Hurricanes at Bruins
Locked in a tight battle for first place in the Atlantic Division and a road-heavy schedule awaiting them, the Boston Bruins look to extend their point streak to six games when they host the Carolina Hurricanes on Thursday night. Boston outlasted Tampa Bay 1-0 on Tuesday in its third straight overtime contest to pull into a tie atop the division with the Lightning, who have a game in hand.
"We need to be able to win these games as we head into the playoffs, so hopefully we can continue to get better,” said Bruins forward Brad Marchand, who scored Tuesday's game-winner 10 seconds into overtime. Boston defenseman John-Michael Liles, acquired from Carolina at the trade deadline, may not get the opportunity to face his former teammates. Liles has a hearing with the league scheduled for Thursday because an illegal check to the head on Tampa Bay's Nikita Kucherov. The Hurricanes appeared to raise the white flag after dealing Liles, captain Eric Staal and Kris Versteeg at the trade deadline, but they are 2-0-1 since and are four points out of the final playoff slot in the Eastern Conference as they kick off a five-game road trip.
TV: 7 p.m. ET, FSN Carolinas, NESN (Boston), NHL.TV
ABOUT THE HURRICANES (30-26-11): Red-hot Jeff Skinner continued his tear by scoring twice in Tuesday's 4-3 shootout win over Ottawa, including a dramatic tying goal with 0.2 seconds left in regulation to send the game into overtime. It was the third time in four games that Skinner collected two points, giving him a team-high 41 points and marking the second time this season he netted the tying goal in the final four seconds of regulation. “Every time you come to the rink you just want to get two points,” said Skinner, who boosted his season total to 25 goals. “That’s our focus.”
ABOUT THE BRUINS (38-23-7): Marchand extended his career high to 34 goals and continues to thrive on the line with Patrice Bergeron and trade-deadline acquisition Lee Stempniak. The unit has accounted for nine goals and 19 points in the five games since Stemniak joined the team, while Bergeron is on a binge that includes six tallies and nine points in the last seven contests. "We have 14 games left, and we have some work to do," Bergeron said. "But the same time it’s the time of year where we’re starting to see some good things happen, and we need to keep growing as a team in all areas of the game.”
OVERTIME
1. Bruins G Tuukka Rask is 7-3-1 with a 1.89 goals-against average versus Carolina.
2. The Hurricanes have dropped six of the last seven meetings versus Boston, including a 4-1 home loss on Feb. 26.
3. Following games against Carolina and the New York Islanders, the Bruins play eight of their next nine away from home.