Bruins at Hurricanes
The last team in the NHL to lose on home ice, the Boston Bruins will try to bounce back when they open a brief two-game road trip at the Carolina Hurricanes on Tuesday night. The Bruins have struggled away from home this season but swept all three meetings against the Hurricanes in 2017-18, including a 6-4 win at Carolina.
"They've been playing well, they're a fast team, they transition very fast," Boston forward Jake DeBrusk said of Carolina. "They've also got some new bodies in there as well. It's a little bit of a different team." The Bruins' potent No. 1 line of Patrice Bergeron, Brad Marchand and David Pastrnak has been held off the scoresheet in consecutive games -- a 3-0 win over Philadelphia and Saturday's 3-0 loss to visiting Montreal. After scoring 21 goals during an early four-game winning streak, Carolina's offense has cooled off during its current 2-4-0 stretch, managing a combined five goals in the past four defeats. Sebastian Aho set up the only goal against the New York Islanders to extend his season-opening point streak to 11 games, matching the franchise record.
TV: 7 p.m. ET, NESN (Boston), FS Carolina
ABOUT THE BRUINS (6-3-2): Boston defenseman Torey Krug is poised to make his season debut for an injury-ravaged blue-line corps that sustained another setback when Matt Grzelcyk was hurt in Saturday's loss. "I've played one game since May," Krug said. "It's been a long time. I'm interested to get back into a routine and try to remember what I've done for games." Backup netminder Jaroslav Halak, who has yet to lose in regulation (3-0-2), will start versus Carolina.
ABOUT THE HURRICANES (6-4-1): Goaltender Scott Darling, sidelined since the preseason due to a lower-body injury, completed his conditioning assignment in the minors and could make his season debut Tuesday. Carolina is laboring with its special teams, ranking 30th overall on both the power play and the penalty kill. "Our power play needs to get us a goal," captain Justin Williams said. "Certainly, when we lose the special-teams battle, it's an uphill battle most of the game."
OVERTIME
1. Aho joined Wayne Gretzky and Ken Linseman (12 games apiece) as the only players with an assist in each of the first 11 games.
2. Pastrnak, who had a team-high 10 goals, had a hat trick in the last meeting versus the Hurricanes.
3. Carolina has scored once on the power play in the past six games.