Bruins Focus: Boston Back In Action After All-Star Break With Three-Game Week

The Boston Bruins return to action Tuesday night after a week away for the NHL All-Star break.

Boston begins its three-game week at home against the Pittsburgh Penguins before ending it north of the border against the Ottawa Senators.

The Bruins are coming off a win over the Seattle Kraken on Feb. 1 after finishing their road trip 1-1-1. They’ll look to gain ground on the Toronto Maple Leafs in the Atlantic Division, who have an eight-point lead over the B’s, but will be a bit shorthanded.

Tuukka Rask won’t practice this week. Boston recalled Jeremy Swayman from Providence and he will start Tuesday. While Swayman and Linus Ullmark certainly are capable of handling the goaltending duties, it’s certainly not the news on Rask the team wanted.

Urho Vaakanainen also did not practice Monday. The defenseman, who was playing well of late, was injured on a hit by Yanni Gourde last week.

Let’s take a look at Boston’s week ahead:
Tuesday, Feb. 8 vs. Pittsburgh Penguins at 7 p.m. ET
Thursday, Feb. 10 vs. Carolina Hurricanes, 7 p.m. ET
Saturday, Feb. 12 at Ottawa Senators at 12:30 p.m. ET

What Bruins fans need to know
The Penguins are in the midst of a four-game losing streak and have not won since Jan. 25 against the Arizona Coyotes. Pittsburgh went 1-2-1 against the B’s at TD Garden last season and look to turn its luck around. One thing working in favor of the Black and Yellow is they have won their last three games on the road.

The Hurricanes had their four-game win streak snapped at the hands of the Maple Leafs in a thrilling overtime bout Monday night. They sit atop the Metropolitan Division with 65 points, just one above the New York Rangers and three more than the Penguins. Carolina had its way the last time it met with the Bruins, winning 7-1.

The Senators have won two of their last three games, but they are well out of the playoff picture heading into the unofficial second half of the season at 15-22-4. The only team Ottawa is ahead of in the Atlantic Division is the lowly Montreal Canadiens. The Sens also lost to the B’s earlier this season, and will be without Josh Norris and Drake Batherson.

Who Bruins need to look out for
Sidney Crosby (Penguins) — Crosby is just two goals away from hitting 500 in his career. The forward is riding a three-game point streak coming into Tuesday’s game but has just one goal during that stretch. DraftKings Sportsbook has Crosby at +220 to score at TD Garden.

Tony DeAngelo (Hurricanes) — The defenseman had a three-point night against the Bruins on Jan. 18 and leads Carolina in assists and has the third-most points. DeAngelo clearly has a way of finding an open teammate, and the Bruins probably won’t want the same outcome to happen the last time they met.

Brady Tkachuk (Senators) — Tkachuk has 30 points in 38 games played this season and has four points on the power play. Without Batherson, Boston will need to keep its eye on the Senators captain.

Odds
DraftKings has the Bruins as -130 favorite Tuesday night. David Pastrnak, who looks to continue to remain hot, is +130 to score and +1000 to be first goal scorer of the game.