Tonight's Officials
Referees Dan O'Halloran (13), Justin St Pierre (12)
Linesmen Scott Driscoll (68), Brad Kovachik (71)
Ntl. Anthems Martina Ortiz-Luis
WAYBACK MACHINE
BOSTON vs TORONTO, LIFETIME SERIES
The Bruins and Maple Leafs are meeting for the 666th time in their histories with the Bruins having a 295-261-98-11 record and Toronto holding a 1,976-1,965 scoring edge in those games.
The Bruins are 112-163-51-6 in their 332 road games of this lifetime series with the Maple Leafs having a 1,091-876 scoringadvantage in those contests.
The Bruins have lost the 1st 3 games of this season’s series with 4-1 losses each in Toronto on 10/15 & in Boston on 12/10, & a 6-5 setback in Boston on 2/4 … That followed a 7-game point streak vs. the Maple Leafs at 5-0-2 & they are now 17-6-4 in their last 27 games overall vs. Toronto … They are 10-4-3 in their last 17 road games of this lifetime series.
Fun Fact: The Bruins have not been swept by Toronto in a season series since 1996-97 (0-2-0).
TONIGHT’S GAME
The Bruins visit the Maple Leafs tonight in the 4th & final game between these teams and the 2nd of 2 this season at Air Canada Centre … The Bruins are 38-27-6 thus far this season with a 19-13-6 mark on the road … They are 16-7-1 vs. Atlantic Division opponents and are 24-16-6 vs. Eastern Conference teams this season.
The Bruins are concluding tonight their longest remaining road stretch of the season, a 4-game trek from 3/13-20 (VAN-CGY-EDMTOR).
They are playing game 1 tonight of their 14th of 16 sets of 3-games-in-4-nights this season … They are 7-5-1 in game 1s, 6-4-3 in game 2s and 5-6-2 in game 3s of those series so far.
They are opening their 13th of 14 sets of back-to-back games this season … They are 7-3-2 in the 1st of those games and are 3-7-2
in the 2nd game thus far.
MILESTONES APPROACHING
Dominic Moore is 1 goal short of his 100th NHL goal.
INJURIES (142 total man-games lost)
Tim Schaller – Lower body injury suffered 3/8 vs DET; Has missed 2 games, is not on current trip.
https://link.nhl.com/static/gamenotes/public/20162017/[email protected]?1490008580000
The Boston Bruins have been looking over their shoulders at the Toronto Maple Leafs as the teams jockey for playoff spots and seedings.
The teams have a chance to meet face to face Monday night at the Air Canada Centre.
The Bruins (38-27-6) have 82 points in 71 games and the Maple Leafs (32-23-15) have 79 points in 70 games. Both were in playoff spots entering Sunday.
The Bruins are 12-4-0 since Bruce Cassidy took over as coach and they have four points of a possible six in their past three games, all on the road.
They are still smarting, however, from a 7-4 loss to the Edmonton Oilers on Thursday.
"We'll park this one," Cassidy said. "We lost the game. That's the way we look at it. I'm not going to sum up the road trip. We lost this game. We won (Wednesday at Calgary). We won on Monday (at Vancouver). Our goal is to go into Toronto and play well."
The Maple Leafs are coming off a 2-1 overtime loss to the Chicago Blackhawks on Saturday at the Air Canada Centre.
"Every day you talk about how big the game is, but that's what we're going to do right until the end, obviously," Maple Leafs coach Mike Babcock said. "You can tell by looking at it. That's a huge point for us (Saturday), an absolutely huge point, but we've got to keep getting better.
"I thought we were, as good as we played at times, I thought we were very respectful of them and I'd like to see us go after them a little bit more. That's all part of the process too."
Maple Leafs rookie Auston Matthews ended a seven-game stretch without a goal or assist when he scored his 32nd goal of the season on Saturday.
"He has been playing well throughout the games he hasn't been getting a point," said teammate William Nylander, who combined with Matthews on the goal. "So, I mean, when you're playing well, that's basically what matters as long as you're creating. Now I'm happy for him that he was able to score a goal (Saturday)."
If playing against the Blackhawks was a way of measuring themselves, the Maple Leafs feel they did well.
"I think it could have gone either way," Matthews said. "They're obviously one of the best teams in the league so I thought we did a pretty good job for all of us holding each other accountable, making sure everybody played the full 60 minutes. I thought we actually played pretty solid."
This is a big week for the Bruins as far as meeting teams that have playoff hopes.
They follow the game in Toronto by returning home to play the Ottawa Senators on Tuesday and the Tampa Bay Lightning on Thursday before visiting the New York Islanders on Saturday.
"You have to realize that every night, every team, every game, you have to show up and be good," Bruins forward Patrice Bergeron said. "You can't rely on the success we've had lately. Hopefully, we realize that and go from there."
Bergeron missed the team's practice Sunday on a maintenance day and is accompanying the team to Toronto.
"I expect him to play, but I'll know more in a couple of hours," Cassidy said.
Drew Stafford also missed practice because his wife gave birth to twins and will meet the team in Toronto. Tim Schaller remains out with a lower-body injury.
Boston recalled Noel Acciari and Sean Kuraly on an emergency basis from Providence of the American Hockey League.
Acciari has two assists in 19 games with Boston this season. Kuraly has played five games with Boston in November.
Tuukka Rask is expected to start in goal for the Bruins against the Maple Leafs, who will start Frederik Andersen.
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) and most of it comes from the fact that the true Leaf fans have a hard time getting a ticket for the games due to the suits eating up so much of the lower bowl then not sitting in their seats until the 10 minute mark of a period
