Canucks at Bruins
The Boston Bruins opened the Bruce Cassidy era on a high note, matching a season-high goal output in a win over San Jose in their first game since longtime coach Claude Julien was fired. Boston will look to move above .500 at TD Garden when it continues a four-game homestand against the Vancouver Canucks on Saturday afternoon.
The Bruins snapped a two-game skid with a 6-3 win over the Sharks, scoring three times in the opening period in the debut of interim coach Cassidy. "We re-established some urgency in this building," Cassidy said after Boston improved to 13-13-0 at TD Garden. Vancouver halted a string of four consecutive losses with a 3-0 victory at Columbus on Thursday in the second of a six-game road trip. The Canucks are six points out of the second wild card, but president of hockey operations Trevor Linden told a Vancouver radio station Friday that he will not surrender draft picks in advance of the March 1 trade deadline.
TV: 1 p.m. ET, Sportsnet (Vancouver), NESN (Boston)
ABOUT THE CANUCKS (24-24-6): Forward Sven Baertschi sustained a concussion at Nashville on Tuesday night in the opener of the road trip and was sent back to Vancouver to receive treatment. Baertschi, whose 27 points are one shy of his career-high total from last season, was injured on a hit by Cody McLeod that the NHL deemed accidental. Stepping in the Baertschi's spot in the lineup will be center Reid Boucher, who was claimed off waivers from the New Jersey Devils on Wednesday.
ABOUT THE BRUINS (27-23-6): Defenseman Zdeno Chara, who sat out Thursday due to illness, returned to practice Friday and pronounced himself ready to return to the lineup. “I just felt so fatigued," Chara said of sitting out against San Jose. “... It was good yesterday and a lot of progress from yesterday to today, so I should be good to go for tomorrow.” Cassidy said each of his goaltenders will play this weekend, which could mean Anton Khudobin will be in net against Vancouver.
OVERTIME
1. Canucks G Ryan Miller, who notched his third shutout Thursday, is 27-9-7 with a 2.55 goals-against average versus Boston.
2. Bruins F David Pastrnak has back-to-back two-goal games and eight points in the last three contests.
3. Canucks F Daniel Sedin's goal at Columbus was only his second in his last 22 games.