Bruins at Maple Leafs
Already reeling from a five-game losing streak and in danger of falling outside the playoff picture in the Eastern Conference, the Boston Bruins must figure a way to get untracked as they open a four-game road trip at the Toronto Maple Leafs on Saturday night. Boston's swoon has sliced its lead to one point over fourth-place Detroit in the Atlantic Division.
The Bruins are following a path that is eerily similar from a year ago, when they lost six in a row starting in mid-March and wound up missing out on a postseason berth. “You worry about the next game. That’s what you do,” Boston coach Claude Julien told reporters after Thursday's 4-1 home loss to Florida. “Right now we’re not worrying about anything else. Panicking will certainly not help the situation, and again, we’re still in that playoff position." What appeared to be a favorable matchup against the league's worst team has taken on a different complexion with the Maple Leafs riding a three-game winning streak. The Bruins have won three of four against Toronto this season, but the Maple Leafs prevailed 4-3 in overtime in the last matchup.
TV: 7 p.m. ET; NESN (Boston), CBC (Toronto), NHL.TV
ABOUT THE BRUINS (39-28-8): Boston has scored only six times during the five-game tailspin and had a goal negated by replay in each of its last two losses. “There’s times where you go through a season where things just seem to be a little harder,” Julien said. “We’re definitely not scoring at the pace that we (were) and certainly not a good time for that to happen. At the same time, we’re certainly not getting any breaks that are going to help us either.” Defenseman John-Michael Liles was hurt in Thursday's game and will not be available Saturday.
ABOUT THE MAPLE LEAFS (27-35-11): Nazem Kadri snapped an 11-game goalless drought by scoring twice and setting up two more tallies in Thursday's 6-5 overtime win over Anaheim. While Kadri took over the team lead with 41 points, coach Mike Babcock lauded his center's play at the other end of the ice. "He's nasty to play against. He competes hard. He wants to do it right," Babcock said. "And he doesn't back up to anybody. I think a big part of playing against good players is being mean enough to do it and compete hard enough to do it and he does that."
OVERTIME
1. Boston has failed on all 13 power-play chances during the five-game skid.
2. Maple Leafs F Tyler Bozak scored twice on Thursday in his first game since suffering a concussion on Feb. 6.
3. Bruins G Tuukka Rask is 14-3-2 with a 1.92 goals-against average versus Toronto.