Toronto @ Boston preview

Last Meeting ( Oct 19, 2019 ) Boston 3, Toronto 4

Round 1 of the regular-season rivalry between bitter Original Six rivals Toronto and Boston went to the Maple Leafs, but the Bruins have ample reason to feel good about their chances in the rematch. Boston will be playing only its fourth home game of the season as it attempts to avenge Saturday's 4-3 overtime defeat in Toronto on Tuesday.

While the Bruins have been idle since Saturday, Toronto will be playing the second contest of a back-to-back set after dropping a 4-3 decision to visiting Columbus on Monday on a rare penalty shot in overtime. Auston Matthews score one goal and set up another, giving him eight tallies on the season and 33 in 42 career games in the month of October. Boston's Tuukka Rask, a first-round draft pick of Toronto in 2005 who won his NHL debut against the Maple Leafs two years later, will become the 72nd goaltender to make his 500th career appearance in Tuesday's game. "It goes by so quickly that you don't really pay attention how many games you play total until you've reached some kind of milestone," Rask told reporters. "Time flies, definitely. Just grateful that I've been part of this team so long and still in it. It's awesome."

TV: 7 p.m. ET, TSN 4, TVA (Toronto), NESN (Boston)

ABOUT THE MAPLE LEAFS (5-3-2): Although Toronto lost a deciding Game 7 in Boston each of the last two postseasons, coach Mike Babcock opted to go with No. 1 netminder Frederik Andersen versus Columbus and will start backup Michael Hutchinson against the Bruins. "Do the math," Babcock told reporters on Monday in defending his rotation. "Imagine if you lose game one and then went to game two tired ... the investment makes no sense to me." Kasperi Kapanen scored on Monday to become the first Toronto player with at least two short-handed goals in consecutive seasons since Mats Sundin (2001-03).

ABOUT THE BRUINS (5-1-2): Top-line forward David Pastrnak scored one goal and set up another in Saturday's loss at Toronto, capping a three-game stretch during which he amassed seven tallies and two assists to earn NHL First Star of the Week honors. That included a four-goal eruption against Anaheim for Pastrnak, who is in the midst of a six-game point streak during which he has collected nine tallies and six assists. David Krejci (upper body) has been ruled out for a third straight game while Karson Kuhlman is questionable after taking a shot off the leg in Saturday's defeat.

OVERTIME

1. Rask is 17-7-2 with a 2.13 goals-against average versus Toronto in his career.

2. Hutchinson, who has allowed nine goals in two starts, is 2-2-1 with a 2.25 GAA versus Boston.

3. Bruins C Brad Marchand has registered four goals and eight assists during his seven-game point streak.

PREDICTION: Bruins 4, Maple Leafs 2