The Boston Bruins begin a five-game, 10-day road trip tonight when they face Vancouver Canucks at Rogers Arena at 10 p.m. ET. The Bruins own the second-best road record in the league with a 16-5-4 mark.
After a three day break between games, Tuukka Rask will start against the Canucks. He's 20-1-2 in his last 23 games. Overall, he's 23-9-4 with a 2.11 goals-against average and a .924 save percentage in 37 games.
Observations from first period.
- Danton Heinen playing in front of his hometown crowd tonight.
- And, Loui Eriksson scores to give the Canucks a 1-0 lead. Slot area has been an issue for the Bruins the last few games and it continues early in this game.
- Don't like how David Krejci just skated to the bench. Seemed to be hampered a bit.
- So many times this season Jake DeBrusk has drawn a penalty. Great example of what happens when you keep your legs moving.
- DeBrusk is dialed in tonight.
- Again, too many defensive zone breakdowns by the Bruins. Daniel Sedin gives Vancouver a 2-0 lead.
- Pull him.
- Guess not. Staying with Rask for now as Vancouver has a 3-0 lead.
- Bruins have hit two posts so far in the opening period.
- This is the type of game that the Bruins are going to need secondary scoring to get the team going.
- Now bad puck luck in the slot and the Canucks have a 4-0 lead.
- Officials checking for goaltender interference. And, it's a good goal.
- For the majority of the season, the Bruins have had the ability to recognize an issue and fix it. This defensive-zone trend is not good.
Observations from second period.
- Anton Khudobin replaces Rask to start the second.
- Smart and timely rush by Charlie McAvoy. Pinch. Pinch. Pinch. Attack. Attack. Attack.
- Terrible gap by Torey Krug and the Canucks have a 5-0 lead.
- Get the stinkah out of the way now.
- Surprised it took this long, but good to see Brandon Carlo being the guy to step up. This is where the Bruins miss Kevan Miller.
- That's the first time I have ever seen Brad Marchand pick up the puck and flip it to the linesmen. Zdeno Chara does it every single time but that's a new one from No. 63. Maybe that's a subtle way of cleaning up his act with the officials.
- David Backes doesn't look right tonight.
- Great effort by Noel Acciari to drive the net and draw a penalty.
Observations from third period.
- Zero bounces going the Bruins' way in this game.
- And there's the secondary scoring as Tim Schaller puts the Bruins on the board. A terrific pinch by Krug and it results in Schaller's goal. He's been pumping them in of late.
- David Pastrnak draws a penalty without being too cute.
- No matter the end result in any game, Khudobin is so entertaining to watch.
- Gonna say it again: Backes seems off.
- How many more chances is Krejci going to get before he gets one. Wow.
- Eriksson scores his second of the game to give the Canucks a 6-1 lead.
Here are the projected line combinations and defensive pairings vs. the Canucks.
Forwards
Defense
Goalies