BOSTON BRUINS NOTES:
TONIGHT’S GAME
-The Bruins visit the Devils tonight in the frst of three games between these teams this season and the Bruins’ lone visit to Prudential Center this year … The Bruins are 18-5-3 overall this season and they are 8-3-2 on the road … They are 9-5-2 in games vs. Eastern Conference teams this season. -The Bruins open a two-game road trip in New Jersey tonight and will conclude the trip at NY Islanders on 12/15 … They will then return to Boston to host NY Rangers on Dec. 16 and Minnesota on Dec. 19.
RECENT GAMES
-The Bruins are 4-1-0 in their last fve games with a 3-0 win vs. San Jose on 11/30, a 4-3 OT win on 12/2 at Toronto, a 3-1 victory vs. Columbus on 12/3, a 3-1 loss to Buffalo on 12/7 and a 5-3 win vs. Arizona on 12/9 … They are 9-4-2 in their last 15 games.
– 12/3: Bos 3 vs Cmb 1 … Brad Marchand netted his sixth career hat trick and Charlie McAvoy added two assists for Boston’s third straight win … Jeremy Swayman notched the win in goal … SOG: Bos 28, Cmb 25 … PP: 2/6 … PK: 0/4
– 12/7: Bos 1 vs Buf 3: Brad Marchand scored Boston’s lone goal of their game with his ffth straight Boston goal but dropped their game by a 3-1 score … Linus Ullmark took the loss in net … SOG: Bos 32, Buf 35 … PP: 0/1 … PK: 0/3
INJURIES (41 man-games lost)
– Charlie McAvoy: Day-to-day
– Pavel Zacha: Day-to-day
– Derek Forbort: LTIR
BOSTON vs NEW JERSEY, LIFETIME SERIES
– The Bruins and Devils are meeting for the 176th time in their histories with a 98-45-19-13 record and a 578-449 scoring advantage in those games. – The Bruins are 46-22-11-7 lifetime in 86 road games with a 268-208 scoring edge in those contests. – The Bruins have won their last six straight games vs. New Jersey.- 12/9: Bos 5 vs Ari 3 … The Bruins received goals by David Pastrnak (2-1=3 totals), Charlie Coyle, Kevin Shattenkirk and Danton Heinen and Trent Frederic had 2A … Linus Ullmark earned the win in goal for his second consecutive start … SOG: Bos 29, Ari 33 … PP: 1/3 … PK: 0/5
SEASON NOTABLES
– The Bruins started the 2023-24 season with a ten-game point streak at 9-0-1 from 10/11-11/2/2023), which was their longest such streak in club history … The Bruins had opened their season at 6-0-0, tying their 1937-38 Bruins for the longest win streak to open a season in franchise history. – Jeremy Swayman started his 2023-24 season with his longest such win streak at 6-0-0 … That tied Tuukka Rask (2016-17) and Tiny Thompson (1937-38) for second-longest such stretch in club history ahead of Tim Thomas (7-0-0 in 2010-11). – Swayman extended his point streak to nine straight games to start this season at 7-0-2 before falling on 11/24 vs. Detroit. – Brad Marchand scored fve straight Boston goals from 12/2-7/2023 (OTG 12/2 at TOR, 3G 12/3 vs CMB, 1G 12/7 vs BUF) … The longest goals-scored streak by a Bruin was a six-goal stretch by Glen Murray in 2003-04.
FUN FACTS
– The Bruins currently have 24 players on their active roster (1 in LTIR) … 13 were drafted by the team, three were acquired in trade and eight were signed as free agents. – The Bruins play 11 matinees this season (local time 4:00 pm or earlier) … They have a 1-2-0 record in afternoon games so far. – The Bruins play 12 sets of back-to-back games this season … They are currently 2-1-0 in the frst game of those sets and 2-1-0 in the second games. – The Bruins play game fve of their 13-game December schedule tonight (six home/seven road, 3-1-0) … They will play 14 games in January (seven home/seven road) …They will play 12 games in February (eight home/four road) … They will play 14 games in March (seven home/seven road) … They will play seven games in April (three home/four road) … They played nine games in October (8-0-1); and 13 games in November (7-4-2). – The Bruins have nine players on the current roster new to the organization this season – Johnny Beecher, Jesper Boqvist, Morgan Geekie, Danton Heinen, Mason Lohrei, Ian Mitchell, Matt Poitras, Kevin Shattenkirk, James van Riemsdyk – The Bruins have ten players on the current roster who played college hockey – Johnny Beecher, Charlie Coyle, Derek Forbort, Trent Frederic, Danton Heinen, Mason Lohrei, Charlie McAvoy, Ian Mitchell, Kevin Shattenkirk, James van Riemsdyk – The Bruins have 11 former frst round draft picks on the current roster – Johnny Beecher, Charlie Coyle, Jake DeBrusk, Derek Forbort, Trent Frederic, Hampus Lindholm, Charlie McAvoy, David Pastrnak, Kevin Shattenkirk, James van Riemsdyk, Pavel Zacha
RECENT TRANSACTIONS
December 12: Jesper Boqvist recalled from Providence/AHL.
NEW JERSEY DEVILS NOTES:
CURRENT INJURIES/ILLNESS
PLAYER INJURY/Illness OUT SINCE GAMES MISSED
Tomas Nosek Upper-body Nov. 22 (suffered 11/18) 10
Dougie Hamilton Upper-body Nov. 30 (suffered 11/28) 6
Erik Haula Upper-body Dec. 10 (suffered Dec. 9) 1
2023-24 Total Man-Games Lost : 66
The Week
The Devils concluded a four-game road trip (3-1-0), from Dec. 5, 2023, to Dec. 10. The team hosts Boston for an Eastern Conference clash on Wed., Dec. 13, and then visits Columbus on Sat., Dec. Dec. 16. Jersey’s team will also host the Anaheim Ducks on Sun., Dec. 17.
Last Game
The Devils concluded their four-game road trip, which began on Tue., Dec. 5, at Vancouver and finished the trip with a 3-1-0 record. The team’s season-high (3 times) winning-streak concluded after Sunday;s contest at Edmonton. The team is now 1-4-1 in the second half of back-to-back sets this season, and 6-5-1 overall for the 2023-24 campaign. New Jersey is also 3-2-0 North of the Border this season. Sunday’s contest marked the team’s third matinee contest for 2023-24 (1-2-0). Jersey’s team is now 9-5-0 on the road this season. The Devils surrendered the first goal of a game for the 19th time this season but fell to (8-10-1). Jersey’s team fell to 1-8-0 when trailing after the second period of play this season. Jersey fell to 6-5-1 vs the Western Conference in 2023-24. Jersey’s team was outshot 30-27, and fell to 5-7-0 when outshot in a contest this season. The Devils were held to one goal, or fewer, for the fourth time this season (last: Nov. 24, vs CBJ, 2-1, L)
RECORD BY DIVISION/CONFERENCE:
MET: 4-4-0
ATL: 4-2-0
CEN: 3-3-1
PAC: 3-2-0
EAST: 8-6-0
WEST: 6-5-1
RECORD WHEN SCORING FIRST
Scoring first…6-1-0…Trailing first…8-10-1
OVERTIME/SHOOTOUT
OT: 2-0
SO: 0-1
OUTSHOOTING OPP: 9-4-1
OUTSHOT: 5-7-0
EVEN: 0-0-0
BACK-TO-BACK GAME
Overall: 6-5-1
First game: 5-1-0 | home: 1-1-0 | road: 3-0-0
Second game: 1-4-1 | home: 1-2-1 | road: 0-2-0
New Jersey logged a 15-8-1 record in back-to-back games last season. The Devils were 6-5-1 in first half games played and 9-3-0 in second half games played for this matter in 2022-23.
VS Boston
The Devils and Boston face-off for the first of three matchups in 2023-24: Next: at Boston, Dec. 30, 7:00 P.M. E.T. At Boston, Jan. 15, 1:00 P.M. E. T. The Devils were 0-3-0 against Boston last season. The Bruins were one of four teams that New Jersey failed to defeat in 2022-23 (MIN, STL, NSH) and the only Eastern Conference opponent that the Devils did not earn a win against last season. The last time that the Devils earned a victory against Beantown was on May 4, 2021, after a 4-3 overtime win. The contest also witnessed former Devil, and now current Bruins forward Pavel Zacha, net the game-winner.
ALL-TIME vs BOS
Record: 58-88-19-10
Home: 29-42-11-4
Road: 29-46-8-6
