Boston Bruins (20–3–5) vs. Chicago Blackhawks (10–12–5)
6 p.m. CST
TD Garden
TV/Radio: NBCSN/WGN
Projected starting goaltenders
Chicago — Robin Lehner (5–5–3, .929 save percentage, 2.69 goals against average)
Boston —Tuukka Rask (13–2–2, .933 save percentage, 2.04 goals against average)
Team statistics
Power play
Chicago (13.4%, 27th)
Boston (30.9%, 2nd)
Penalty kill
Chicago (79.8%, 19th)
Boston (84.9%, 7th)
Shots for/against
Chicago (31.3, 18th; 35.7, 31st)
Boston (31.7, 17th; 31.7, 15th)
Shooting percentage
Chicago (8.7%)
Boston (11.1%)
Face off percentage
Chicago (48.8%, 23rd)
Boston (49.5%, 20th)
Projected lines and pairings
Chicago Blackhawks
Brandon Saad — Jonathan Toews — Alexander Nylander
Alex DeBrincat — Dylan Strome — Patrick Kane
Dominik Kubalik — David Kampf — Kirby Dach
Anton Wedin—Ryan Carpenter — Zack Smith
Slater Koekkoek— Erik Gustafsson
Calvin de Haan — Brent Seabrook
Olli Maatta — Connor Murphy
Boston Bruins
Jake Debrusk— David Krejci — David Pastrnak
Brad Marchand— Charlie Coyle—Danton Heinen
Anders Bjork— Sean Kuraly — Chris Wagner
Joakim Nordstrom— Par Lindholm — David Backes
Zdeno Chara — Charlie McAvoy
Torey Krug — Brandon Carlo
John Moore — Matt Grzelcyk
Analysis
As the saying goes, “out of the fire and into the frying pan,” that is the case for the Chicago Blackhawks. The Blackhawks have cratered to a 0–4–0 in their last four games. Their las game, the Blackhawks’ offense was shutout by goaltender Jake Allen and the St. Louis Blues 4-0.
One positive for the Blackhawks was the Patrick Kane point streak that ended against the Blues. It was third-longest point streak of his career, trailing only his 26-game point streak in 2015-16 and 20 game stretch last season. Kane and the offense will get a lift from Dylan Strome returning to the lineup. Tonight is Strome’s first game since Nov. 23 against Dallas.
With injuries piling up on the Blackhawks, they will turn to Robin Lehner tonight in net tonight. In his last start, Lehner gave up five goals on 13 shots against Colorado. Lehner will face a tall order against the white-hot Boston Bruins.
The Bruins are currently riding an eight-game winning streak and are 9–0–3 in their last 12 games. To make matters worse for the Blackhawks, the Bruins boast a record of 12–0–4 on home ice this season. The reason for the impressive home record has been the play of Tuukka Rask at home. Rask is currently 8–0–2 in his last 10 home starts. Rask’s streak is currently the longest streak at home since Gerry Cheevers 9-game span (7–0–2) at the start of 1978-79.
The Bruins are led by their young star winger David Pastrnak. Pastrnak leads the league in goals with 25 and is the second-fastest Bruins (341 games) to reach 150 goals, only Barry Pederson did it faster 314 games. Let’s not forget Brad Marchand, who is a plus 219 since the start of the 2010-11 season.
Which Streak will Continue the Blackhawks or the Bruins?