5 players to watch as Bruins try to bounce back vs. Jets
Once again, the Bruins are looking to bounce back after a brutal, borderline humiliating loss.
In fact, Thursday at TD Garden will mark the eighth time this season that the Black and Gold have taken the ice after having at least a six-spot hung on the opponent’s scoreboard in their previous contest. The Bruins, for what it’s worth, have responded well in this spot, with a 4-1-2 record in games following nights of six goals against.
But this will be their hardest bounce-back effort yet, as they will look to get it done against the West-leading Winnipeg Jets. Oh, and this is the same Jets team that absolutely hammered the Bruins by an 8-1 final in Winnipeg back on Dec. 10. Yeah, not exactly like trying to do it against the Canadiens or Flyers like the Bruins had done in similar spots earlier this season.
This will also mark the start of what’s a downright brutal finish to the B’s first-half schedule, with head-to-heads with the Jets, Rangers (twice), Wild, and Golden Knights on deck before the club goes on what will be a two-week break for the 4 Nations Face-Off in Boston and Montreal.
The good news for the Bruins in this game comes on the health front, as the Black and Gold will welcome both Brandon Carlo and Charlie McAvoy back to their blue line. Carlo’s return comes after a one-game absence due to an illness, while McAvoy comes after a seven-game absence due to an undisclosed injury.
Here are five players to keep an eye for tonight’s contest at TD Garden…
Pavel Zacha
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Moving from New Jersey to Boston has without a doubt been the best move of Pavel Zacha‘s career. Proving to be a definite fit with Bruins superstar David Pastrnak, Zacha has become a legitimate impact forward for Boston, with 53 goals and 145 points in 212 games. But the move to Boston has not come with any sort of success against the Jets, as Zacha comes into tonight’s game with just one goal and a team-worst minus-4 rating in five games against the Jets over the last two and a half seasons.
And with the Morgan Geekie and David Pastrnak working some serious magic for the Bruins of late, getting Zacha going could be the thing that truly takes that line to the next level.
Zacha finished Tuesday’s loss in Buffalo with just one shot and a minus-2 rating, but comes into action with two goals and eight points in his last seven outings overall.
Brad Marchand
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Tuesday in Buffalo was the low point of the 2024-25 Bruins. Which, to be honest, is saying something. And for the Bruins to pull themselves out of it and rebound in the way they’ll need to if this team does not want to sell down the stretch, it’s gotta begin at the top, and that starts with Brad Marchand.
Always a ‘jump on my back’ kind of presence, Marchand also does have something (as minor as it may seem) to build off from Tuesday’s beatdown, as he did score a power-play goal in the third period of the loss. This is important in the sense that Marchand has become more of a volume scoring in recent seasons — and this year alone, Marchand has totaled five goals and 13 points in 15 games following a game in which Marchand scored — and that the goal-starved Bruins will need him to be their true No. 2.
Marchand comes into this game with nine goals and 23 points in 30 career games against Winnipeg.
Trent Frederic
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It has not been a season to remember for Bruins forward (and pending unrestricted free agent) Trent Frederic. It’s hit the point where Frederic, who the B’s were talking contract extension with back in training camp, being part of a ‘retool’ and traded ahead of the Mar. 7 trade deadline no longer comes across as something that even remotely resembles an unfathomable idea.
But what’s interesting about Frederic’s season is that it really feels like the true low point of his struggles began with the club’s prior meeting with the Jets back on Dec. 10. Beginning with that game, Frederic’s found himself on a run that’s featured just two goals and one assist in 21 games.
That Dec. 10 head-to-head also left the Jets beyond pissed off with Frederic, as he absolutely teed off on the Jets’ David Gustafsson with a one-punch fight that Winnipeg’s locker room felt was a mismatch.
Given the way it was discussed in Winnipeg, it will be interesting to see if the Jets try to respond with what they view as a more qualified opponent for someone like Frederic tonight.
Kyle Connor
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Part of that oft-mentioned Could Have Been in regards to the Bruins’ back-to-back-to-back picks in the first round of the 2015 NHL Draft, Jets winger Kyle Connor comes into tonight’s game as one of the top talents in the league, with 29 goals (second in NHL) and 65 points (sixth in NHL) in 52 games this season. Connor absolutely torched the Bruins for a goal and two assists in that Dec. 10 showdown, and has four goals and eight points in his last 10 outings against the Bruins.
Mark Scheifele
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Another Winnipeg star, it’s no hot take that guys like Connor and Mark Scheifele are players to watch in this contest. (And honestly, if you roast me for including them on this without reading, I get it.) But why I’m including Scheifele here is because Bruins general manager Don Sweeney built the iteration of Team Canada that we will see at next month’s 4 Nations Face-Off. One player he left off that team? Yup, you guessed it, Mark Scheifele. Oh, boy, did it feel like Scheifele sent a message to Sweeney’s NHL club when these teams linked up back in December. He was simply dominant.
It’ll be interesting to see if Scheifele delivers a similar performance tonight in Sweeney’s building.