The Nashville Predators (25-20-6) and their suffocating penalty killing defense play host to the Boston Bruins (40-8-5), one of the league’s weakest power play offenses, at Bridgestone Arena on Thursday.
Boston is coming off a 3-2 overtime win over the Stars on Tuesday. The Bruins committed four penalties in the game, though they held Dallas without a power play goal. Pavel Zacha, David Pastrnak, and Taylor Hall each scored once for the Bruins.
Pastrnak and Zacha both added an assist to lead the team in scoring. Linus Ullmark had a great performance with 29 saves (.935%) in the win.
Nashville fell 4-2 to the Coyotes on Monday. Colton Sissons and Roman Josi both scored once for the Predators. Kevin Lankinen only had 15 saves on 18 shots against (.833%) in the loss.
HEAD TO HEAD
The Bruins won both games between the teams last season, including a 4-3 (OT) victory in their final meeting in January, their third straight win against Nashville.
Brad Marchand (1G 1A), Hall (1G 1A), and Patrice Bergeron (0G 2A) each had two points to lead Boston. Josi, Luke Kunin, and Sissons were on the scoresheet for Nashville. Ullmark got the win despite saving only 26 of 29 shots (.896%).
FACING OFF
Boston is averaging 3.66 goals per game for the season, second in the NHL, and they are taking on a Predators team that is allowing 2.94 goals a game (14th).
Meanwhile, Nashville has found the net 2.75 times a game on average, 26th in the league, and the Bruins are holding opponents to a league-best 2.11 goals per game.
The Predators’ 29th-ranked power play offense (16.36%) will be put to the test against the Bruins, who are the league’s best penalty killing team (85.87%).
Boston, meanwhile, has scored on 24.18% of their power play opportunities (7th), which the away team will be looking to improve on against Nashville’s 16th-ranked 80.23% penalty killing rate.
TOP PERFORMERS:
With 74 points this season, sixth-most in the NHL, Pastrnak is the top skater for the Bruins. He is among the league leaders with 39 goals (2nd) and has added 35 assists.
In the net, Ullmark (26-4-1) is Boston’s top goaltender by goals against average. He has a 1.90 GAA, best in the league, and a .937% save percentage, also best.Josi (44 points), Filip Forsberg (42), and Matt Duchene (42) lead the Predators in scoring.
Josi has 13 goals and 31 assists, while Forsberg has 19 goals and 23 assists. Duchene has 16 goals and 26 assists. Juuse Saros (20-14-5) is the top goalie for Nashville with a goals against average of 2.73. He has a save percentage of .919%.
HOME AND AWAY
Boston is 18-6-2 away from TD Garden this season. Nashville is 14-9-3 at Bridgestone Arena this season.
SportsTips’ NHL Pick:
Boston Bruins (-185)
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*Odds correct at time of publication, courtesy of BetMGM.
