Bruins at Maple Leafs
THE STORY: The Boston Bruins have had few moments to savor in their dismal start to the season, but the high-water mark for the reigning Stanley Cup champions was a 6-2 rout of the Toronto Maple Leafs on Oct. 20. Boston will be hoping for an encore performance when it visits the streaking Maple Leafs on Saturday night. Toronto shook off the ugly loss to the Bruins and has won five of its last seven games, including back-to-back road victories at New Jersey and Columbus on Wednesday and Thursday night. The surge has powered the Maple Leafs to the top of the Northeast Division – 11 points ahead of Boston, which is tied with the New York Islanders with an Eastern Conference-low eight points. While Toronto has piled up 45 goals, the Bruins are feast or famine – they’ve scored 18 goals in their four wins and nine in their seven losses.
TV: 7 p.m. ET, CBC, NESN
ABOUT THE BRUINS (4-7-0): Boston snapped a three-game losing streak with a 5-3 home win over Ottawa on Tuesday night. Milan Lucic scored a rare power-play goal, giving him seven points in his last five games. The Bruins rank 26th in the league with the man advantage, converting on only 6 of 46 chances (13.0 percent). Reigning Vezina Trophy winner Tim Thomas made 23 saves against Ottawa to earn his first win since beating Toronto. Tuukka Rask is winless in three starts.
ABOUT THE MAPLE LEAFS (9-3-1): Toronto has won four of its last five, scoring at least four goals in each victory. The Maple Leafs got a sensational performance from Ben Scrivens, who made 38 saves in his NHL debut in Thursday’s 4-1 win over Columbus. Starter James Reimer did not practice Friday and will miss his seventh straight game with concussion-like symptoms. Clarke MacArthur scored twice Thursday, giving him six goals in five games. Toronto is 5-0-1 at home.
OVERTIME:
1. Ex-Bruin Phil Kessel leads the league in goals (10) and points (21).
2. A first-round draft pick of Toronto in 2005, Rask is 5-1 with a 1.76 goals-against average in seven games against the Leafs.