Preview: Bruins head north of the border to take on Vancouver

Just the facts

When: Tonight, 7 PM

Where: Rogers Arena - Vancouver, BC

How to follow: NESN, 98.5 The Sports Hub

Rival SBN site: Nucks Misconduct

Know your enemy

• 23-30-5, 51 PTS, 6th in the Pacific Division
• Elias Pettersson: 28G-47A-75PTS; JT Miller: 20G-34A-54PTS; Quinn Hughes: 5G-49A-54PTS
• Arturs Silovs: 2-1-0, 2.97 GAA, .895 save percentage

Game notes

• This is a rarity: a West Coast game that starts at a reasonable East Coast time! Old people like me rejoice at simple things like this. Thanks, NHL schedulers!
• On paper, this should be the Bruins’ easiest opponent of the Canada swing, but you know what they say: games aren’t played on paper. While the team ahead of them in the Pacific Division standings (Calgary) is firmly in the playoff race, the Canucks are a whopping 15 points behind, firmly in the “let’s just get this over with” race.
• Vancouver had a nice come-from-behind win over St. Louis last time out, which had Craig Berube whining in the media — that’s always a good thing. Prior to that, the Canucks had lost four of five, including back-to-back losses against Detroit by a combined margin of 11-3.
• While the Canucks are having a bad year, Elias Pettersson is flying. The Swede has already eclipsed his previous career high in points (68) just 56 games into the season. On a bad team, that’s pretty impressive.
• The Canucks boast a top-ten offense (at #10) in terms of GF/G, as well as the league’s #11 power play. Their problem? Defense, as they’re allowing the second-most goals per game at 3.98. Their PK is also the league’s worst at just 66.3%.
• We’ve got two old friends to watch for in this one: Jack Studnicka has 4G-2A-6PTS totals for the Canucks in 33 games, while Curtis Lazar (he’s been out hurt for a week or so) has 3G-2A-5PTS totals in 45 games.
• I’m always interested in lopsided stat lines, and Quinn Hughes’s 54 points, 49 of which are assists, is a good one. (Yes, it’s to be expected, since he’s a defenseman, but it’s still cool.)
• Luke Schenn, a trade target of many who read and comment here, remains out of the lineup for trade-related reasons, but it’s hard to see why the Bruins would revisit that option after acquiring Dmitry Orlov.
• Speaking of Orlov, as of Friday evening, it wasn’t clear whether or not he or Garnet Hathaway would be available for the Bruins this weekend. Fluto Shinzawa reported that both were expected to arrive in Vancouver on Friday night, but I can’t help but wonder if it might make more sense to give them a day and a practice to get acclimated, considering the B’s are right back at it Monday night.
• Tomas Nosek may also be available for selection tonight, as he was close, but not quite ready, prior to the Seattle game.
• Expect Linus Ullmark in net tonight after Jeremy Swayman started in Seattle.

See ya tonight!