Boston @ St. Louis preview
Enterprise Center
Last Meeting ( Apr 2, 2023 ) Boston 4, St. Louis 3
The Boston Bruins are aiming to tighten up their defensive play and rely less on their goaltending.
When they visit the St. Louis Blues on Saturday, they will face a team with the same objective.
The Bruins went winless (0-0-3) in the first three games of their current four-game road trip. They suffered a 2-1 overtime loss on Thursday to the Vegas Golden Knights despite getting 23 saves from Jeremy Swayman, who is shouldering a bigger workload with Linus Ullmark sidelined with a lower-body injury.
"Unfortunately, our goaltender has got to make several great saves for us to get a point right now," Bruins coach Jim Montgomery said. "Right now, we just need to keep teaching our (defensive)-zone coverage. Keep teaching our tracking and demanding and holding player accountable to get on the right side of things."
After winning five of their previous six games, the Bruins weren't pleased just to earn a loser point in their last three.
"We know we can win games," Bruins forward Morgan Geekie said. "We have a great group of guys that the leadership has done a great job. We're not satisfied with this at all. We have a lot more to give. When you look back at it, it's good to get a point, but it still hurts nonetheless. At the end of the day, a loss is a loss."
The Blues are coming off a 5-2 victory over the New York Rangers at home on Thursday. They needed a 40-save performance by Jordan Binnington to win for the third time in their last four games.
The Rangers generated 89 shot attempts in that game, 50 more than St. Louis.
"We made it easy on them tonight and we can't continue to do that," interim Blues coach Drew Bannister said. "That's not winning hockey and we're not going to win many games like that playing that way.
"The turnovers, right from the start, it can't happen. That's not our team. We can't play that way. We can't think that we're going to play that way and win."
Binnington has offset some of that sloppy play. In his last four starts, he has posted a .950 save percentage and a 1.48 goals-against average.
"He's our anchor," Blues winger Brandon Saad said. "We know what he's capable of. When he plays like that, he gives us confidence in front of him. Obviously, he did a great job tonight against a really good hockey team."
Another key against the Rangers was the Blues' power play, which converted 2-of-4 opportunities. St. Louis has struggled all season with a 12.0 percent conversion rate with the man advantage.
The Bruins put defenseman Brandon Carlo (upper body) on injured reserve and recalled goaltender Brandon Bussi from AHL affiliate Providence. Forward Matt Poitras is considered day-to-day with a shoulder injury.
The Blues have been playing without defenseman Justin Faulk, who has been shelved by a lower-body injury.
--Field Level Media