FRIDAY
Boston Bruins (38-11-12) at Calgary Flames (31-24-6)
7 p.m. Scotiabank Saddledome, TV: Sportsnet One; Radio: Sportsnet 960 The Fan AM
THE BIG MATCHUP
Flames G David Rittich vs. Bruins RW David Pastrnak
Pastrnak is second in league scoring and has five goals in his last four games, including the overtime winner on Wednesday night in Edmonton against the Oilers. Rittich, meanwhile, has been struggling when the Flames are playing at home, allowing 16 goals in his last four appearances at the Saddledome. The Flames will need him to be a lot sharper on Friday night.
FIVE STORYLINES
1. STAY AT CENTRE?
In his last two games at centre, Sam Bennett has scored three goals. That’s notable, considering he’s only got eight on the year. Will the Flames consider keeping him in the middle even when Derek Ryan returns? That seems unlikely, but Bennett’s strong play at centre means the Flames should be able to play it safe with Ryan if he needs an extra day to recover from the illness that’s kept him out of the lineup the last two games.
2. STRUGGLING AT HOME
The Flames stopped the bleeding a little bit by beating the Anaheim Ducks in their last outing at the Saddledome, but they’d previously dropped five straight at home. Some of those losses were ugly, too, and there’s got to be some desperation in the Flames locker-room as they seek to re-establish some sort of home-ice advantage. They’ve got a long five-day road trip out east starting almost as soon as Friday night’s game is over, so the time to build some momentum at the ‘Dome is now.
3. FILLING THE NET
If there’s one area where the Flames are definitely not struggling right now, it’s finding the back of the net. In fact, over their last six games they’ve scored 31 goals, and while there have been one or two disappointing results in there, it’s hard to argue with scoring over five goals a game.
4. DEADLINE DISTRACTIONS
It’s that time of the year where every second conversation is going to be about the trade deadline , and both the Bruins and Flames have plenty of rumours swirling around them. Flames head coach Geoff Ward wants his players ignoring all the media chatter, but it’s quite possible this group could look different once the March 24 deadline is through. The Bruins, meanwhile, are a surefire contender and are expected to make a move or two.
5. RECENT HISTORY
They haven’t met yet this year, but the Bruins have generally had the Flames’ number in recent years. The Bostonians have won four of the teams’ last head-to-head meetings, including a 6-4 victory the last time they played, in early January of 2019.
FLAMES LINEUP
Forwards
Johnny Gaudreau – Sean Monahan – Elias Lindholm
Andrew Mangiapane – Mikael Backlund – Matthew Tkachuk
Milan Lucic – Sam Bennett – Dillon Dube
Zac Rinaldo – Mark Jankowski – Tobias Rieder
Defence
TJ Brodie – Michael Stone
Noah Hanifin – Rasmus Andersson
Oliver Kylington – Brandon Davidson
Goaltenders
David Rittich
Cam Talbot
BRUINS LINEUP
Forwards
Brad Marchand – Patrice Bergeron – David Pastrnak
Jake DeBrusk – David Krejci – Karson Kuhlman
Anders Bjork – Charlie Coyle – Danton Heinen
Joakim Nordstrom – Sean Kuraly – Chris Wagner
Defence
Zdeno Chara – Charlie McAvoy
Torey Krug – Brandon Carlo
Matt Grzelcyk – Jeremy Lauzon
Goaltenders
Tuukka Rask
Jaroslav Halak
INJURIES
Bruins – Kevan Miller (upper body)
Flames — C Derek Ryan (sick), D Travis Hamonic (upper body), D Mark Giordano (lower body), D Juuso Valimaki (knee)
SPECIAL TEAMS
Power play (prior to Thursday’s action)
Bruins: 25.0% (51-of-204, 2 nd )
Flames: 20.3% (36-of-177, 15 th )
Penalty kill (prior to Thursday’s action)
Bruins: 84.8% (3 rd )
Flames: 82.1% (10 th )
Copyright Postmedia Network Inc., 2020
