Bruins at Maple Leafs
The Boston Bruins look to defeat the Toronto Maple Leafs for the second time in 2 1/2 weeks and extend their winning streak to six games when the Original Six rivals meet at Air Canada Centre on Wednesday. Patrice Bergeron notched two assists in Boston's 4-1 victory over Toronto on Oct. 25 before scoring a goal and setting up two others in the team's 4-2 triumph against New Jersey on Monday.
Toronto responded from its loss to Boston by going 5-1-1, a stretch during which it netted 10 goals to win back-to-back contests over the weekend. Peter Holland scored in both the Maple Leafs' 5-4 victory over the New York Rangers on Saturday and a 5-4 win against provincial-rival Ottawa the following night. Richard Panik also tallied versus the Rangers and scored his team's lone goal in the first meeting against Boston.
TV: 8 p.m. ET, NBCSN, RSN, TVA
ABOUT THE BRUINS (10-6-0): Center David Krejci has been ruled out versus Toronto as well as Thursday's tilt in Montreal due to an undisclosed injury, coach Claude Julien revealed on Tuesday. "I'm not going to comment on that injury, but there's a lot of speculation out there, and I can say the speculations that are out there are wrong," Julien said of Krejci, who still is being labeled as day-to-day despite being sidelined since last Thursday's 5-2 victory over Edmonton. Defenseman Torey Krug returned to lineup on Monday and reported no issues after logging 21:16 of ice time following a four-game absence due to a broken pinky finger.
ABOUT THE MAPLE LEAFS (8-5-2): Daniel Winnik returned to practice on Tuesday and hopes to play versus Boston after he admittedly was knocked unconscious following a fall against Colorado last week. While coach Randy Carlyle said it's a possibility Winnik returns against the Bruins, the tandem of Joffrey Lupul (lower body) and David Booth (foot) are at least one week away despite skating before practice on Tuesday. The Maple Leafs recalled left wing Josh Leivo from the Toronto Marlies on Tuesday, a day after assigning him to the American Hockey League club.
OVERTIME
1. Reigning Vezina Trophy winner Tuukka Rask stopped 32 shots in his first meeting with Toronto, improving to 10-2-0 with a rail-thin 1.59 goals-against average and .945 save percentage versus the Maple Leafs.
2. Maple Leafs G James Reimer has won four of his six starts this season and stopped all eight shots he faced against the Bruins last month in relief of Jonathan Bernier.
3. Boston is 6-1-1 in its last eight trips to Toronto.