The Boston Bruins will be gunning for a fourth straight victory Friday when they open a five-game western road trip in Anaheim as -155 favorites on the NHL odds at sportsbooks monitored by OddsShark.com.
Boston hits the road after completing the sweep of a three-game homestand with Tuesday’s 6-3 win over the Chicago Blackhawks and maintains sole possession of third place in the Atlantic Division standings going into Friday night’s Bruins vs. Ducks betting matchup at Honda Center.
The Bruins now have won five of six games overall since snapping out of a January slide, during which they posted just two wins in eight contests. However, they have produced mixed results in contests away from TD Garden. The team has alternated between wins and losses over its past four road dates and travels to the west coast sporting an 11-10-5 road record.
Road dates with Western opponents have posed a huge challenge to the Bruins this season. Boston opened the campaign with losses in seven straight road meetings with Western Conference teams, but rebounded with wins in its past two, capped by a 4-2 victory over the Blackhawks as +145 underdogs on New Year’s Day.
The Bruins also have scored with regularity during their current win streak, potting 4.33 goals per game over their three recent victories, but now find themselves without their top goal scorer after David Pastrnak suffered a thumb injury that is expected to sideline him for two weeks.
With 31 goals and 35 assists through 56 games, Pastrnak was on pace to set career highs in scoring. The 22-year-old Czech winger had regularly sparked the Bruins with his offensive production, with the club going 15-4-4 this season when Pastrnak found the back of the net.
The Ducks look to string together consecutive wins for just the second time since mid-December as they host Boston as +130 underdogs at betting sites. Anaheim received a standout performance from Kevin Boyle, who stopped all 35 shots he faced in his NHL debut to earn the shutout in a 1-0 win over Vancouver on Wednesday night.
With Wednesday’s much-needed win over the Canucks as a +110 home bet, the Ducks put the brakes on both a seven-game overall losing streak and a seven-game slide on home ice. In addition, Anaheim has dominated the Bruins in home meetings, winning five straight since March 2012 according to the OddsShark NHL Database.
Following Friday’s contest, the Bruins maintain a busy schedule with a visit to Los Angeles on Saturday followed by a Monday clash in San Jose, and they wrap up their longest road trip of the season with dates in Vegas and St. Louis next week.
