Preview: Bruins set to take on Capitals for first time this season
12/23/2024 07:00 AM
Right back to it.
Just the facts
When: Tonight, 7 PM
Where: TD Garden — Boston, Mass.
How to follow: NESN, 98.5 The Sports Hub
Opposing perspective:Japers' Rink
Know your enemy
- 23-8-2, 48PTS, first in Metropolitan Division
- Dylan Strome: 11G-27A-38PTS; Connor McMichael: 16G-13A-29PTS; Aliaksei Protas: 14G-15A-29PTS
- Logan Thompson: 13-2-2, 2.40 GAA, .914 save percentage; Charlie Lindgren: 10-6-0, 2.59 GAA, .905 save percentage
Game notes
- It another quick turnaround for Boston Bruins at home as they host the Washington Capitals tonight at the TD Garden in the two's first meeting of the season.
- The two clubs will meet again on Dec. 31 and April 1, 2025.
- Tonight is sure to be a test for the Bruins. Interim Head Coach Joe Sacco said after yesterday's practice that the game should be a good indication of where the Bruins "stack up" against the better teams in the league at this moment. "It's about playing a good brand of hockey for us before we head into the break and just feeling good about how we play," Sacco said.
- The Bruins may not have had their best game of the season on Saturday against the Buffalo Sabres, but they showed resilience to bounce back after being outplayed to close out the game and earn two points. They'll look to get off to a faster start and at least not be playing one day back from a long road trip tonight.
- Washington is 6-2-1 in December and comes to Boston on a two-game winning streak. The Capitals are also coming off a back-to-back, having played the LA Kings last night and beating them 3-1. Hopefully the tail-end of that back-to-back works in the Bruins' favor as the Caps have the best record in the Eastern Conference and second best in the league right now.
- The Capitals also enter tonight's game with the second best GF/GP at 3.74 goals per game and have allowed some of the least at 2.58 goals per game.
- Head-to-head though, the Bruins and Capitals are both 7-2-1 in their last 10 games.
- For the Bruins, Brad Marchand has been one of the biggest difference makers in that time span. He's on a nine-game point streak with six goals and four assists. We've also seen David Pastrnak take on a different role during those 10 games and really this season. He racked up nine assists in the last 10 games, slightly more than double his four goals in those games.
- Morgan Geekie has also had a surge in the points department. Including Saturday's game-winner, he has three goals in the last four games.
- The Bruins had a scheduled practice yesterday, but did not skate. There are no updates yet if there are any changes to the lineup from Saturday. But I would expect not much to change other than possibly Jeremy Swayman in net.
- See ya tonight!
