The Bruins have a pretty simple mission: don’t slack at all, and bring the same intensity and compete level to Carolina that they had against New York on Saturday.
It won’t be easy as the Bruins have a 4-8-2 record in the second night of back-to-back games this season, and that has been a situation where the Black and Gold have looked a little old, a little creaky and a great deal short in the effort category. Carolina is also the setting of Boston’s rock bottom this season when they dropped a game against the Hurricanes while managing just four shots in the first period, and a pathetic two shots on net in the third period.
That defeat prompted a displeased Charlie Jacobs to officially take his role as CEO of the Bruins and TD Garden, and light into an underachieving hockey club that was out of a playoff position in the Eastern Conference at that point. Now it’s up to the Black and Gold to right that wrong, and show all of the necessary ingredients for a win that’s required with only seven games remaining on the schedule, and the Bs hanging on to a one-point lead in the wild card standings over the Senators.
“If we were gonna get ourselves in the position that we want to be in…it was [about] taking that frustration out on the game, and kinda just staying the course for sixty minutes, and playing the right way,” said Milan Lucic. “Eventually things were going to start going your way so we want to do everything we can to continue eliminating all the frustration out of our game, and moving forward.
“We can get frustrated, but we’ve got to stay the course no matter what the score is or anything like that. Whether we’re up or down, we’ve got to play the same way all the time. So that’s gonna be one of the important things we’re gonna need to carry over into [Carolina].”
Ottawa will also be in action on Sunday with Craig Anderson once again getting the call between the pipes over Andrew “The Hamburglar” Hammond.
Notes
Boston Bruins
*Injuries: Bruins -- Brett Connolly (finger), Dougie Hamilton (shoulder) and Kevan Miller (shoulder) are out for the Bruins. Hurricanes -- Jack Hillen (concussion) and Rasmus Rissanen (knee) are out for Carolina.
*Anton Khudobin will be the starting goaltender for the Hurricanes, and Tuukka Rask will be getting the start for the Black and Gold on Sunday after being forced out of Saturday’s game with some “dehydration” issues. Khudobin is 1-0-0 against the Bruins after stopping 19 of 20 shots against them earlier this season in a loss that was essentially rock bottom for the Black and Gold.
*Ryan Spooner continues to lead the Bruins in scoring during the month of March with five goals and 11 points in 13 games centering a line of Milan Lucic and David Pastrnak.
*Alex Semin sat out Carolina’s last game with a sore hamstring, but he’ll be back in the lineup against the Bruins on Sunday.
*Eric Staal has two goals and five points in three games for the Hurricanes, and is putting on a strong finish to a tough season. Victor Rask has points in four straight games for Carolina as well.