Canucks Host Bruins
Boston has been Vancouver’s eastern nemesis dating back to the 2011 Stanley Cup Final that the Bruins won in seven games. Not that we need to remind you.
But a bit of the lustre has come off the spoked-B. Instead of being annoyingly and consistently good, the Bruins are simply pretty good this year. They are in a playoff spot at the moment, third place in the Atlantic Division, but these are not Zdeno Chara’s or Patrice Bergeron’s Bostonians.
The Bruins fired their head coach Jim Montgomery on November 19th after two-plus seasons, a tenure marked by record setting performances as a team in the regular season, but not so much in the post.
Joe Sacco is 7-and-4 since bumping up from an assistant coach position and taking over.
Canucks head coach Rick Tocchet referred to the Bruins as “desperate”.
As for his club, Vancouver will have to make a line-up adjustment or two despite coming off one of the team’s best performances of the season, a 4-0 home victory over the defending Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers on Thursday night.
Defenceman Derek Forbort was excellent in the game, but he’ll sit this one out due to illness. The same bug apparently took out goalie Kevin Lankinen, so look for Arturs Silovs as an emergency call-up to back up starter Thatcher Demko on Saturday night.
Boston could be without centre Elias Lindholm after he got dinged up and left the loss against the Seattle Kraken in the 1st period on Thursday night, although for now it’s expected he’ll play. D-man Hampus Lindholm, no direct relation, has been out since mid-November with a lower body injury. Otherwise, it’s a healthy Bruins club.
Recent Canucks:
— Canucks Miller Speaks; Will Play As Expected
— Some quick fun with Tampa Bay Lightning head coach Jon Cooper before his game in Seattle on Saturday night
