BOSTON – The Bruins will be aiming for their fourth win in five games when they host the Pittsburgh Penguins in a nationally-televised matchup on Friday night at TD Garden. Boston is fresh off a 6-3 win over the Islanders on Thanksgiving Eve, which improved the Black & Gold to 3-1-0 under interim coach Joe Sacco.
“I think the last little bit our focus has really been on simplifying and playing really good defensive hockey,” said Bruins captain Brad Marchand. “When we do that, it doesn’t matter if the score is 1-0 or 5-4, we keep ourselves in the game. We were allowing it to get away from us earlier in the season and we were kind of chasing games, which has never been our style. We’re not comfortable playing in games like that.
“We’ve really dialed it in defensively. If we continue to do that, play behind teams, play above them, reloads, backchecks, we’re gonna give ourselves an opportunity to win.”
Here’s everything else you need to know ahead of the 6:30 p.m. ET puck drop on TNT and 98.5 The Sports Hub:
- Per Sacco, Jeremy Swayman will get the start between the pipes. There will be no other lineup changes.
- Sacco said he has been pleased with the way Elias Lindholm’s game has been trending, especially after the centerman’s three-assist night on Long Island on Wednesday: “Every game, he seems to be more comfortable with how we want to play with our systems that are intact. I think there was a little transition for him, defensively, especially, how we play with our low forward doing a lot of the work,” said Sacco. “He started out with a different line at the beginning of the year and now he’s playing with Marchy more than he was with David at the beginning of the year. That takes a little while as well. I thought last game he was solid 200-foot game. Helped us offensively as well. He was able to get on the scoresheet. it’s I like the way his game's trending right now."
- Matt Grzelcyk will make his return to Causeway Street for the first time since signing with Pittsburgh over the summer. The Charlestown native, who spent his first eight seasons with Boston, has eight assists in 24 games this season.
- The Penguins are coming off a 5-4 win over Vancouver on Wednesday that snapped a three-game losing skid. Overall, Pittsburgh is 8-12-4 with 20 points, putting them in last place in the Metro Division.
- Unsurprisingly, Sidney Crosby paces the Pens with eight goals and 23 points through 24 games. Evgeni Malkin (5-16—21), Erik Karlsson (2-13—15), Rickard Rakell (8-5—13), and Bryan Rust (7-4—11) round out the top five in team scoring.
