NHL Grind Down: Friday, March 18th - Page Two
Boston Bruins at Anaheim Ducks – 10:00 PM EDT
| Boston Bruins | Anaheim Ducks | ||||||||
 | Tuukka Rask |  | John Gibson | ||||||
| Record | Record | ||||||||
| 39-24-8 | 38-22-9 | ||||||||
| Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% | Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team Stats | 2.97 | 2.68 | 21.50% | 82.00% | Team Stats | 2.49 | 2.29 | 23.40% | 87.00% |
The Bruins dropped the opener daunting four-game road trip on Tuesday night in San Jose and now find themselves sitting three points behind the Florida Panthers for the lead in the Atlantic Division. While the scheduling gods didn’t do them any favors down the stretch, Boston should be quite motivated to avoid a very difficult first round playoff matchup by making a push for the Atlantic Division crown. Unfortunately things won’t get any easier tonight as they’ll head to the Honda Center to face an angry Anaheim Ducks squad. Anaheim man-handled this team in their only previous meeting and have allowed just 2.23 goals against per game since the All-Star break. With that said, Claude Julien has two very capable scoring lines to throw at the Ducks. Patrice Bergeron and Brad Marchand team up on the top line with Lee Stempniak while David Krejci leads Loui Eriksson and David Pastrnak on the second line. Marchand leads the team with 61 points, but it’s been the gritty Marchand doing a lot of the damage lately as he’s posted 14 goals and eight assists in 22 games since the break. On defense, both Torey Krug and Zdeno Chara are typically nice options, but both of their outlooks take a bit of a hit considering Anaheim’s NHL best 87.0% penalty kill.
The Ducks looked seemingly unstoppable to close out the month of February but have stumbled a bit lately, losing four of their last five games to fall six points behind the Los Angeles Kings. They’ll be very hungry for two points tonight as they host the Bruins before embarking on a five game road trip through Canada that begins on Sunday. The Ducks smoked the Bruins by a 6-2 decision in their only previous meeting and their 3.32 goals per game since the All-Star break is the best mark in the NHL. While they’re likely set for a full dose Brad Marchand and Patrice Bergeron, the top line of Ryan Getzlaf, David Perron and Brandon Pirri deserves your attention. Getzlaf picked up a pair of assists in the first meeting and has posted 22 points in 21 games in the second half. Meanwhile Perron has posted 19 points (and a plus 12) in 26 games since being acquired by the Ducks and their new linemate Pirri was a 22 goal scorer last season. Corey Perry and Rickard Rakell join Perron and Getzlaf on the top power-play unit and have both been playing quiet well lately. On defense, Sami Vatanen has missed the last three games and his status tonight is certainly in doubt once again. If he’s unable to suit up, both Cam Fowler and Hampus Lindholm will be tasked with a very heavy workload. Both blue-liners have posted 23 points this season and would see plenty of time on the point of the power-play. They’re not the most exciting options on tonight’s slate, but they’re steady and rather inexpensive.
Boston Bruins
CF%: 48.5, CP60: 110.5, 5×5 Differential: 14
Elite Options: Patrice Bergeron, Brad Marchand
Secondary Options: David Krejci, Loui Eriksson, Lee Stempniak, Torey Krug
Anaheim Ducks
CF%: 53.1, CP60: 107.8, 5×5 Differential: -8
Elite Options: Ryan Getzlaf, Corey Perry
Secondary Options: Rickard Rakell, David Perron, Ryan Kesler, Brandon Pirri, Cam Fowler, Hampus Lindholm