LOS ANGELES –– The Boston Bruins are right back at it on Saturday as they skate in the second game of a back-to-back against the Los Angeles Kings at Crypto.com Arena.
“They’ve been off for a bit and they’re hungry for a win, so we’ve just got to make sure we’re very prepared for a better start,” head coach Marco Sturm said of the Kings. “But a lot of good things happened, so we’re just going to try to get better every day, and getting those points on the road as much as we can.”
The 9 p.m. ET puck drop marks the third of four matchups on the B’s West Coast road trip. Boston is on a four-game win streak, most recently beating the Anaheim Ducks 4-2 on Friday.
There will be some lineup changes for the Bruins against the Kings, Sturm said. Pavel Zacha will not play due to an upper-body injury; the forward is day-to-day. Sean Kuraly will draw into the lineup in Zacha’s absence.
“As of right now, it will be Minten starting with David and then we will see how it goes,” Sturm said of the 1C position.
On the backend, Nikita Zadorov will draw out. Jonathan Aspirot will enter his first game since Oct. 3 and is projected to be on the second defensive pair with Will Borgen.
“He’s a tremendous player and leader for our team. I think we’ve been mentioning it for a while, his discipline on the ice. I think that’s something, he just needs to be better. He was not happy. But, he’s a great human being and he’s a competitor. I do believe he gets stronger after this message,” Sturm said of Zadorov. “This is coach’s decision, and I do believe there is another level in him. Now we’ve just got to try to find this level.”
