Boston Bruins (21-18-2, 44 pts) at Vancouver Canucks (16-20-4, 36 pts)
Venue: Rogers Arena
Date: Saturday, January 3rd
Time: 10:00 pm ET / 7:00 pm PT

TV: ESPN+ / NESN / Sportsnet
Radio: 
Boston Bruins – 98.5 The Sports Hub WBZ-FM
Vancouver Canucks – Sportsnet 650 AM

DraftKings Sportsbook Betting Lines:
Boston Bruins -1.5 ML -120
Vancouver Canucks +1.5 ML +100
O/U 5.5

Boston Bruins News and Notes:

After a six-game losing streak from mid to late December, a struggling Boston Bruins crew was able to topple the Stanley Cup Final contender of the last two years and the top team in the Pacific Division, the Edmonton Oilers, defeating them 6-2 on New Year’s Eve to close out 2025. With a few nights’ rest, the Bruins are going to have a leg up on the Canucks, who are on night two of a back-to-back and are just days away from beginning a six-game road trip. The Bruins are going to have to rest on their breakout star, Morgan Geekie, who is tied for second in the league in goals with 25. While there’s been great skill being shown on the offensive side, the Bruins will have to look out for getting too aggressive physically, resulting in too many box visits, with both Nikita Zadorov and Mark Kastelic filling the top two in total penalty minutes.

Vancouver Canucks News and Notes:

The Vancouver Canucks are officially in tank mode with the Gavin McKenna sweepstakes taking the league by storm in just a few months. However, they gave their division rival, the Seattle Kraken, a run for their money, losing in a shootout 4-3 after coming back from a 3-1 deficit. Kiefer Sherwood, Jake DeBrusk, and Linus Karlsson were all able to find the back of the net on a well-rounded Kraken squad, but it just wasn’t enough. Now the Canucks have to deal with a rivalry with a bit more history and a bit more bitterness with a 2011 Stanley Cup Final rematch against the Boston Bruins. Although these teams were once titans, it’ll be interesting to see these two teams with brand new cores, brand new directions, and brand new chemistry among two very young, rebuilding lineups.

Boston Bruins Projected Lines:

Steeves-E. Lindholm-Geekie
Mittelstadt-Zacha-Arvidsson
Khusnutdinov-Minten-Pastrnak
Eyssimont-Kuraly-Kastelic

Zadorov-McAvoy
H. Lindholm-Aspirot
Lohrei-Peeke

Swayman
Korpisalo

Vancouver Canucks Projected Lines:

DeBrusk-E. Pettersson-Karlsson
Kane-Sasson-Boeser
O’Connor-Kampf-Sherwood
Ohgren-Raty-Hoglander

M. Pettersson-Hronek
Buium-Myers
Joseph-Willander

Lankinen
Demko

Players to Watch:

Boston Bruins:

While David Pastrnak and Morgan Geekie have been one of the best new one-two punches in the entire NHL this year, with 17 goals and 27 assists and 25 goals and 16 assists respectively, a sleeper lower on the lineup has been Pavel Zacha, quietly logging 10 goals and 16 assists. Zacha hasn’t been able to find his way onto the boxscore in his last four games, but while being due for one and facing a similarly built, rebuilding team, Zacha could be one to capitalize. Since moving Pastrnak down to the third line to spread out the top-of-the-line talent in Boston, young gun Fraser Minten has benefited greatly on the same line as one of the best goal scorers in the league, even grabbing two assists and marking his first multi-point performance since potting two goals against the St. Louis Blues on December 9th. Look out for some more production out of the Pastrnak-Minten duo.

Vancouver Canucks:

As I mentioned, Jake DeBrusk was able to find the back of the net for the first time since December 14th against the New Jersey Devils, but DeBrusk was also able to contribute on every single goal in last night’s contest as well, taking on two assists. The Canucks could ride the hot hand in one of their more even matchups as of late. Linus Karlsson has also been making great use of his recent promotion to the top line in Vancouver, with seven points in the last seven games and five of those being goals. Another man who has been taking advantage of more opportunities is Tom Willander, riding a three-game point streak and becoming more of a constant piece of the defensive core since the loss of Quinn Hughes.

Injury Report:

Boston Bruins:

LW Tanner Jeannot – Day to Day
D Henri Jokiharju – IR
D Jordan Harris – LTIR

Vancouver Canucks:

RW Conor Garland – Day to Day
C Filip Chytil – IR
C Teddy Blueger – IR
D Guillaume Brisebois – IR
C Marco Rossi – IR
D Derek Forbort – LTIR

Next Game:

Boston Bruins: Tuesday, January 6 at Seattle Kraken – 10pm ET
Vancouver Canucks: Tuesday, January 6 at Buffalo Sabres – 7pm ET

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