Devils at Bruins
The Boston Bruins are clinging to third place in the Atlantic Division and will look to avoid losing back-to-back games for the first time under interim coach Bruce Cassidy when they host the New Jersey Devils on Saturday night. The Bruins are coming off a 2-1 loss to the New York Rangers to drop to 7-2-0 since Cassidy replaced Claude Julien.
"You have to bounce back right away," Boston center Patrice Bergeron said. "I think we've been doing so many great things lately. We need to go back to that and look forward." The Bruins failed to score more than one goal for the first time in 14 games in the loss to the Rangers and fell to 6-9-5 against teams from the Metropolitan Division. One of those defeats came on Jan. 2 at New Jersey, which is mired in a five-game skid and has dropped four straight one-goal decisions. The Devils were limited to a season-low 15 shots on goal in a 1-0 loss at Washington on Thursday.
TV: 7 p.m. ET, MSG-Plus (New Jersey), NESN (Boston)
ABOUT THE DEVILS (25-26-12): Forward Michael Cammalleri, who has failed to score in 22 games, could be sidelined for a while after crashing into the boards in Thursday's loss. “Cammy is an upper body so I’d say a week right now and then we’ll probably re-evaluate what it would be after that,” coach John Hynes said. “I’d classify him now as week to week.” Hynes would not commit to playing rookie Pavel Zacha, who practiced for the second straight day after missing three games with a concussion.
ABOUT THE BRUINS (33-25-6): Forward Drew Stafford, acquired from Winnipeg at Wednesday's trade deadline, is eager to make his Boston debut against the Devils. "I know a lot of the guys here are focused on getting back into the playoffs and back into the hunt," said Stafford, who had four goals and 13 points with Winnipeg. "I'm going to do the best I can to my ability to help this team win games." Brad Marchand has scored in four straight games and tallied 12 times in his last 14 contests.
OVERTIME
1. Marchand, who has 22 points in his last 14 games, needs one goal for his second straight 30-goal season.
2. Devils F Kyle Palmieri has scored four times in his last five games, but has tallied once in 10 games versus Boston.
3. Bruins F David Pastrnak also is on a tear with 19 points over the past 14 games.