It’s the fourth of a five-game road trip for the Boston Bruins (21-18-2); tonight’s contest starts late, and it’s against the Vancouver Canucks (16-20-3). This is the second meeting between these two teams in two weeks.

The Bruins enter their game against the Canucks coming off a decisive 6-2 win in Edmonton on New Year’s Eve. David Pastrnak netted two goals and was one of five different goal scorers for the Bruins on Wednesday. Boston has gone 1-3-1 in their last five, and has a 9-10-1 road record this year. Vancouver is also 1-3-1 in their previous five games, but the team has not found success on home ice this season (4-12-2).

The last meeting was the second of the Bruins’ recently snapped six-game losing streak; the Canucks won in a shootout. Vancouver went on a four-game win streak after trading Quinn Hughes on December 12, but has since lost four of their last five. The Canucks dropped a home game last night to the Seattle Kraken 4-3, in a shootout.

It’s a jersey matchup from the 1980s and early 1990s (and not the only one on Saturday); Vancouver will be in their black throwback jerseys.

Bruins Morning Skate News

On Friday, Tanner Jeannot skated with the team and was no longer in the non-contact sweater. Marco Sturm said that “he’s a little bit over the hump,” but is still “day-to-day” with his injury. Henri Jokiharju is also inching closer, per Marco Sturm.

The Bruins held an optional morning skate at Rogers Arena on Saturday at 11:30 AM PT. 

Marco Sturm said that the Bruins will stick with the same lineup that they deployed on Wednesday. Jeremy Swayman will start in goal. 

“We didn’t play for 60 minutes,” Sturm said about the first meeting between Boston and Vancouver. “We just have to focus on our game. We’ve only won one game so far, so we want to grab the next one tonight with a good, solid, Bruins effort.”

Expected Bruins Lines
Forwards

Alex Steeves – Elias Lindholm – Morgan Geekie

Casey Mittelstadt – Pavel Zacha – Viktor Arvidsson

Marat Khusnutdinov – Fraser Minten – David Pastrnak

Mikey Eyssimont – Sean Kuraly – Mark Kastelic

Defensemen

Nikita Zadorov – Charlie McAvoy

Hampus Lindholm – Jonathan Aspirot

Mason Lohrei – Andrew Peeke

Source: Belle Fraser (Boston Bruins)

Starting Goalie

Jeremy Swayman (15-10-2, 2.84 GAA, .904 SV%)

Source: Marco Sturm

Expected Canucks Lines
Forwards

Evander Kane – Max Sasson – Brock Boeser

Jake DeBrusk – Elias Pettersson – Linus Karlsson

Drew O’Connor – David Kampf – Kiefer Sherwood

Liam Ohgren – Aatu Raty – Nils Hoglander

Defensemen

Marcus Pettersson – Filip Hronek

Zeev Buium – Tyler Myers

Pierre-Olivier Joseph – Tom Willander

Source: Last game

Starting Goalie

Kevin Lankinen (6-10-3, 3.41 GAA, .885 SV%)

Source: Jeff Paterson (Rink Wide: Vancouver)

Special Teams

Special teams helped the Bruins cruise to a 6-2 victory on New Year’s Eve; the power play converted, and the penalty kill went a perfect five-for-five. Boston’s power play is tied for fifth place in the NHL and has succeeded at a 24.8% rate. Boston’s penalty kill has moved up the rankings, now tied for 15th at 80.3%; the Bruins are leading the league with 585 penalty minutes.

On the other hand, Vancouver’s power play ranks 14th at 20.5%; they scored a power play goal in the first matchup with Boston. Their penalty kill, however, ranks 30th. They have allowed 33 goals on 131 opportunities, for a 74.8% rating.

Season Series

Saturday, December 20: @ BOS – Canucks win 5-4 (SO)

Saturday, January 3: Bruins @ Canucks

Upcoming Schedule

Tuesday, January 6: Bruins @ Kraken, 10:00 PM ET

Thursday, January 8: Flames @ Bruins, 7:00 PM ET

Saturday, January 10: Rangers @ Bruins, 1:00 PM ET

Sunday, January 11: Penguins @ Bruins, 5:00 PM ET

Tuesday, January 13: Red Wings @ Bruins, 7:30 PM ET

How to Watch

10:00 PM ET

TV: NESN

Radio: 98.5 The Sports Hub