Phil Kessel hasn’t played a game against the Boston Bruins without Big Z starting the majority of shifts against him or hopping the boards shortly thereafter.
The Maple Leafs will look to capitalize and get the season series started off with a win against the underperforming Boston Bruins (4-5-0). While it still doesn’t feel as though the Maple Leafs have bucked the Bruin off their back after losing eight of nine regular season meetings followed by the traumatizing 2013 playoff loss, they did manage to split the season series in 2013-14.
The Bruins remain a top 5 possession team at even strength, but Tuukka Rask hasn’t been himself and the Bruins have struggled to turn possession into goals in the early season. A .983 PDO suggests they will sort it out as the sample size grows, but the injury to Zdeno Chara, the preseason trade of Zach Boychuk, and the loss of 30-goal scorer Jarome Iginla might keep the Bruins off their usual perch in the Atlantic Division.
Good chance here for the Maple Leafs to grab two points off a division rival.
It looks like the Leafs will stick with the 7 defencemen formula from Tuesday.
Let tonight’s starter Jonathan Bernier take it from here:
| Leafs | Bruins | |
|---|---|---|
| Record | 3-3-1 | 4-5-1 |
| Goals/Game | 2.86 (15th) | 2.33 (23rd) |
| Goals Against/Game | 3.0 (16th) | 2.56 (13th) |
| Shots/Game | 30.0 (16th) | 30.7 (13th) |
| Shots Against/Game | 34.0 (26th) | 27.2 (7th) |
| Even Strength CF% | 46.5% (25th) | 55.5% (5th) |
| EV Team SV% | 91.19% (17th) | 91.71 (15th) |
| EV Team SH% | 8.92% (13th) | 6.64% (24th) |
| PDO | 1.001 (14th) | .983 (23rd) |
| PK% | 85.7% (9th) | 78.8% (19th) |
| PP% | 17.9% (18th) | 19.2% (15th) |
Projected Line ups
BRUINS
Milan Lucic – David Krejci – Seth Griffith
Brad Marchand – Patrice Bergeron – Reilly Smith
Chris Kelly – Carl Soderberg – Loui Eriksson
Daniel Paille – Gregory Campbell – Simon Gagne
Dennis Seidenberg – Dougie Hamilton
Torey Krug – Adam McQuaid
Matt Bartkowski – Zach Trotman
Tuukka Rask
Niklas Svedberg
Scratched: Matt Fraser, Joe Morrow
Injured: Zdeno Chara (knee), Kevan Miller (shoulder)
James van Riemsdyk – Tyler Bozak – Phil Kessel
Joffrey Lupul – Nazem Kadri – Daniel Winnik
Leo Komarov – Mike Santorelli – David Clarkson
Richard Panik – Peter Holland
Dion Phaneuf – Cody Franson
Stuart Percy – Roman Polak
Morgan Rielly – Jake Gardiner
Stephane Robidas
Jonathan Bernier
James Reimer
Scratched: Matt Frattin, Carter Ashton
Injured: David Booth (foot)
