Preview: Bruins’ season on the line against Hurricanes in Game 6

Just the facts

When: Tonight, 7 PM

Where: TD Garden – Boston, MA

How to follow: NESN, TNT, TVAS, SN360, 98.5 The Sports Hub

Rival SBN site: Canes Country

Know your enemy

• Tony DeAngelo: 1G-7A-8PTS; Vincent Trocheck: 3G-4A-7PTS
• Antti Raanta: 2-1-0, 1.96 GAA, .942 save percentage

Game notes

• The Boston Bruins face the Carolina Hurricanes with their season on the line tonight in Game 6. After losing Game 5 in Raleigh, the Bruins are now one game away from elimination in the first round.
• Despite trailing and then winning Games 3, and 4, the Bruins couldn’t recover after playing from behind all of Game 5. They trailed 2-0 after the first, and were down 4-0 early into the third period. The B’s have trailed to start every game this series, but when trailing by two scores, they haven’t been able to bounce back. Game 5’s four-goal hole was the largest deficit the Bruins fell behind all series though.
• But home ice has been a major factor this series and could work in the Bruins’ favor as they’ll look to force another night. They won both their home games to even the series and outscored the Hurricanes 9-4 during those two games. Five of those goals were the product of special teams (four on the power play and one shorthanded). Three of the goals were 5v5 and the other was an empty net.
• Scoring on 5v5 has been a huge problem for the Bruins. While they have found a groove on the power play, it can’t be relied upon to bail them out. In this series, six of the B’s 13 goals have been from even-strength, while it’s been the complete opposite for Carolina. The Hurricanes have scored only three of their 19 goals on the power play while the rest have been even-strength or empty-net goals.
• To top it off, the Bruins are having the same problems of finding secondary scoring right now and a lack of consistency throughout the lineup. Guys like Taylor Hall are struggling to find the back of the net and Erik Haula, who surged for awhile at the end of the season, are becoming lost in the shuffle. Eight of the Bruins’ goals have come from Brad Marchand, Patrice Bergeron and David Pastrnak alone. That’s 62% of the scoring from only three players.
• Jeremy Swayman will get his fourth consecutive start. Despite picking up his first loss of the series on Tuesday, he has averaged a .914 save percentage overall in the three games. Last game, he allowed two power-play goals and made 33 saves for a .892 save percentage.
• Bruce Cassidy said Hampus Lindholm is “probable” to return to the lineup tonight, but that decision will come later today. If he is good to go, Cassidy said they’ll have to obviously figure out how it affects the rest of the defensive pairings.

See ya tonight!