Bruins at Oilers
After visiting the former home of one of their players, the Boston Bruins will see a familiar face in their next contest in Alberta. The Bruins make the third stop on their four-game road trip on Thursday, when they face Andrew Ference and the Edmonton Oilers. Boston posted its second victory of the trek and third straight overall with a 2-1 triumph on Tuesday in Jarome Iginla's return to Calgary.
The Bruins have collected points in 14 of their last 17 contests (13-3-1) and have won their last 10 meetings with the Oilers. Edmonton improved to 7-3-1 in its last 11 - and 2-1-1 on its five-game homestand - with a 5-4 overtime victory over Carolina on Tuesday. Taylor Hall, who was named the NHL's Second Star of the Week, has collected five goals and three assists in his last four contests.
TV: 9:30 p.m. ET, NESN (Boston), RSN (Edmonton)
ABOUT THE BRUINS (21-8-2): Tuukka Rask has stopped 61-of-66 shots to win all three career contests versus Edmonton, but he may have to overcome another tough foe just to make it on the ice. The Finn was felled by the flu on Wednesday and missed practice, putting backup Chad Johnson in line to face the Oilers. The 27-year-old Calgary native has won his last four outings in spot duty, yielding just seven goals in the process.
ABOUT THE OILERS (11-18-3): Ference elected to return to his hometown of Edmonton and sign a four-year, $13 million contract in the offseason after spending six-plus campaigns with Boston. "It’s obviously a little weird playing against guys that you've played with so long," the 34-year-old Ference told the Edmonton Sun. "But in the same token, I think that I've been around long enough that you go to battle and learn how to fight - probably even harder against your buddies than you would against guys you don’t know, just to one up each other."
OVERTIME
1. Fourth-line LW Daniel Paille headed back to Boston to have his upper-body injury evaluated. He will miss the final two contests of the road trip.
2. Edmonton has recorded five power-play goals in its last four games.
3. Bruins RW Reilly Smith has scored two goals and set up two others in his last three contests.