Last night in South Florida, Bruins fans witnessed a refreshing scene. A solid, all-around 60-minute effort that resulted in a 4-0 win over the Panthers to kick off their four-game road trip.

With points at a premium and every team in the Atlantic Division having at least one game in hand, the Bruins look to carry that momentum over from Sunrise this afternoon in their final matchup of the regular season with the Carolina Hurricanes. Both of the previous games ended in the extra session with each team coming out victorious – the Bruins in a 2-1 shootout win on December 1 and the ‘Canes in a come-from-behind 3-2 victory two days before Christmas.

The Bruins enter their late afternoon tilt in Carolina holding the second spot in the Atlantic. In order to keep that spot, they’ll need to dig deep and show another solid effort in their second game of a back to back less than 24 hours following their fourth win of the year against the Panthers.

Gametime: 5:00 p.m.
TV/Radio: NESN/98.5 The Sports Hub
Records: Bruins 21-17-4 (46 points), Hurricanes 17-15-7 (41 points)
Location: PNC Arena

Bruins projected lines

Brad Marchand-Patrice Bergeron-David Pastrnak
Ryan Spooner-David Krejci-David Backes
Frank Vatrano-Austin Czarnik-Jimmy Hayes
Tim Schaller-Dominic Moore-Riley Nash

Zdeno Chara-Brandon Carlo
Torey Krug-Adam McQuaid
Kevan Miller-Colin Miller

Zane McIntyre
Tuukka Rask

Hurricanes projected lines

Jeff Skinner-Viktor Rask-Ty Rattie
Sebastian Aho-Teuvo Teravinen-Lee Stempniak
Brock McGinn-Jordan Staal-Derek Ryan
Joakim Nordstrom-Jay McClement-Viktor Stalberg

Jaccob Slavin-Brett Pesce
Ron Hainsey-Justin Faulk
Noah Hanifin-Ryan Murphy

Cam Ward
Michael Leighton

Tonight’s storylines

Zane McIntyre was recalled from Providence in place of Anton Khudobin to be the backup to Tuukka Rask. (Photo by Angela Spagna, Bruins Daily)

– More than likely, Claude Julien will turn to Zane McIntyre this afternoon as he hopes to solidify the backup goaltending spot for the foreseeable future. The former North Dakota standout is fresh off AHL Goaltender of the month honors in December where he went a perfect 9-0-0 to go along with a .947 save percentage and 1.65 goals against average. McIntyre, who is 0-2-0 in three appearances with Boston, will look for his first career win and the Bruins will look for their second ‘w’ from a goaltender other than Tuukka Rask.

– Brad Marchand entered Saturday’s game having tallied just three goals in his last 15 games. He started the second half of the season with a pair of goals and helped the Black and Gold tally three or more goals for just the 17th time this season. With David Pastrnak on a career-long eight-game goal drought and Patrice Bergeron also hoping to turn things around in the second half, Marchand and his fellow linemates hope to provide that spark that the Bruins desperately need offensively.

– The Bruins and Hurricanes enter Sunday tied for first in the league in penalty kill percentage. Both teams have killed off 87.9 percent of their opponents power plays, but it’s the Bruins that have gone to the box more frequently having been shorthanded 141 times – tied with the Blues for sixth most in the league compared to Carolina’s 99 – the fewest among all teams. Even with their confidence in the penalty kill and the Hurricanes’ power play going one for their last 23, the old “staying out of the box” strategy can only help the Bruins in their second game of a back-to-back on the road.