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Home
Boston Bruins

Preview: Bruins Set to Visit Defending Champs

By Anthony Pagliarulo December 14th, 2016

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The Boston Bruins will see the Pittsburgh Penguins for the first time in 2016-17 tonight at the PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh. Last season, Boston was able to dominate in all three meetings between the clubs. They were able to score 14 goals, only give up three and take all three victories.

The Bruin’s were able to end their three-game losing streak against Montreal on Monday. Now the club will try to stay on the winning track, but the Penguins have won their last six games by a score of 35 to 14.

This will certainly be an interesting matchup as both teams have offensive weapons, great goaltending and solid defense. The Bruins will need to lean on David Pastrnak and Brad Marchand to help get some pucks past Matt Murray who has been playing well this season.

This game will also be a big test for Brandon Carlo, as the rookie will be seeing players like Sidney Crosby, Phil Kessel and Evgeni Malkin on most shifts. Another rookie defenseman, Matt Grzelcyk, should be making his NHL debut tonight for the Bruins against the defending Stanley Cup Champions.


Boston Bruins at Pittsburgh Penguins

PPG Paints Arena-7:30 p.m. E.S.T

Broadcast Channels-NBCSN, 98.5 The Sports Hub

2016-17 Season Series: First Meeting of the Season

Boston Bruins-16-12-2- 34 Points

Road Record: 9-5-2

Hot Players: David Pastrnak, Austin Czarnik, Brad Marchand

Key Injuries: Matt Beleskey, John-Michael Liles, Frank Vatrano  

Projected Lines:

Forwards

Brad Marchand-Patrice Bergeron-David Backes

Tim Schaller-David Krejci-David Pastrnak

Ryan Spooner-Austin Czarnik-Jimmy Hayes

Dominic Moore-Riley Nash-Noel Acciari

Defense

Zdeno Chara-Brandon Carlo

Torey Krug-Adam McQuaid

Matt Grzelcyk-Kevan Miller

Goaltender

Tuukka Rask

[irp]

Pittsburgh Penguins-19-7-3- 41 Points

Home Record: 12-2-1

Hot Players: Sidney Crosby, Phil Kessel, Kris Letang

Key Injuries: Daniel Sprong

Projected Lines:

Forwards

Conor Sheary-Sidney Crosby-Patric Hornqvist

Carl Hagelin-Evgeni Malkin-Phil Kessel

Chris Kunitz-Nick Bonino-Bryan Rust

Scott Wilson-Matt Cullen-Tom Kuhnhackl

Defense

Brian Dumoulin-Kris Letang

Olli Maatta-Trevor Daley

Ian Cole-Justin Schultz

Goaltender

Matt Murray


Game Notes

1) The Sidney Crosby currently leads the NHL with 21 goals. Not far behind him is David Pastrnak with 18 on the season.

2) Matt Grzelcyk could be making his NHL debut tonight. Grzelcyk has 12 points in 25 games in his first professional season in the AHL. He hails from Charlestown, Massachusetts and played his college hockey at Boston University.

3) The Bruins lead the all-time series with a record of 110-61-21-6 against the Penguins. This will be the 199th meeting between the two teams.

4) Boston has been impressive on the road this season going 9-5-2, but the Penguins have dominated in their building to a record of 12-2-1.


Coach Claude Julien decided to switch up the forward lines last game in an attempt to create more offense. It appears he will be keeping the lines from last game, but this game could end up being decided by the goaltenders and not the goal scorers.

Tuukka Rask is 15-5-0-2 this season with a 1.80 GAA and a save percentage of .932. On the other side, Matt Murray has a record of 11-2-0-0 to go along with his 1.84 GAA and .936 save percentage. Both goaltenders are at the top of their game lately and should be very busy in net this evening. One big mistake could end be being very costly at the final buzzer.

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