Bruins Game Day Preview: Boston Looking To Extend Season-Opening Win Streak Against Anaheim Ducks

The Boston Bruins are looking to sweep their California road trip on Sunday against the Anaheim Ducks at Honda Center after wins against the San Jose Sharks and Los Angeles Kings on Thursday and Saturday, respectively.

The team did not practice on Sunday, but it’s expected that Jake DeBrusk will draw back into the lineup after he was scratched from Saturday’s game for disciplinary reasons. The 27-year-old was late to a team meeting, and was held out.

Milan Lucic took his place on the top line with Pavel Zacha and David Pastrnak, but with Bruins coach Jim Montgomery often shuffling the lines later in games, he wound up on a line with Morgan Geekie. Lucic assisted Geekie on the winning goal in Saturday’s 4-2 win against the Kings, and the goal marked Geekie’s first as a Bruin.

Additionally, Patrick Brown and Ian Mitchell made their first appearances of the season, with Kevin Shattenkirk stepping out of the lineup for the latter. It’s not yet known if either Brown or Mitchell will be back in for the second half of the back-to-back, but it’s worth noting that Shattenkirk spent the last three seasons in Anaheim prior to signing in Boston.

In net, Linus Ullmark projects as the starter after Jeremy Swayman put together a 32-save performance in Saturday’s win.

Against their strongest opponent so far in this young season, the Bruins played arguably their most complete game, and they hope to continue that against Anaheim. The Ducks are coming off a 2-1 loss to the Arizona Coyotes on Saturday, and are 1-3-0 entering Sunday’s matchup.

Frank Vatrano, an East Longmeadow, Mass. native, leads the Ducks with four points, all goals, through four games. The 29-year-old forward played 108 games for the Bruins from 2015 to 2018 after signing with the organization as an undrafted free agent out of the University of Massachusetts.

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