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Put your ears to the ground and you’ll hear that hype-train coming, as tonight, the Boston Bruins -- and the entire Air Canada Centre for that matter -- will get their first look at 2016 No. 1 overall pick Auston Matthews in a Saturday night head-to-head with the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Now the only question is how the 19-year-old Matthews, the first American-born player drafted first overall since Patrick Kane (2007), plans on upping the show following an utterly ridiculous four goals in his last NHL debut, a 5-4 overtime loss to the Ottawa Senators on Wednesday night.
With Bruins center Patrice Bergeron (lower-body, day-to-day) still not with the team, and with the Leafs holding last change, there’s no doubt that Matthews and the Leafs will have their chances, but they won’t come without a significant pushback from Boston’s makeshift top line.
A dominant force in Boston’s season opening win in Columbus on Thursday night, the line with David Backes in between Brad Marchand and David Pastrnak factored into all of Boston’s six goals (each forward finished the night with two goals), and pounded an inexperienced Blue Jackets defensive six for a combined 18 shots on goal (Pastrnak had a team-high eight, while the B’s finished with 37).
But while the Bruins boast stronger offensive depth than the Leafs, even with Bergeron out and David Krejci still not quite settled into this offensive groove on the second line, the Black and Gold defense can’t sleep on some of the Leafs’ other young guns, like Mitch Marner and William Nylander.
Marner, though held without a point and a minus-2 rating, rifled six shots on goal in his NHL debut, while Nylander finished the season opener with two assists and three shots on goal. Peppered into the mix with some experience up front with the likes of Nazem Kadri, Leo Komarov, and James van Riemsdyk, the Leafs’ kids have proven capable of finding time and space to create some offense.
The same can be said for the Boston defense, too, as 19-year-old Brandon Carlo will look to build off a one-assist, plus-5 night in his NHL debut, while the 23-year-old fellow first-year professional Robbie O’Gara will once again skate on Boston’s second pairing opposite Torey Krug.
It’s Boston’s youth on defense vs. Toronto’s youth up front. There’s been worse Saturdays.
The Bruins will give this start to Tuukka Rask. The 29-year-old Rask stopped 28-of-31 shots thrown his way in the season opener, and looks to continue his career-long dominance against the Maple Leafs (the team that originally drafted him back in 2005 with the 21st overall pick), as he enters this contest with 15 wins and a .935 save percentage in 20 career head-to-heads with Toronto. Rask went 4-0-1 with a .935 in five games with the Blue and White last season.
In their home opener, Toronto counters with the man they hope can be their No. 1 today and in the future, Frederik Andersen. Acquired from the Anaheim Ducks this offseason, Andersen surrendered five goals on 30 shots in his Leafs debut on Wednesday night, but enters play with boogeyman-esque numbers against Boston in a relatively small sample size from his tenure with the Ducks, with four wins and a .956 save percentage in four games against the Bruins.
- Boston top-line winger Brad Marchand, who had two goals and five points (which tied a career-high) in the season opener, has four goals and seven points in 14 career games at the Air Canada Centre.
- Ex-Leaf John-Michael Liles has seven goals and 10 points in 11 games against Toronto.
- Nazem Kadri has five goals and 11 points in 21 career games against the Bruins.
- 24 of Toronto defenseman Morgan Rielly’s 36 points last year came at home.
Other news and notes
Without any significant line changes at practice on Friday, expect defenseman Joe Morrow and forward Tim Schaller to sit as the healthy scratches for the Bruins. Bergeron, as referenced earlier, remains out of action and is not with the team. Same for defenseman Adam McQuaid (upper-body, day-to-day) and Kevan Miller (fracture in left hand, out six weeks).
Ty Anderson has been covering the National Hockey League for HockeyBuzz.com since 2010, has been a member of the Pro Hockey Writers Association's Boston Chapter since 2013, and can also be read in the New England Hockey Journal magazine. Contact him on Twitter or send him an email at Ty.AndersonHB[at]gmail.com.