Just the facts
- When: Tonight, 8 PM
- Where: United Center – Chicago, IL
- How to follow: NESN, 98.5 The Sports Hub
- Opposing perspective: Second City Hockey
Know your enemy
- 19-21-7, 45PTS, 6th in the Central Division
- Connor Bedard: 19G-27A-46PTS; Tyler Bertuzzi: 24G-13A-37PTS; Andre Burakovsky: 10G-19A-29PTS
- Spencer Knight: 13-13-6, 2.61 GAA, .910 save percentage
Game notes
- The Bruins begin a brief two-game road trip with a stop in Chicago to face the Blackhawks, who remain on the fringe of the wild card picture in the Western Conference.
- This is the second meeting of the season between these two teams, with the first ending in a 4-3 OT win for the Bruins back on Oct. 9. Fraser Minten scored the winner in that game.
- The Blackhawks have lost two games in a row and three of four. Prior to that, however, they had won four in a row (and had points in five straight). The Bruins, as you likely remember, are hitting the road with five consecutive wins in their pocket.
- With a bunch of young players, you wouldn’t expect Chicago to be near the top of the league in penalty killing — but that’s where they find themselves, with the second-best PK mark in the league at 85%.
- Brief Bruin Tyler Bertuzzi has been great for the Blackhawks this season. With 24 goals, he has already eclipsed his goal output from the past two seasons (23 last year, 21 the year before) and we’re barely halfway through the season.
- Matt Grzelcyk is another former Bruin plying his trade in Chicago. The defenseman has appeared in all 47 of Chicago’s games this season, averaging 17 minutes TOI. He also has 11 assists.
- David Pastrnak continues his ceaseless production for the B’s, with 1G-8A-9PTS in his last five games. That’s pretty good.
- Per the Chicago Sun-Times, many members of the Blackhawks’ 2013 Stanley Cup-winning team may be in attendance tonight as part of their ongoing centennial celebrations. Hey, at least it’s a NESN broadcast for us, so you shouldn’t be subjected to too many horrifying flashbacks.
See ya tonight!