San Jose @ Boston preview

Last Meeting ( Feb 26, 2019 ) San Jose 1, Boston 4

The Boston Bruins have lost only once in regulation and are riding a pair of streaks as they prepare to open a three-game homestand against the San Jose Sharks on Tuesday night. The Bruins have earned points in seven consecutive contests (5-0-2) and won three in a row entering Tuesday's matchup to tie their best 11-game start in franchise history.

Boston had scored more than three goals only three times in 10 games before breaking out in a 7-4 drubbing of the New York Rangers on Sunday as its vaunted top line erupted for 13 points. “They’re going to have good nights when they’re ‘on’ and they’re always going to show up and be ready to go and play well,” coach Bruce Cassidy said of his club. “They’re ready to go. They’re dialed in." The Sharks are headed in the opposite direction, losing three of four as they wobble toward the final stop of a five-game road trip and are mired in a six-game winless drought against the Bruins (0-4-2). "We're 12 games in and there's a handful of key guys for us that haven't played well yet," San Jose coach Pete DeBoer said after Sunday's 5-2 loss at lowly Ottawa. "That's on me to get them back to the level they need to be at."

TV: 7 p.m. ET, NBCS California (San Jose), NESN (Boston)

ABOUT THE SHARKS (4-7-1): Kevin Labanc has been among the few bright spots on the road trip, scoring in three straight games, but he and Evander Kane (team-high seven goals) are the only players with more than three tallies. Captain Logan Couture, an eight-time 20-goal scorer, remains stuck on one goal while Tomas Hertl and Timo Meier have combined for five tallies. “I can’t be sitting at one goal right now," Couture said. "(Hertl) is at three, (Meier) is at two. We’ve got to score some more goals. We’re 12 games in and I can’t be sitting at one goal.”

ABOUT THE BRUINS (8-1-2): One week after linemate David Pastrnak was named NHL First Star of the Week, Brad Marchand earned the league's top weekly honor after scoring three goals and notching five assists in three games, matching Pastrnak with a five-point game in New York. Marchand extended his point streak to 10 games while Pastrnak has points in nine straight after recording five assists to take over the league lead with 23 points. "He wants results, and when he works like that, he's getting it," said center Patrice Bergeron, who had a hat trick Sunday.

OVERTIME

1. Bruins G Tuukka Rask, the league leader in goals-against (1.48) and save percentage (.952), is 6-3-0 with a 3.09 GAA versus San Jose.

2. Sharks G Martin Jones is 1-2-2 with a 3.92 GAA versus Boston.

3. Marchand and Pastrnak are the first Boston teammates with five points in a game since Glen Murray and Sharks C Joe Thornton in 2001.

PREDICTION: Bruins 4, Sharks 2