Bruins at Canucks
The Boston Bruins have cooled off away from TD Garden and will try to avoid a third consecutive defeat when they visit the Vancouver Canucks on Saturday night in the third stop of a four-game road trip. Boston amassed 18 goals while sweeping a three-game homestand but was limited to two goals in back-to-back defeats at Calgary and Edmonton.
Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy was not upset with Thursday's 3-2 overtime loss at Edmonton, particularly since his team controlled much of the play. "I thought we played well enough to win," Cassidy said. "You can talk about the circumstances, their home opener, they're sitting here waiting for us. But at the end of the day, I thought we played well enough to win." Vancouver posted three impressive wins in a row before wrapping up a six-game road trip with a 4-1 loss at Winnipeg on Thursday. "The team learned a few things," Canucks coach Travis Green said. "We're not the kind of team that can just win on one line. We need to have our whole team going every night."
TV: 10 p.m. ET, NESN (Boston), Sportsnet1, CITY
ABOUT THE BRUINS (4-2-1): The No. 1 line of Patrice Bergeron, Brad Marchand and David Pastrnak continues to set a blistering pace for Boston, combining for 16 goals and 36 points since the season-opening shutout loss at Washington. Pastrnak, who scored his team-leading eighth goal against Edmonton to extend his point streak to six games, has six points in seven games versus the Canucks. Forward David Backes, who has failed to hit the scoresheet, was shaken up on a hard hit in Thursday's game but Cassidy expected him to be available Saturday.
ABOUT THE CANUCKS (4-3-0): Rookie Elias Pettersson, the 2017 No. 5 overall pick who leads the team with five goals and eight points, has missed the past two games due to a concussion but had no setbacks during off-ice workouts this week. Bo Horvat netted Vancouver's lone goal at Winnipeg, his fourth of the season, and has three goals and six points in eight career games against the Bruins. Anders Nilsson, who has started the past four games since Jacob Markstrom allowed 12 goals in back-to-back defeats, had a season-high 44 saves to beat Boston last season.
OVERTIME
1. Marchand has seven goals in 12 games against Vancouver.
2. Canucks F Brock Boeser has a four-game point streak snapped in Winnipeg.
3. Bruins G Tuukka Rask has allowed nine goals in his two road starts.