The Penguins will look to rebound after their worst showing of the season against another Original Six team tonight when they face the Bruins. The last time these two teams faced off the Bruins did not have Patrice Bergeron or Zdeno Chara. This is still true. There are quite a number of randomly generated names in the Bruins lineup right now



Even without Bergeron the top line remains dangerous. Krejci is still a productive player and is more than capable of holding down the center position when Bergeron is on the mend. The other lines I don’t even know what to make of. These are not players I have watched or researched.

Both teams are identical when it comes to shot attempts. The Penguins have the edge in expected goals



It hasn’t been a dominant Bruins team this year who had a CF% of 53.8 and a xGF% of 53.48. They’ve been leaning on a terrific top line and awesome goaltending. Their team save percentage of .940 is the best in the NHL. In comparison the Penguins have been doing things the opposite way. Their goaltending has been pretty mediocre if we’re being polite. Their shooting is fourth overall at 9.65%. Boston is 29th at 6.33%. Should be interesting to see the Penguins shooters try and crack the league’s best 5v5 shooting percentage.

We have some new lines today

Pearson-Crosby-Guentzel
Aston Reese-Malkin-Kessel
Sheahan-Brassard-Rust
Grant-Cullen-Dea/Wilson

The defensive pairings will remain the same.

Things look a lot thinner without Patric Hornqvist and Dominik Simon. Hornqvist is day to day while Simon is week to week.

Casey DeSmith will be starting again. Matt Murray will have to wait to make his first start since coming off of the injured reserve list. In net for the Bruins will be old friend Jaro Halak.

Thanks for reading!

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