The Boston Bruins take on the Calgary Flames on Thursday, looking to get revenge for their loss a couple weeks ago.
The Boston Bruins are set to take on the Calgary Flames at Scotiabank Saddledome on Thursday, just one day after defeating the Edmonton Oilers 6-5 in overtime. It marked Boston’s second straight win after losing its previous four, and was the third straight game that went past regulation.
The Bruins led 4-1 in the second period before Edmonton eventually tied it 4-4, and they also took a 5-4 lead in the third period before the Oilers forced overtime.
“We had breakdowns, but I would say the majority of them were– we made them tired decisions,” Bruins coach Jim Montgomery told reporters in Calgary on Thursday. “Five D-men, guys getting overtaxed that way. The other team’s gonna come at you more because they’re pushing, and it’s just a learning situation for a lot of people that were in those situations.”
Looking ahead for Thursday, the Bruins will be without two top four defensemen after Matt Grzelcyk exited early in Wednesday’s game with a lower-body injury. Hampus Lindholm (lower body) was already out and did not travel with the team for its four-game road trip.
Jakub Lauko will return to the lineup in place of Justin Brazeau. Lauko had been dealing with an upper-body injury, and Montgomery cited wanting to get him back in the mix on the back-to-back. Defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk will also return to the lineup after he was scratched on Wednesday.
The Bruins recalled defenseman Ian Mitchell on Thursday evening, but Montgomery said they’re waiting on other game-time decisions.
“After warmups, we’ll have further determination,” Montgomery told reporters in Calgary. “It’s possible, but we’ll see.”
The Flames visited Boston just over two weeks ago in the first game following the All-Star break, taking a convincing 4-1 win. The loss was followed by a dominant 4-0 win against the Vancouver Canucks on Feb. 8 before the Bruins fell back into a slump.
“Just not mentally engaged,” Montgomery said about the Calgary loss on Thursday. “There wasn’t one part of our game that was good, so we were still on vacation mode or whatever, on break mode.”
Five Things to Know About the Flames:
- Calgary sits right around the league median in both scoring offense (3.07 goals per game, 17th) and scoring defense (3.09 goals allowed per game, 16th).
- Nazem Kadri leads the Flames in points (48) and assists (29), and Blake Coleman leads the team with 22 goals.
- The Flames have the fifth-worst power-play percentage in the NHL (14.4%), but they boast the fifth-best penalty kill (82.7%)
- Jacob Markstrom ranks just outside the top 10 in the NHL in both save percentage (.913) and goals against average (2.60)
- Calgary is 9-7-0 in its past 16 games, snapping a three-game losing streak with a 6-3 win against the Winnipeg Jets on Monday. Before that, the Flames sandwiched a four-game losing streak between two separate four-game winning streaks.
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