Tonight's Officials
Referees Wes McCauley (4), Chris Rooney (5)
Linesmen Brian Murphy (93), Tim Nowak (77)
Ntl. Anthem Jinty McGrath
TONIGHT’S GAME - The Bruins host the Blue Jackets tonight in the 2nd of 3 games between these teams this season and the Blue Jackets’ lone visit to TD Garden … The Bruins are 42-20-9 this season and are 27-7-3 on home ice … They are 8-9-2 vs. Metropolitan Division opponents and are 23-15-4 vs. Eastern Conference foes. - The Bruins play their lone home game tonight in a span that has them playing 7 of 8 games on the road (0-3-0) … They will next face a 4-game road trip to NYI (3/19), NJ (3/21), FLA (3/23) & TB (3/25)
MILESTONES APPROACHING - Patrice Bergeron is 1 point shy of his 800th NHL point. - Torey Krug is 1 point shy of his 284th career point, which will move him past Craig Janney for the most points in team history by a U.S.-born Bruin. - Zdeno Chara is 1 goal short of his 200th NHL goal … He will become just the 22nd defenseman in NHL history to reach that milestone & 2nd active (Shea Weber).
INJURIES (Total man-games lost in 2018-19: 209) - Jake DeBrusk – Lower body - Matt Grzelcyk – Upper body - Marcus Johansson – Lung contusion - Torey Krug – Upper body - Kevan Miller – Upper body - David Pastrnak – 2/12 left thumb surgery
BOSTON vs COLUMBUS, LIFETIME SERIES - The Bruins and Blue Jackets are meeting for the 29th time in their histories with the Bruins having a 16-8-0-4 record and 97-78 scoring advantage in those games. - The Bruins are 8-4-0-1 lifetime vs. the Blue Jackets in Boston with a 44-34 scoring edge in those 13 contests. - The Bruins are 1-1-2 in their last 4 games vs. the Blue Jackets, including a 7-4 loss in Columbus on 3/12 in the 1st game of this season’s series … They are 12-5-2 in their last 19 overall vs. the Blue Jackets & are 2-0-1 in their last 3 on home ice.
A week ago, the Boston Bruins extended their points streak to 19 consecutive games.
That now seems like such a long time ago.
The Bruins (42-20-9, 93 points) went 0-3 on a three-game trip to Pittsburgh, Columbus and Winnipeg and return home Saturday night to face the Blue Jackets for the second time in five days. Boston lost 7-4 Tuesday at Columbus, as Boone Jenner netted his first NHL hat trick.
"(Jenner) is just a guy you pull for," Columbus coach John Tortorella said. "He doesn't know how to do it any other way than work hard."
The Bruins wrapped up their trip with a 4-3 loss Thursday in Winnipeg.
"I don't like to lose one in a row, so there's always concern. There's different factors that go into it," Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy said. "I think we played three very good hockey teams this week. That's part of it. Part of it is we haven't started on time, so we put ourselves in a hole. We're playing catch up every night. That's a bad formula in the National Hockey League."
The Bruins have fallen behind by two or more goals in five of their past six games, including all three on the road. Columbus led 5-1 just over eight minutes into the second period on Tuesday.
"We shot ourselves in the foot at the start of every game," Bruins center Patrice Bergeron told NHL.com. "Tough to get back in this league, tough to do that every night. We've done it on the tail end of our point streak. But you could tell that we were getting away from what's been good to us, and it's about getting that back. A lot of things to look at ... obviously you want results in this league, and we didn't get it on this trip."
The Bruins were without three forwards (Jake DeBrusk, Marcus Johansson and David Pastrnak) and three defensemen (Matt Grzelcyk, Torey Krug and Kevan Miller) for Thursday's game.
"We have really good depth on our team, so that's not an excuse," Bruins forward Joakim Nordstrom told NHL.com. "We have a good enough team to be able to win every night. We're not happy with the way we started the games on this trip. That's something that we have to work on."
The Blue Jackets (40-28-3, 83 points) will be playing the second of back-to-back games after blanking the visiting Carolina Hurricanes 3-0 Friday night, despite being outshot 46-20.
Sergei Bobrovsky made 46 saves as the Blue Jackets tied the Hurricanes for the Eastern Conference's top wild-card berth. Bobrovsky has six shutouts this season and 30 for his NHL career. He set a career high and a franchise record for saves in a shutout.
"I felt good," Bobrovsky told NHL.com. "I saw lots of pucks, lots of shots from the outside. It allows me to get into my game, control my game. I saw the majority of the pucks and controlled the rebounds and played my game."
Blue Jackets forward Brandon Dubinsky said there was little conversation between Bobrovsky and his teammates.
"We leave him alone, especially when he's in a zone like that," Dubinsky told NHL.com. "It would be like a pitcher with a no-hitter. When he has a shutout going, leave him alone and let him do his thing."
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