I play. (I've) got to play that way," he said. "It's been a tough two years. I've been out for almost 11 months out of two years. So, it's been a long road back and it was really nice to be back out there, feeling the competitiveness, being around the team and on the bench."
It was, indeed, a competitive game against the Devils.
Quinton Byfield scored a game-winning, power-play goal with 5:37 left in the third period, while David Rittich preserved the win with 26 saves in his fifth consecutive start.
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as he is having tough time
