The Boston Bruins host the San Jose Sharks with a new-look top six as they try to end their three-game losing streak. San Jose, meanwhile, is looking to win their first road game of the year and extend their winning streak to three games.
BOSTON – The Boston Bruins welcome the San Jose Sharks to TD Garden on Thursday as they look to snap a three-game losing streak.
After allowing 17 goals across the past three games, the Bruins will get a chance to refocus against the Sharks (5-15-2), who rank dead-last in the NHL.
“Get back to what we do,” Bruins coach Jim Montgomery said as the message to his team on Thursday morning. “We’re a hard team to play against. We check well, and that we hang on to pucks. It’s the process that we believe gives us success, so we’re trying to get back to those elements.”
The Bruins did not have line rushes Thursday morning, but Jim Montgomery shook up the combinations during Wednesday’s practice:
Jake DeBrusk - Pavel Zacha - David Pastrnak
Brad Marchand - Matt Poitras - Danton Heinen
James van Riemsdyk - Charlie Coyle - Trent Frederic
Jakub Lauko - Johnny Beecher - Morgan Geekie
Hampus Lindholm - Charlie McAvoy
Matt Grzelcyk - Brandon Carlo
Derek Forbort - Kevin Shattenkirk
Jeremy Swayman
Linus Ullmark
On Wednesday, Montgomery confirmed Swayman will start, and on Thursday, he said Oskar Steen and Ian Mitchell would be scratched, so the group above is the likely lineup against San Jose.
The most significant change is Danton Heinen and Matt Poitras moving up to join Brad Marchand on a line. Poitras and Marchand played together earlier this season, and now Heinen gets an opportunity to prove himself in a top six role.
“I don’t think I try to change too much to complement those guys,” Heinen said. “Obviously high-skilled guys, offensive guys.”
The new-look line will get their first run together against a Sharks team that has the lowest scoring offense (1.64 goals per game) and worst scoring defense (4.00 goals allowed per game). The Bruins defeated San Jose 3-1 on Oct. 19, and Sharks coach David Quinn knows exactly how he wants his team to play in order to have a shot at earning two points.
“Obviously they’ve lost a few in a row, but that doesn’t really mean much to me,” Quinn said. “Their goaltending is probably as good a tandem as there is in the league. Their D-core is elite, and they’ve got some really special forwards. So, you know, at the end of the day, we’ve got to continue to create the blueprint that we’ve kind of created here over the last three weeks.
“It’s about playing fast, and staying on top of people; five-man gaps, our breakouts have been a lot better. I think we’ve done a much better job recognizing our wingers, in particular, when they need to come for support, when they can stay high. So, you know, all these things add up.”
As far as Boston’s losing streak goes, Marchand is not concerned about it becoming a long-term issue, citing the recent schedule and self-inflicted problems as the root causes.
“I’m not worried about three games. This is not something that I think we need to overthink,” Marchand said. “We got away from our game a bit. There’s a lot of things that play into it; the month we’ve had, the schedule we’ve had, and the way things have played out. So even the games that we lost, other than Columbus [on Monday], we were right there, we just kept shooting ourselves in the foot with some of the decisions we were making.”
All eyes will be on how the Bruins respond against a weak team they’ve seen and defeated already this season. Puck drops at 7 p.m.
Five Things to Know About the Sharks
- Mackenzie Blackwood will start in net on Thursday. He has a .902 save percentage and 3.60 goals against average this season, but he’s 1-0-1 with a .948 save percentage in his last two appearances.
- The Sharks have the third-worst penalty kill (73.1%) in the league entering Thursday, but their power play is closer to the middle of the pack at 19th (19.7%).
- Despite having the worst record in the NHL, the Sharks have won their last two games; they defeated the Vancouver Canucks 4-3 on Saturday and the Washington Capitals 2-1 on Monday. However, they have yet to win a road game (0-9-0).
- Tomas Hertl leads the Sharks in points (4g, 12a – 16p), but he is out with an upper-body injury.
- Justin Bailey signed with the Sharks on Monday and recorded an assist in his first and only game with the team so far.