Bruins at Canucks
The Vancouver Canucks are in the middle of a five-team pile separated by four points in the Pacific Division and will try to keep pace when they host the NHL-best Boston Bruins on Saturday. Vancouver welcomed newly acquired Tyler Toffoli to the lineup Wednesday in a 4-3 shootout loss to Minnesota and he fit right in on a line with leading scorers Elias Pettersson and J.T. Miller.
"He's fun to play with,'' Miller told reporters about Toffoli. "For the first game, I think we're on the same page for the most part. It's going to take time to develop a bit more chemistry and tendencies, but it's a fun first game with him." Boston became the first team to 90 points with a 4-3 victory at Calgary on Friday and leads Tampa Bay five points in the Atlantic Division. The line of Patrice Bergeron (two goals), Brad Marchand (goal, assist) and David Pastrnak (two assists) dominated Friday's game and has accounted for 46.8 points of the team's goals and 39.3 percent of its points. Boston defeated Vancouver 4-0 on Feb. 4 in the first meeting this season behind 25 saves by Tuukka Rask, who is expected in goal after Jaroslav Halak survived a rocky start to make 18 saves against Calgary.
TIME: 10 p.m. ET. TV: NESN, CBC, CITY, Sportsnet, Sportsnet One, Sportsnet 360
ABOUT THE BRUINS (39-11-12): Pastrnak shares the NHL lead in goals (43) with Toronto's Auston Matthews and his 86 points pace the team. Bergeron (53 points) has 29 goals - three shy of matching his career high set in 2015-16 and matched last season. Marchand (77 points) snapped a seven-game scoreless streak Friday but had six assists in his previous four contests.
ABOUT THE CANUCKS (32-22-6): Miller scored twice Wednesday - his first gave him a career-high 23 goals and was assisted by Toffoli - and has a team-high 59 points. Pettersson (58) also has 24 goals but only one in the last six games. Calder Trophy contender Quinn Hughes has 13 points in his last 10 games and paces the club with 39 assists, and leads NHL rookies with 47 points - two more than fellow blueliner Cale Makar of Colorado.
OVERTIME
1. Boston on Friday acquired RW Ondrej Kase from Anaheim in exchange for RW David Backes, a first-round pick and a prospect.
2. Vancouver is 4-for-12 with the man advantage in its last four games, raising the NHL's sixth-best power play to 23.5 percent.
3. The Bruins are 1-for-18 with the man advantage in their last six games despite boasting the league's No. 2 power play, and they are No. 3 on the penalty kill.