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  • Game Day Preview: Bruins vs. Hurricanes

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    Game Day Preview: Bruins vs. Hurricanes

    Tim Rosenthal January 6, 2018
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    Mother Nature stopped the Boston Bruins from playing the Florida Panthers on Thursday night. But it hasn’t stopped Boston’s hot streak – yet.

    Returning to action for the first time since Tuesday in their 5-1 win over the New York Islanders, the Bruins welcome another hot team in the Carolina Hurricanes to TD Garden Saturday night.

    Just how well are these two teams playing? The Bruins carry a nine-game point streak (7-0-2) while the Hurricanes are 7-2-1 in their last 10. Both teams are making their climb up the Eastern Conference standings with the B’s sitting in second place in the Atlantic Division and the ‘Canes holding the second wild-card spot.

    The Hurricanes aren’t exactly flashy, but they’re getting the job done thanks to some stellar coaching from Bill Peters. The Bruins will have their hands full Saturday against Jeff Skinner, Sebastian Aho and the rest of the resurgent ‘Canes.

    Looking for affordable parking and a quick in and out for Bruins-Hurricanes? Head over Constitution Wharf (1 Constitution Rd.) – a short walk to TD Garden – to take advantage of their $15 rate, while avoiding traffic and construction on Causeway St. Tell them Bruins Daily sent you!

    Gametime: 7 p.m.
    TV/Radio: NESN/98.5 The Sports Hub
    Records: Bruins 22-10-6 (50 points), Hurricanes 19-13-8 (46 points)
    Location: TD Garden

    Bruins projected lines

    Brad Marchand-Patrice Bergeron-David Pastrnak
    Jake DeBrusk-David Krejci-Ryan Spooner
    Danton Heinen-Riley Nash-David Backes
    Tim Schaller-Sean Kuraly-Noel Acciari

    Zdeno Chara-Charlie McAvoy
    Torey Krug-Brandon Carlo
    Matt Grzelcyk-Kevan Miller

    Anton Khudobin
    Tuukka Rask

    Hurricanes projected lines

    Sebastian Aho-Jordan Staal-Teuvo Teravainen
    Brock McGinn-Derek Ryan-Elias Lindholm
    Jeff Skinner-Lucas Wallmark-Phil Di Giuseppe
    Joakim Nordstrom-Victor Rask-Justin Williams

    Jaccob Slavin-Brett Pesce
    Haydn Fleury-Justin Faulk
    Noah Hanifin-Trevor van Riemsdyk

    Cam Ward
    Scott Darling

    Bruins-Hurricanes storylines

    – Normally, a David Pastrnak 10-game goal drought isn’t a good thing, but the fourth-year forward is finding ways to produce without lighting the lamp. The creative Pastrnak has seven assists in that span and is still creating chances for himself and his fellow linemates Brad Marchand and Patrice Bergeron. Pastrnak is showing progress in the defensive and neutral zones. His game is becoming more well rounded, but Bruce Cassidy and company would like nothing more than for Pastrnak to light the lamp for the first time since Dec. 13.

    “[Pastrnak] falls on the offensive side where he has some assists and is contributing five-on-five,” Cassidy said following practice at Warrior Ice Arena on Wednesday. “We’re happy for David. Obviously, we’d like him to score, but he hasn’t hurt us and he’s still making plays.”

    – The bomb cyclone postponed the Bruins-Panthers game 48 hours ago, but it did not change Cassidy’s goaltending plans for the back-to-back this weekend. Tuukka Rask, who was supposed to start on Thursday, will make his next scheduled start Sunday in Pittsburgh. Anton Khudobin, who is 1-3-0 in his last four, will get the nod as planned. Though he’s allowed 11 goals in his last three starts, Khudobin hasn’t played all that poorly aside from his performance in Nashville on Dec. 4 and notched a shutout in the second game of a back-to-back against the Sabres a few weeks later. Khudobin is 3-0-1 against his former squad (with a 1.94 goals against average and .927 save percentage), which bodes well in a matchup between two hot teams.

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    Tim Rosenthal

    Tim Rosenthal serves as the Managing Editor of Bruins Daily. He started contributing videos to the site in 2010 before fully coming on board during the Bruins' Stanley Cup run in 2011. His bylines over the last decade have been featured on Boston.com, FoxSports.com, College Hockey News, Patch and Inside Hockey. You can follow Tim on Twitter @_TimRosenthal.

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